Thickening the trunk with wire

[Fishtank307]

Has anyone here ever tried to make shohin white (or black) pines by letting the bark grow over copper wire? I found a video of a Japanese nursery where they show this technique:

(at about 1:40 seconds)

Seems very interesting! I'd like to try this with some white pines and try to create gnarly and twisty trunks. Has anyone here tried this before?

 

[Stickroot]

Has anyone here ever tried to make shohin white (or black) pines by letting the bark grow over copper wire? I found a video of a Japanese nursery where they show this technique:

(at about 1:40 seconds)

Seems very interesting! I'd like to try this with some white pines and try to create gnarly and twisty trunks. Has anyone here tried this before?

It will triple the trunk size in one season.

 

[Soldano666]

I had planned on doing this with some scots seedlings this year. The wire started to bite in real good but I was hesitant to leave it on any longer as I feared it may choke off sap flow before eating up the wire. I should have left a couple on but,.... I diddnt I got carried away. Maybe ill give it a go again next hear

 

[Soldano666]

I did do this with some crabapple seedlings with great success. However the tree and the wire were considerably smaller. It should give me some cool fissures and flow in the movement of the tree and bark as it gets bigger.

 

[Fishtank307]

I had planned on doing this with some scots seedlings this year. The wire started to bite in real good but I was hesitant to leave it on any longer as I feared it may choke off sap flow before eating up the wire. I should have left a couple on but,.... I diddnt I got carried away. Maybe ill give it a go again next hear

I'm going to try it with scots pine seedlings too next year. I still have a couple of them and they've already grown really well. I do wonder if it would be better to use thicker seedlings... Maybe it doesn't matter that much, as long as you use the right gauge of wire..

 

[Soldano666]

I'm going to try it with scots pine seedlings too next year. I still have a couple of them and they've already grown really well. I do wonder if it would be better to use thicker seedlings... Maybe it doesn't matter that much, as long as you use the right gauge of wire..

I was using 1/4 thick give or take seedlings, with 3mm wire. My guess would be smaller the better... Less wire area for the tree to have to grow over . but again just a guess. I should have left some on and monitered them as everything is swelling for their fall season of growth.

 

[just.wing.it]

I asked about this a while back....
I seem to remember lots of negative feedback...
It is interesting though.

 

[Soldano666]

I asked about this a while back....
I seem to remember lots of negative feedback...
It is interesting though.

I was told no about doing it with My crab seedlings, everyone said wait til next year and dont leave it on.... Well they would have been too large next year to get the bends I wanted, so i went against the grain and glad i did some ate up the wire and some had it removed before it dissapeared. Trunk is shaped at year one and can grow out undisturbed now for the next few years. Ill snag some pics later

 

[Arcto]

I haven't done it personally but the technique is used on JWP frequently. I would encourage you to look at some that have had this done some time ago. The results aren't for everyone. Look at some imported JWP for sale on eBay to get an idea of how they turn out.

 

[Adair M]

Lol!!! Even the Japanese nurseryman said some don't like the embedded wire technique!

In Japan today, these have fallen out of favor. The growers are finding that the price they're getting doesn't cover the cost of digging them up.

I have one. I think you'll always be able to tell there's wire embedded.

JBP trunks will fatten up faster than JWP scions anyway.

I think a better way of doing this would be to wire the trunks, then remove the wire after its cut in, but while you still can. If you want, wire it again.

 

[makarovnik]

I have a small JBP. I got it cheap on ebay and the wire was digging in too far. I left it as an experiment to see if it would grow over it and show a twist in the trunk.

 

[Adair M]

I have a small JBP. I got it cheap on ebay and the wire was digging in too far. I left it as an experiment to see if it would grow over it and show a twist in the trunk.

It will.

 

[Adair M]

What I think is more pleasing to the eye is grafting JWP branches onto a nice trunk.

Here's an example:



That is JWP foliage grafted onto a Lodgepole trunk.

 

[jeremy_norbury]

Does anyone know WHY the trunk swells when constricted with wire?

 

[0soyoung]

Does anyone know WHY the trunk swells when constricted with wire?

Lots of people do.

It happens anytime one restricts the flow of auxin in the cambium (Polar Auxin Transport). An excess of auxin builds up, causes ethylene production which (in turn) enhances the rate of radial growth (this accumulation of auxin may also cause some cambium cells to dedifferentiate and upregulate auxin production to become root initials).

Everyone is familiar with this. It is the reason behind the flare above an air layer girdle/tourniquet. It is why wire on branches suddenly 'bites in' (look closer and one will see that this area of the branch seems thicker even though it is just the enhanced radial growth immediately above the wire). It also happens with thread grafts that pass through a drilled hole that effectively functions as a tourniquet on the thread.

 

[Wulfskaar]

Hmmm... ...!!!