Bonsai Club: Wiring Coniferous Trees [Bonsai]

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Here are some photos demonstrating work on my bonsai tree at a recent workshop. We had a guest attend our meeting with master level experience to provide feedback on how to wire conifers.

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This douglas fir tree is the one I chose to work on today. In this photo, I had recently repotted the tree, and it has been wired up tightly for about two or three months like this.

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When I removed all the wire, I felt a bit lost as to what I should do with this tree.

I feel like the tree is totally lacking in design and form.

The only thing I can see that has been improved by past wiring is that the branches are now forming a nice radial pattern around the tree. The primary branches have been selected well to offer an alternating pattern around the trunk.

However the branches seem long, leggy, and aimless.

When the guest master looked at my tree and those brought by others, he commented that our trees looked not healthy enough to be styled. First he told us the correct way to make "bon soil" that he insisted is the only soil we should be planting our trees in for correct root growth and health. He suggested our tree has not been fertilized enough, and that I was not following the correct pinching routine. By his estimation, I should have been applying two or three tea bags of fertilizer to this tree each month. I have only been apply one per month.

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The first thing I was helped with was the base of the tree. It was a oh-so-slightly loose in the pot. Using some pliers, the master completely rewired the anchor wires to the roots, and cranked in some strong twists.

He teased me about being left handed, even though I use tools with my right hand. The reason for this was to teach me that I should always twist anchor wires in the same direction (to the right) if I use pliers with the right hand normally.

The master also helped me to select a few branches to remove to minimize the complexity of the tree design and size. Off with the weak lowest branch. Off with the thick branch on top, but he left a big stub, and commented that this could become a deadwood feature. Off with the end of the side branch that was becoming too long and thick.

He twisted the wire around the top stub he left, using this as a strong support to twist the wire tightly against, and continued to spiral around the new apex branch. He twisted it around into circular angles at each upward bend, finally aiming the tree a bit into a forward position. "The tree should bow towards the viewer," he stated.

This man was overflowing with knowledge, but I can tell he was a bit cantankerous, and wasn't very open-minded when asked questions about creative options different from anything he suggested. Kind of a my-way or the highway sort of teacher, so I was willing to put aside any personal feeling to gleen any helpful info he was willing to provide.

He kept asking me the oddest personal questions, apparently to judge the size of my personal wealth. "Buy more wire," he said. Apparently the website Stone Lantern has discount bonsai wire for sale, and he suggested I buy a full range of wire widths.

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I was also advised to reconsider the planting angle for this tree. Placing a small bit of wire into the soil, he showed me the recommended angle for this tree. I cropped the photo here and rotated it to show the angle in which he preferred for this tree.

Still, I am lacking in knowledge in how to style the secondary and tertiary branches, and how many more needles I should or should not clean off the tree. Are these carefully guarded secrets?

One video I watched, the instructor said to turn the branches left, right, up, down, and continue to change the order in all four directions to fill the space. This seems like a fancy way of saying it should be organized to appear random in an evenly spaced way.

One other thing the guest master told me at the meeting was that branches on conifers should have triangular shaped pads, and not dome/circle shapes, because this is normal branch growth for most junipers and pines.

My hemlock tree has nice, natural triangular feathered branches, but my douglas fir here does not. Even in nature, I notice the unhealthy fir trees have long leggy branches like mine, and they sometimes hang down with green only on the ends. Yet, they still form organized tiers of green pads with spaces between each set. I would like to learn how to display this tree into a similar shape.

Perhaps I'll give the old man a call later this month and ask him for help again. He did mention he has trouble moving some of his heavy trees on his own.

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Photos in this post are all #originalworks by @creativetruth, unless stated otherwise.

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#diy #douglas-fir #bonsai-wiring #workshop #learning #photography #design #conifer



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