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"Taking pride in the quality of your wiring will lead to better workmanship and better
results. Good wiring is kinder to the tree, more efficient and uses less wire. These are all desirable things!" (Colin Lewis)
Whether you consider wiring an art or a skill, all would agree that to do
it effectively is a key ingredient in producing a convincing image. What begs to be answered is what constitutes effective
wiring. Is it the type of wire used or how it is applied? Is it choosing the right size wire or is it none of these? Lets
examine each of these questions.
Where to Start
Like any contest you must evaluate your opponent and decide on a game plan
and decide what weapons are available in your arsenal. This is a key ingredient to pulling off a great wiring job that will
enhance the image of your tree. Winging it while wiring a tree will almost always end up with a tree that looks messy. More
importantly it will most often produce less than effective holding strength requiring a rewiring or additional wire to accomplish
the original task. It is important to not to rationalize away an unplanned job thinking your fine tuning a job in progress,
if you do you are only fooling yourself.
 Determining where to start the wiring process on a tree is always the place to start. Ask yourself what really needs
to be wired? If you are wiring a branch on a upper portion of your tree then taking wire anywhere else outside of a specific
anchor point would be unnecessary. This may seem obvious but I often seen wire ending up in places that it has no business.
Keeping your mitts away from areas that don’t need wire is good for the tree and your wallet. This is part of the formulation
of a game plan.
Decide on the type of wire to be used. This one question just about always invokes debate. Is copper better or is aluminum
better? If you listen to the crowd you will come up with several different answers. It is this author’s opinion that
both have specific applications, cost of a type of wire should not be a factor.
It is common belief that aluminum is the only wire to use for deciduous trees. It is soft and wont bite in to the bark
when the tree grows. This maybe true to an extent, eventually all wire will leave a mark, but is too simplistic in its
logic. No one wants deep biting wire marks in there tree, this is a given. A slight tightness, even a mild bite on the
bark can be a desirable thing at times in order to obtain a branch set. Obviously not enough to severely damage the cambium
layer, but enough to disrupt some of the cell structure to aid in the set. This is a fine line to walk and the caretaker must
be extremely vigilant during times of accelerated growth . Along with what is stated above, one must think of other contrary
qualities of aluminum when taking its softness into account. Due to its pliability your perfectly set branch can be subject
to “re-design” from strong winds, excessive summer time heat and some catalysis for movement, careless friends
that are ogling your trees, even the jostling of trees as they are moved to winter quarters. The typical standard reply to
these objections are invariably “its no big deal I can move it back into place”. This maybe true there is no denying
it, but will you notice that movement in time before the branch takes a set, requiring you to start from square one and rewire
the branch. You must ask yourself, is this an effective way in obtaining a branch set in the shortest amount of time? Was
this in your game plan when you embarked on your wiring mission? Finally is this the healthiest most efficient way to treat
your tree with repeated movement of a branch?
I would propose an alternative to wiring a deciduous tree. If you must use aluminum then the
best time to use it is in the spring when a tree puts on a quick growth spurt. Using aluminum wire during this time is a strategic
thing to do, helping to prevent sever wire bite. Then when this time of rapid growth has past copper should be applied to
the deciduous tree for it superior holding power. Uh huh, I said copper, my guess is that you knew this was coming. Now that
the tree has slowed down its growth copper will be no more risk than aluminum at this time of year. You will reap the benefits
from the relative firmness of copper during the remaining months of your growing season and through dormancy as well. Yes
rewiring is more work, however it is a means to a faster end in achieving your design.
Some final thoughts. If copper is chosen to wire a deciduous tree beware that when copper oxidizes it can be harmful to
stone fruit types of trees. Also there is no reason why copper can’t be used year round in lieu of an aluminum application..
The main draw back for some is its tendency to bite as discussed above. If the caretaker of the tree is vigilant then wire
biting should not be a problem. Simply cut away the small section that is starting to show signs of biting, This will alleviate
the problem while letting you keep
wire on the rest of the tree.
The use of copper should always be used when working with a conifer material. Its holding power for this type of species
is far superior than that of aluminum.
Use only copper wire which has been annealed. It is soft when first applied, then work-hardens as it is bent and applied.
Providing significant holding power. The risk of wire bite is substantially less as well, though care should be taken in the
fall months. It is at this time that significant thickening of conifer branches can occur.
When working with conifers you initially start working with what the material has to offer and try to create something
from the existing structure. This is when coppers holding power comes into it own when bending and positioning heavy branches,
something aluminum cant do with out assistance. Not to put to fine a point on this topic, but a good example would be to look
at most the professionals, in particular western artists. On all their conifers they use copper. They have become masters
at working efficiently with trees to produce an image. If aluminum were to do the job equally as well, then rest assured they
would be making good use of it.
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| Wire sizes |
Selecting the right wire size is very important to your game plan. Not only selecting a certain size having a specific
holding capacity. Also you want to take a minimalist approach for aesthetic reasons. Choosing the right size to do the job
while presenting a pleasing image. Annealed copper wire sizes range from 4 gauge to a very fine 24 gauge. Aluminum wire sizes
range from 1mm to 6mm and will come as either bare aluminum, painted, anodize or copper clad.
Over time one becomes familiar with what size will do the job with the least amount of wire girth needed. A person
new to bonsai can use the following rules or test to answer the question of what size. The general rule of thumb for quickly
approximating the correct size of wire is that copper will be about a third the size of the branch of the branch diameter.
Aluminum will be about half the diameter. To back this rule up you can do the 6-inch test. Press the tip of a 6-inch portion
of wire against the tree. Be sure to support the tree during the test. If the wire bends, move up to a larger size a larger.
If the branch bends, the wire is strong enough. If after all your calculations you get the wire size wrong you can do one
of two things. The first is you can remove the wire and increase the size, this will end up being more aesthetically pleasing
and efficient. The second is you can add another wire that will compensate for the first under sized wire. While this is not
the best choice it will suffice.
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| Wire is to small |
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| Wire is just right |
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Some final things to deliberate in your game plan. Consideration must be given to species such as soft-barked trees (i.e.
cork bark varieties). Wiring these type of trees can be very problematic not wanting to damage the bark. To resolve this problem,
you can take two approaches. The first is to wrap the wire with something such as hose that is found in drip irrigation systems,
grafting tape, even paper to protect the bark. The second is to wrap the branch with raffia. Both have their pros and cons.
If you are wiring when the tree is dormant you can get a good view of the branch, raffia is probably the best way to go. If
you are wiring when the tree is active wrapping the wire before hand works well.
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| Hose and soft rubber pad |
How long should you leave the wire on? The answer is dependent on several different factors. First is the size of the limb
or trunk that is half inch or less. If yes, then expect a set in approximately 3 months. This will vary slightly on specific
species. If the subject being wired is over a half inch in diameter or better, it may take as long as a year or two for a
set to take place. To help in the prevention of breaking a brittle branch you can work the limb by massaging it. Starting
at the trunk and working out toward the tip a series of light flexing of the branch make it more pliable. Another thing that
helps is if you refrain from watering for a day taking away its ability to be turgid. This will help reduce the size of the
trees cells making it a bit easier to bend branches that might normally snap. The final consideration is how long should you
leave the wire on? The easy answer is until it shows signs of biting the bark. However in some instances that may not occur
for a long while. A good example of this is the Juniper. It can have a memory and take several wiring sessions to get it to
take a set. So if the bark isn’t in jeopardy leave it on as long as possible, chances are the set will take longer than
you think
The Art of Application
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| Sling Shot Method |
Part of your game plan needs to be a logical, harmonious way to apply wire. The simplest technique in applying wire is
the "slingshot method" This method will always provide secure anchoring of wire when bent and prevent a titter - totter effect
when wiring branches in close proximity. When looking at any fork in a tree, be it branch and branch, trunk and branch, or
trunk and trunk as long as there is a fork, they all can be interpreted as a the frame of a slingshot, no matter what the
angles be between the three points.
Start off by bringing the wire around the handle slingshot. For illustrative purposes this would be the thickest part of
the fork normally closest to the trunk. Now bring each end of the wire up and around the two forks of the slingshot respectively
in the same direction wrapping continuously to the next major fork. Pass the fork with one and a half full turns on either
of the extensions of your choosing to provide an anchor. Ideally the other end of the wire will extend till its no longer
suitable for the branch thickness. At this time stop and cut the wire. This simple act of extending the wire will work as
an anchor to the arm of the new slingshot.
To repeat this procedure. Start a new with your current slingshot by laying a new wire next to the anchor you just created.
Remember that as you extend out away from the trunk the branch gets thinner so a reduction in wire size may come into play.
Once again you wire the slingshot as you did previously wrapping the wire out till you reach the next fork.. You keep repeating
these actions dealing with each fork as you go and adjusting wire size along the way.
You will eventually run out of forks, hit the end of the line and need to deal with the tag ends of the wire and shoot
tips. By this time you should have reduced wire sizes down to where you can use the finest wire in your arsenal. This is where
gauges like 20 and 22 for copper and 1mm for aluminum come into there own. Wire the tips by creating a nice neat loop around
the end of the shoot tip. This loop will accomplish two things for you. The first being it will stop spontaneous uncoiling
of the wire. The second is that it will help in direct all terminal buds.
Other tips on applying wire, securing, and anchoring.
- Always wire from the bottom up. This will give you room above to work freely with out possibly moving branches. It also
aids in the design procedure
- As mentioned earlier, if a radical bend is being planed the application of raffia before hand to prevent cambium damaged
must first be carried out.
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| Top branch is wrapped with raffia and is bent carefully 180 degrees on itself with no harm |
- The wire should wrap around the outside of any bends you are planning in your design. This will
support the branch and prevent splitting. This needs to be planned for before wiring begins and is imperative to the branch
from being compromised
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| Wire is placed on the outside bend of this Spruce for support and to prevent splitting |
- In some instances for cosmetic reasons, or the shear stress of force exerted on a branch a guy
wire may be needed to assist the wire on a branch. The guy wire loops where attached to living tissue should be padded at
all times to prevent damage to the cambium. The guy wire should be anchored to very secure portion of the tree or pot being
able to withstand the tension that will be produced.
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| Intiial application of guy wires to a perfectly straight trunk |
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| Guy wires removed with trunk set in place. It now has subtle movement as designed |
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- To provide a strong anchor to a trunk being wired. Insert the wire into the soil next to the
trunk burying it at least three times the thickness of the trunk or till you hit the bottom of the pot. Start your wraps up
the tree exiting the soil as close to the trunk as possible and begin the wiring process
- Care must be taken to keep wire away from buds, so the bud is not damaged when applying, or when removing the wire.. Wiring
pines requires threading or laying the wire needle clusters, and not over the needles. Wired needles turn brown quickly and
die. If wire is applied near a bud extreme caution needs to be taken during application and removal of wire. This bud may
be next year’s branch which may play a role in the design.
- When removing wire, cut it away a loop at a time to prevent bark damage. NEVER unwind wire from a branch...bark can be
pulled away with the wire, if the wire has become tight.
Applying wire can be a bit like playing Rubik's cube. It can take time to figure your way through a maze of branches in
a neat and crisp fashion. Keeping wire wraps at a 45 degree angles, not crossing wires, making sure that all looks tidy and
neat. It will take lots of practice and if your going to do it you might as well do it right. Remember that one day your tree
maybe displayed to the public. It would be a shame if someone walked by while your tree stood in all its glory and stated
what a crappy wiring job it had.
Contact Tom Brown about this article
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| Discuss This Article |
To promote the personal appreciation, artistic and horticultural development in the highest form of bonsai through cooperative
practice and critique. This is expressed through hands-on workshops, seminars, study groups, online articles and reviews.
4MAAT was founded by four bonsai artists, who after a half decade of intensive study under the tutelage of an internationally
respected, award winning bonsai artist and author, wanted to continue their craft and share with others. We strive to better
our knowledge through an on going study group and welcome others to join in the passion. We do this with the cooperation of
Shady Side Bonsai.
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