This is my Azalea that I am training into a bonsai.

The sap is flowing again inside most of my trees, and I am noticing that the bark on many of them is slightly more rubbery and pliable. In some cases, it is very loose, and easy to be scratched off down to the green cambium with a strong fingernail gouge. Even though it is not recommended for this time of year, I decide to wire this tree, along with a various other trees in my collection.

Especially on the Azalea, branches are very fragile and tend to grow very straight when left alone. My best shot at bending the branches on a fragile tree is during the time of year when the branches the most flexible, which is in early Spring. However, with the wood so loose and delicate right now, it also means I can break off buds, leaves, and small branches if I am not careful handling the wire. This tree has many wide open spaces, so it is risk I am willing to take this year.

Above, this is what the tree looked like before I applied wires.

It has never been wired before, and amazingly it is building its own canopy of leaves and buds along a top dome shape. Good pruning also helps the tree to maintain this style. Wires are necessary to add bends and to change the levels of the current branches.

Two small branches did snap off in the wiring process. Sometimes by bending a large branch, even when being careful, it stretches a small branch on the outside of the bend. Because the outer bark breaks like paper, these small branches tend to fall off if the collar is stretched even slightly.

Those two lost branches will go into my rooting sand, and we will see what happens to them.

In the top view, you can see how conservatively I had to leave the main branch alone. The rightmost branch was long and thin, and was willing to take some bend, so I shaped it into a downward fanning curve. This adds to the cascading shape of the limb. Some day I think this tree would look very good with the long limbs growing downward over a rock boulder, as it enjoys the warmth and sunlight reflected off the dry rocks.

The left branches were more willing to accept some bend. There I added some very sharp inward S-curves to fill in the empty space above the trunk and the roots. The long straight branch in this group joins a 3-way junction of branches which is not ideal. One branch I curved into a criss-cross right under it, which is also not good design. I did not think this branch would handle wiring well, so I am going to wait until after this tree blooms, and then this sacrificial limb will be removed, and made into cutting by burying it in sand. That will fix the design in this area, and hopefully give me a new tree to practice on.

This was the first photo I took after wiring it, which is its natural state where it lies on the deck to absorb some rays and, oh dear... fertilizer from the heavens.

Oops, I forgot to clean that up.

The birds like to get artistic with bonsai too sometimes.

As many of you know, I am simply an amateur hobbyist. I make no promises that my methods will work for myself or for you. I do not even use appropriate aluminum wires for bonsai because I do things on the cheap, and it sharpens my technique to be more careful in the choices and actions I make. Please do your own research. I am happy to offer advice and opinions to the best of my abilities.

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

Find me on discord and chat with other tree growers, bonsai enthusiasts, and gardeners. We have quite a few accredited experts filling out our ranks, and a helpful Spanish-speaking community.

#teambonsai

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Bonsai!

Saturday, March 30, 2019


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