Extreme branch bending; Ume

[ragenmoan]

I seem to recall a post where ume branches were bent with extreme 90 degree bends by first crushing the branch with pliers and then bent to shape as desired. Also seen YouTube video were the branch was simply bend until it snapped! Anyone have hands on experience with this and/or share relevant posts?

 

[yenling83]

Hey! I definitely would not crush an ume branch to bend it. I believe ume is slightly more likely to snap compared with other deciduous trees, but not much. You can bend young first year branches, I usually do that work in May. However, I would not try bending any ume branch that's over a year old and even then it's probably a better idea to graft in order to create a new branch. I did see a technique at Aichi-En, where one of the apprentices bent a 2-3 year old lignified branch down. He bent it to the point where the top of the branch which connects to the trunk started to tear, but it was just starting to tear. Cut paste was applied to the top of the branch and it lived. However, they explained to me that the process was risky and they probably would not have done this on expensive material. Better idea, but more time consuming option would have been to graft.

 

[SeanS]

Here’s a thread I started last week about removing wood from Ume to bend them, and 2 videos showing the technique you’re asking about

Wedge cut and bend on Ume?

Anyone have any experience with wedge cutting and bending an Ume? With deadwood being a part of Ume design, could one remove a chunk of a branch or trunk of an Ume in order to perform a bend in that area?

www.bonsainut.com

 

[ragenmoan]

These are exactly the 2 videos I was looking for! I suspect its still good time to this here in the SF Bay Area. Thanx SeanS

 

[ragenmoan]

I took the challenge and folded some branches on my lone ume bonsai after practicing on a yard ume tree. I left the top untouched just in case these folded branches dont make it. here's the before and after photos. Wish me luck!

 

[Michael P]

Following with interest! I started working on some seedlings of Prunus mexicana last year. This species is native and common in my area. Like ume, it has small flowers on bare branches in late winter. Larger branches and trunk have nice exfoliating bark. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=PRME

 

[leatherback]

I took the challenge and folded some branches on my lone ume bonsai after practicing on a yard ume tree. I left the top untouched just in case these folded branches dont make it. here's the before and after photos. Wish me luck!

Why did you decide to break, instead of bend these?

 

[ragenmoan]

Why did you decide to break, instead of bend these?

I wanted to give this a literati styling with extreme low hanging branches. Wiring the branches down would have given me more of an open umbrella look. Since the branches are very brittle, I decided to crush the branches before bending/folding to lessen branch tears. This procedure is also suppose to increase branching below the bend easier.

 

[ralf]

I seem to recall a post where ume branches were bent with extreme 90 degree bends by first crushing the branch with pliers and then bent to shape as desired. Also seen YouTube video were the branch was simply bend until it snapped! Anyone have hands on experience with this and/or share relevant posts?

The first video shows a method to produce strong flower buds so it is NOT about design I believe. The rationale behind - if you leave the branch too strong it tends to produce a lot of vegetative growth rather than the generative one. So you cut of the first 2-3 leaves at the base of the shoot to get leave buds and then you leave a part of the shoot untouched with few leaves to develop flower buds at their base and then you can break the strong branch to reduce further vegetative growth. That's it. For sure you can break a branch on a strong growing plants such as ume to have creative bends . Not sure if 90° bend is the most wanted on the bonsai tree.