General Rule of Thumb for Raffia

[Apex37]

I was curious if there’s a general rule of thumb you Nutters use when to implement raffia. As in, if the branch is X thick, I’ll probably wrap it before any major bends.

I understand this will probably be different depending on the species, with some being more flexible than others. I was curious if say for a JBP, what size thickness you would raffia before making major bends? Junipers? Etc.

I plan on doing some major bends for the first time on my JBP’s and Shimpaku’s here coming up and just trying to get an idea so I don’t go killing off branches.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I've heard people say over 3/8 inch then use raffia. But it's not always a size issue. Some will use it on extreme bends as well. Even when the branch is thinner some have used raffia to prevent scarring of the branches. I've seen this with Stewartia for example.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I use it for any bend on which I feel breaking is going to happen.
No real rule of thumb other than 'better safe than sorry'.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Not on rough bark trees.