Hardcore bending experiment Boxleaf - hallowing, bracing, and breaking trunk

[goth_gardener]

Hello! I tried my hand experimenting on this very very stiff boxleaf tree I got from a local nursery, using a technique I’d seen videos of some bonsai teachers and enthusiasts doing. I hollowed out a channel on the back of the trunk to make the tree bendable, laid in copper wire, raffia wrapped, wired, and bent. There was definitely some cracking and snapping.. turns out the shell was stiffer than anticipated.. but the bark on front half is still in tact. I gave it some B1 to help with shock and fingers crossed it’ll mend and live. Thoughts? Predictions? Advice?

 

[ShadyStump]

Recently read about this technique in book I just got, but never tried it.

 

[dbonsaiw]

That's some serious movement you achieved. I've been trying to bend a JM trunk with just rope. I tighten it every so often to increase the bend.

 

[penumbra]

Pretty extreme, but boxwood are tough. All you can do now is provide the best possible care and wait.
Please keep us informed. Many here have read about this or even watched a you tube, but I am certain very few have tried it.

 

[rockm]

Not a boxwood. This would have snapped a boxwood. Deciduous and broadleafed trees' wood tends to be much much more brittle than conifers'.

It's a euonymus,--different plant.

As far as predictions go, wouldn't be totally surprised if it's dead in a month, or at least everything above the first bend. You've applied a conifer treatment to a non-conifer species. Even the most capable originators of this kind of extreme bending--Masahiko Kiumura uses it on conifers only.

All this said, nothing is absolute. Chance it will work, fingers crossed.

 

[penumbra]

It's a euonymus,--different plant.

I missed that completely. My tired eyes just don't pick up everything.

 

[ToastyWrench]

It's a euonymus,--different plant.

I’m interested if you know what cultivar of euonymus? I’ve got a few Alatus but the growth pattern and leaf/leaf cuticle seem way different than anything I’ve come across

 

[rockm]

I’m interested if you know what cultivar of euonymus? I’ve got a few Alatus but the growth pattern and leaf/leaf cuticle seem way different than anything I’ve come across

Internet search turned up this--Boxleaf Euonymus--

Euonymus japonicus 'Microphyllus'​

, https://www.monrovia.com/boxleaf-euonymus.html

FWIW, this is definitely not a boxwood. The interior wood of boxwood is extremely dense. Boxwood is one of the woods that sometime will not float in water because it is so dense. Attempting to bend an actual boxwood this size and diameter is impossible, even if you carve out the middle (which will dull a dremel bit in about 10 minutes), attempting to put a bend in the remainder will snap it in half.

 

[Shibui]

There are quite a few Buxus species with different leaf size and shape. Also lots of different Euonymus, some of them with foliage that looks very much like buxus. I'm hard pressed to tell the difference between a few.
I checked and there is Buxus japonicus and also Euonymus japonicus. Both are used for hedging, both have opposite leaves and you can see that the common name for E. japonicus microphylla is Box leaf Euonymus which indicates the 2 look very similar.
Not sure what features to check that would differentiate one from the other.

The species name won't make any difference to how good the bonsai is though.

 

[goth_gardener]

Oh my! Yes, my bad, correction on the species. It appears it is neither box leaf nor Euonymous. I actually believe it's a Eugenia! I went back to the nursery to check as there was no tags, and they informed me it was. I'm giving it some Superthrive as well and keeping in the shade so fingers crossed indeed!
Thanks all!!

 

[goth_gardener]

Not a boxwood. This would have snapped a boxwood. Deciduous and broadleafed trees' wood tends to be much much more brittle than conifers'.

It's a euonymus,--different plant.

As far as predictions go, wouldn't be totally surprised if it's dead in a month, or at least everything above the first bend. You've applied a conifer treatment to a non-conifer species. Even the most capable originators of this kind of extreme bending--Masahiko Kiumura uses it on conifers only.

All this said, nothing is absolute. Chance it will work, fingers crossed.

Ah I see, I saw it initially used on a Birch, which I know is also supposed to be quite brittle. Yes, keep the tree in your thoughts and prayers.. ha ha

 

[shinmai]

You’re a better man than I am, Gungha Din.
Intuitively, I would have put the channel and the reinforcing wire on the back side of the bend.

 

[ShadyStump]

You’re a better man than I am, Gungha Din.
Intuitively, I would have put the channel and the reinforcing wire on the back side of the bend.

(Gunga Din is my favorite!)

When I first read about this technique I was confused the same way, but then I thought about it some. Carving the channel on the inside allows the carved spaces to close in sort of like using V-notches, and hides the scarring on the undersides where it's a little less noticable.

 

[goth_gardener]

You’re a better man than I am, Gungha Din.
Intuitively, I would have put the channel and the reinforcing wire on the back side of the bend.

Heheh. It is in the back side of the bend! In the first photo the cut is actually already made, just hidden from the face of the tree.