Is There A Wrong Time Of Year To Wire?

[mrcasey]

Assuming that a tree is in good health, is there a WRONG time of year to wire most bonsai?

Genii about which I'm curious:

Juniper
Pine
Spruce
Fir
Maple
Quince
Yew
Elm
Ficus
Hornbeam
Crabapple

 

[Tycoss]

Don't wire spruce or fir when they are actively growing. It usually results in at least some dieback.

 

[0soyoung]

In the northern hemisphere from roughly April (varies by climatic zone) until mid-July (shortly after the summer solstice), the cambium is growing 'wildly' and the bark is easily ripped/slipped/damaged - this is not a good time to wire ANY species.

Deciduous (i.e., angiosperms) trees are wired immediately after leaf drop in fall and/or anytime the tree is defoliated during the season for the simple reason that it is 'impossible' with all the leaves in place.

 

[mrcasey]

Genii

Oops. The plural of genus is genera. I guess I was pretentious and wrong.

 

[Dav4]

I wire year round on all my trees as I have time but there are certainly better times. I prefer heavy wiring on conifers- for me, that's junipers, pines, and yews- during the fall and winter, though I would forgo severe bending until late winter to early spring. I'm also a convert to wiring the new, less lignified growth on deciduous trees... I don't defoliate (I may remove a leaf or two) and it's actually not that hard with the leaves in the way, either.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I second @Dav4 ,
"Loose" wiring of deciduous before new shoots harden is often needed. Especially when "building a tree", it is important to set the direction of new shoots from the trunk.

Otherwise, all conifers and most deciduous I only wire later in summer, or fall and winter.

 

[twisted trees]

I third dav4. Exactly what I would say. Aftercare is important. If you are tuned into to your trees the right care will be obvious.

 

[just.wing.it]

I'm gonna wire up my yews, spruce, mugos, e. white pine, and junipers this winter...and I'll do some of the deciduous trees, like maples, hornbeams, elms, crape myrtle, after leaf drop in autumn.
Although, I did do one juniper and one taxus this summer, with no problems.

 

[Adair M]

Wrong time of the year?

For Pines, it's when the candles (shoots) are growing because they're delicate and easily broken.

For Juniper, it's summer. The branches are full of sap, and the bark and cambium are very loosely attached to the heartwood, making it very easy to damage.

For deciduous, its fall after leaf drop. By that time the wood has lignified. Wiring (and bending) may damage the branches, but they're going (or already are) dormant, so they can't repair themselves until the following spring. The time to wire deciduous is while they're growing, with green soft shoots. They can be wired into place and they lignify into place within weeks! Then the wire is removed, and the shoots are cut back. When new shoots appear, wire those, and when they lignify, unwire and cutback. Depending on the species and length of your growing season you can do this 3 or 4 times a year.

Remove wire before winter for deciduous because the wire can concentrate the cold and cause branch die back.

 

[just.wing.it]

Wrong time of the year?

For Pines, it's when the candles (shoots) are growing because they're delicate and easily broken.

For Juniper, it's summer. The branches are full of sap, and the bark and cambium are very loosely attached to the heartwood, making it very easy to damage.

For deciduous, its fall after leaf drop. By that time the wood has lignified. Wiring (and bending) may damage the branches, but they're going (or already are) dormant, so they can't repair themselves until the following spring. The time to wire deciduous is while they're growing, with green soft shoots. They can be wired into place and they lignify into place within weeks! Then the wire is removed, and the shoots are cut back. When new shoots appear, wire those, and when they lignify, unwire and cutback. Depending on the species and length of your growing season you can do this 3 or 4 times a year.

Remove wire before winter for deciduous because the wire can concentrate the cold and cause branch die back.

Hmm... how about wiring deciduous trees in early spring, before buds burst?
Like right before repotting, for example?

 

[Giga]

Wrong time of the year?

For Pines, it's when the candles (shoots) are growing because they're delicate and easily broken.

For Juniper, it's summer. The branches are full of sap, and the bark and cambium are very loosely attached to the heartwood, making it very easy to damage.

For deciduous, its fall after leaf drop. By that time the wood has lignified. Wiring (and bending) may damage the branches, but they're going (or already are) dormant, so they can't repair themselves until the following spring. The time to wire deciduous is while they're growing, with green soft shoots. They can be wired into place and they lignify into place within weeks! Then the wire is removed, and the shoots are cut back. When new shoots appear, wire those, and when they lignify, unwire and cutback. Depending on the species and length of your growing season you can do this 3 or 4 times a year.

Remove wire before winter for deciduous because the wire can concentrate the cold and cause branch die back.

This

Hmm... how about wiring deciduous trees in early spring, before buds burst?
Like right before repotting, for example?

I do it , just be very careful not to knock off buds. After, watch that the wire doesn't bite in.

 

[Adair M]

Hmm... how about wiring deciduous trees in early spring, before buds burst?
Like right before repotting, for example?

Again, the old wood is already lignified. Which means if you bend it, you break it. (Wood has some natural flexibility, allowing trees to sway with the wind. If you bend so little that you're within the sway, it's not doing any damage, but it's not until the tree adds new cells, and those lignify, that the wiring bends "take".

Deciduous trees develop movement much better if the curves are put in when the new growth has not yet lignified. Then when it does lignify, those curves are there forever!

Deciduous trees should be grown into shape. Yes, it's tedious, and takes a long time. It's also why you see far better deciduous bonsai in Japan than here in the West.

 

[Johnathan]

A lot of good info in this thread. Thanks everyone.

 

[Vance Wood]

The worst time to wire is when you don't feel like doing it, and when you are so anxious to do something at any cost you will wire when good sense has told you not to. That's when you make mistakes and do things using bad short cuts that cause barriers in the future.

However early spring, once the buds and candles start elongating, you can cause the bark to slip. So you should wire before and watch that you are not biting into the bark and later that you are not causing the bark to separate from the cambium. If you are cautious and keep your eyes open and wont get bummed if you have to put a project down for a few weeks, you can pretty much wire any time.

 

[Timbo]

Again, the old wood is already lignified. Which means if you bend it, you break it. (Wood has some natural flexibility, allowing trees to sway with the wind. If you bend so little that you're within the sway, it's not doing any damage, but it's not until the tree adds new cells, and those lignify, that the wiring bends "take".

Deciduous trees develop movement much better if the curves are put in when the new growth has not yet lignified. Then when it does lignify, those curves are there forever!

Deciduous trees should be grown into shape. Yes, it's tedious, and takes a long time. It's also why you see far better deciduous bonsai in Japan than here in the West.

I'm struggling with the right time to do Maples, if you do it on young growth they just snap. If you do it too late it's hard to bend the joints.
If i do it in fall then i have to worry about winter protection up here...who knows how cold it's going to get this year.

 

[MichaelS]

is there a WRONG time of year to wire most bonsai?

12.00 noon on Christmas day.

 

[sorce]

I'm struggling with the right time to do Maples, if you do it on young growth they just snap. If you do it too late it's hard to bend the joints.
If i do it in fall then i have to worry about winter protection up here...who knows how cold it's going to get this year.

Let it go dry till it won't snap.

Wire then water.

Sorce

 

[Adair M]

Young growth. Be gentle. Before it lignifies.

There's a thread by MarkyScott called "Ebihara Maples". It starts off with developing good nebari. About halfway thru the thread we discuss how to train Maples.

The truth: great Maples are grown into shape, not bent like conifers. But, they do get wire when the shoots are young, say 6 to 8 leaves. The wire only has to stay on a couple weeks, then it's removed, an the branch is cut back. When it grows out again, wire it again. Remove and cut back. Repeat as many times as you can each spring/summer!

 

[MichaelS]

Young growth. Be gentle. Before it lignifies.

There's a thread by MarkyScott called "Ebihara Maples". It starts off with developing good nebari. About halfway thru the thread we discuss how to train Maples.

The truth: great Maples are grown into shape, not bent like conifers. But, they do get wire when the shoots are young, say 6 to 8 leaves. The wire only has to stay on a couple weeks, then it's removed, an the branch is cut back. When it grows out again, wire it again. Remove and cut back. Repeat as many times as you can each spring/summer!

I NEVER wire my maples in summer.

 

[music~maker]

I'm struggling with the right time to do Maples, if you do it on young growth they just snap. If you do it too late it's hard to bend the joints.
If i do it in fall then i have to worry about winter protection up here...who knows how cold it's going to get this year.

For younger branches, perhaps try using thinner wire and working with a gentler touch. The trick is to wire the branch, then bend the wire, not the branch if that makes sense. And especially for the thin ones, you want to wire and bend in place just once. Don't manipulate it back and forth - that's just asking for it.

Time of year matters, too. If you try to wire maple branches in the winter, they're very likely to snap. Especially kiyohime maples. You really need to wire them when there's a bit of sap flow. I tend to wire late winter/early spring, just as they're waking up, but I've also done early summer, mid summer and late summer wirings and had it work out OK. It's when they're dormant that branch snapping can really be a problem.

Also fwiw, there's often a decent amount of time between "thin young growth" and "too late to bend the joints". You ought to be able to get the timing down with practice.

Keep working on it. Practice makes perfect. =)