Wire- Copper, Aluminum...Galvanized Steel

[MrWunderful]

Well If you are looking for a cheaper option, even cheaper than a cheap Al wire, you can try find some electrical wires, heard someone that used it before wires were widely available.

While true, the value of scrap copper makes it a bit harder to come across unless you know an electrician, or someone in the building trades.

Even as an electrician, I still dont bother with using wire from the job site for a few reasons:
1- when ordering 100k in wire, you tend to be very accurate about your lengths so not much is left over
2- wire that is left over tends to be in shorter cuts

I have used standard #10-14 solid for guy wire rigs and stuff like that that requires a decent amount of wire but doesnt need to be annealed.

I still buy my wire from Adams-Mckinney though, and have access to stuff like this:

 

[Adair M]

I've used all kinds of cheaper steel wire and it's harder to remove from the tree (for me). I don't wire for pretty, so I don't care what it looks like, but for me getting it back off is always a pain in the ass. Almost always that's cutting it off, loop-by-loop to save the branches from damage. I favor aluminum for smaller gauges and copper for larger gauges. The more wiring you do, the less you care about costs because there is no substitute for the effects.

I’ve seen your wiring!

Let me just say... if you WOULD learn to “wire for pretty”, not only would your trees look better, you would use LESS wire, and the wire would be EASIER to remove! And, since you used less wire, you saved some money, too!

There’s a free tutorial on www.Craftsy.com taught by Colin Lewis. It’s excellent.

Wiring SHOULD “be pretty”. Wiring is what makes bonsai bonsai.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Steel wire with vinyl coating works fine for guy wires, and is cheap. Used with vinyl tubing to protect the branches it can be left on for two growing seasons, very helpful for older Boxwoods.

 

[Adair M]

Steel wire with vinyl coating works fine for guy wires, and is cheap. Used with vinyl tubing to protect the branches it can be left on for two growing seasons, very helpful for older Boxwoods.

If you’re going to protect the tree with vinyl tubing, why use vinyl coated wire?

I have used 20 gauge stainless steel wire for guywires that need to be extremely strong. It’s nearly invisible because it’s so thin.

I use screen window spline for my “tubing”. It’s black, and I find it “disappears” better than the clear tubing.