J. Squamata a little twisted!

[Jamie]

hey guys,

while away i found i had a bit of time on my hands.. well a lot actually so i was looking at this juni and knew i wasnt happy with it overall so something drastic had to be done, and drastic it was! using some simple yet effective techniques using inner tubes of old bike tyres cut into strips, wrapped tightly around the trunk, some heavy wire ran up the length of the trunk, then more inner tube wrapped around that and finally severally lengths of wire wrapped around the whole lot, now it looks a little messy but it works, if it is effective use it!

Juniwrapped.jpg

wrapped in rubber tube

Juniwrapped and struts.jpg

struts with rubber tube holding it in place

Juni wrapped and wired.jpg

wrapped over the struts and wire wrapped around it

Juni bent1.jpg

initial bending, all one by hand no bending bars

Juni wired and placed.jpg

and main branching wired

as you can se the differences in light it did take some time, but well worth the time and effort i think it should come out nicely

jamie

[Amanda]

What a corker it'll become. Can't really make out direction in the last photo but sure looks compact

[Leigh Taafe]

Nice compression Jamie!

[Jamie]

thanks guys

i has been brought down by about half it was around the 650mm mark and now its about 350mm ish, im not one to take exact measurements!


jamie

[Jamie]

heres a virt of it filled in and a shari running the length of the trunk, it will eventually get there

Juni wired and placed virt.jpg

anja that was the expression i was hoping for, not being able to tell the direction of the trunk is good it has taken away the monotony of the trunk of old

[Amanda]

The virt is very interesting. I can't believe how compact it is.

How long will the tubes need to stay on for?

[Jamie]

being that it is in a pot and growth is a little slower i would say possibly 1-3 years. it could possibly need removing and replacement of the wire too. it all depends on how dense the actual wood of the tree can put on in the trunk, the more wood i can get it to put on the more likely it wont need drastic measures later on again to hold its position.

i could go on about it a fair bit but i think this is a topic that could deserve its on thread on the matter of wiring, putting on wood to hold position etc.


jamie

[Mitchell]

Great work mate! Now that looks the goods! Can't wait to see how it turns out. I wrapped and heavily compressed my pine last week, so we are on similar plans. Will be interesting to see how long yours and mine take. I'm planning on un-binding mine in about 6 months to check and re-bind with more compression.

Keep us updated as I know you will!

[alpineart]

Nice job Jamie , i like the Squamata's have got a few trainers and layers going .Cheers Alpine

[Jamie]

gday mitch

how thick is your pine? i beleive six months will be a little slim on the time it takes to hold, the reasoning behind wrapping the trunk with the tube then putting the struts on it then wiring like normal, the first layer of wrap is to protect the bark, the struts shouldnt dig into the tree in 6months time, i think a minimum of a year would be the go before taking anything off, remember it will be harder to wrap next time if it is twisted and compressed. you really only want to do it the once, my thoughts on it anyways.

6 months time wont be long enough for a pine to put on enough wood to hold the shape of the tree. i will write up the thoery of bending with wire etc. and how a tree thickens and holds position.

cheers alpine i dont mind the squamata myself but if i could trade this for a shimpaku, even of shohin size i would do it in a heart beat.

jamie

[anttal63]

Nice job jamie!!! Try to get the base cranked over more. It will stretch back up a tadd in 12 mnths. So the more compression the better. Also you dont want the base lookn more relaxed than the top half, it will look odd later. JM2B. Great to see ya pushn boundaries again.

[Jamie]

gday Ant


i was wondering how long it was going to take for you to find this one if we dont push boundries we wont have great trees for the generations next to inherent (spelling?).

i get what ya saying bout the base area, will have to see if i can push it down further, might need to make a bending bar after all! that gives me a job to do tomorrow


jamie

[Mitchell]

gday mitch

how thick is your pine? i beleive six months will be a little slim on the time it takes to hold, the reasoning behind wrapping the trunk with the tube then putting the struts on it then wiring like normal, the first layer of wrap is to protect the bark, the struts shouldnt dig into the tree in 6months time, i think a minimum of a year would be the go before taking anything off, remember it will be harder to wrap next time if it is twisted and compressed. you really only want to do it the once, my thoughts on it anyways.

6 months time wont be long enough for a pine to put on enough wood to hold the shape of the tree. i will write up the thoery of bending with wire etc. and how a tree thickens and holds position.



jamie

If I was using your method, I would leave it on similar to yourself to get the results. I am more interested in my experiment with jute webbing, thus wanting to check it early.
Trunks about 25mm

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4773

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on it.

[anttal63]

Been off the radar today. Busy chopping down and styling collected English elms.

Yes mate a bar is a good idea. the planting angle will probably need to change at a later stage but all will be well worth it if you go this extra little mile!

[Jamie]

lucky bugger collecting elms

that was one thing i was thinking about with the planting angle, the root spread on this juni is probably one of the neatest i have seen on these sort of staked trees, its not perfect but it has a decent radial spread, changing planting angle hopefully wont effect it to much, but another thing to look at

i will make up a bar tomorrow aswell if i get time, moving soon!

mitchell, i just checked out your jute thread, honestly i think that under the conditions of bonsai it will rot away, especially when you start fertilising the tree.
i think choping it back to the 100mm leader would of been a better option... ohwell! done now, time will tell!