Wiring of a Weeping Willow..Eight hours later.

[bodhidharma]

WOO..HOO. My first ever 8 hour wiring session. I have read of people that have spent days and days wiring their trees and wondered why they took so long, now i know why. My Willow, which i do not believe is anywhere nearly refined enough, has just taken a full day to wire..(with a lunch break of course, in case anyone from the Bonsai union is listening) It took a lot of concentration and patience, and some expletives, to get done. I am stoked and i am sharing the experience with A.B people. Feel free if you can add with any wiring Marathon stories.

[NathanM]

Bodhi, nice work mate!! Looks excellent. Can’t say I’ve sat down for that long wiring, but I’d certainly like to one day.
I’m sure, despite a few agitated moments, at the end you would have felt relaxed and had a great sense of achievement.
Nice work.

[Amanda]

Bodhi that is amazing work, now go relax and have a beer

[ebrand]

Bodhi
I am relatively new to Bonsai, started this year actually. I think your weeping willow looks great, just wondering if you have any previous photos or advice on how you styled this willow, I am currently looking for some willows in my area to take some cuttings from and would appreciate any advice you could share.

[bodhidharma]

Welcome Ebrand, if you browse through this forum there is a wealth of info posted by myself and many other knowledgeable people. Be prepared though, they are a mountain of work.

[bodhidharma]

Bodhi that is amazing work, now go relax and have a beer

Thank you and ...i am

[kvan64]

Just beautiful! By the way, do weeping willow flower?

[MelaQuin]

Great job and there's the rub.... being a willow it will thicken quickly and you will have to remove all that wire quickly and then rewire. I had one weeping tree and it was quite beautiful but lasted two years before I sold it. Wiring hoizontal branches is one thing, wiring vertical is another thing again. It has been mentioned that using clothes pegs to weight the branches is a good help. The tree itself has been well chosen, nice movement in the trunk. Look forward to seeing it in full leaf mode.

[shibui]

Really nice willow Bodhi. I have often thought of starting one - looked a few times for suitable pieces to layer or make cuttings but never got around to it however there are lots of pussy willow seedlings germinating in the pots in the new nursery. Some look ok and get potted up maybe something will make it to bonsai status - not as graceful as weeping willow though.

Kvan, All trees flower in some manner. It is just that some are so insignificant that we do not notice them. So weeping willow do flower but with small, green catkins I think. seeds are in fluffy white cotton and float around in the air and on water (hence the seedlings in my pots. There is no tree closer than 800m that I can find)

[Bretts]

Nice work Bodi
I am laughing cause you have told me these are lots of work in the past and I am starting to agree. I am sure you know just as Mela said just as you have all the wire on it needs to come off again.
Has the growth slowed for winter will that help any?

I got slack and my Willow did not get it's third wiring pruning as it needed and I just looped some string around the branches like a lasso for now and just hope that I have not let the branches go too much!
In the past the weight of the branches has done all the work for me but I was not so lucky with the latest one.
I am looking forward to seeing this come out in Spring

Oh you mentioned that you had issues with wire on these in the past but you never clarified what the problem was for me. Also how often do you root prune?

[Bretts]

Hi Shibui
No need for an air layer just cut the section of branch off that you want and stick it in a bucket of water. Pot it up normally in a few weeks when it has roots. I have never had this fail no matter how thick I have gone!

[simonm]

any pics from before the wiring? so we can see the full change.

[bodhidharma]

Nice work Bodi
I am laughing cause you have told me these are lots of work in the past and I am starting to agree. I am sure you know just as Mela said just as you have all the wire on it needs to come off again.
Has the growth slowed for winter will that help any?

I got slack and my Willow did not get it's third wiring pruning as it needed and I just looped some string around the branches like a lasso for now and just hope that I have not let the branches go too much!
In the past the weight of the branches has done all the work for me but I was not so lucky with the latest one.
I am looking forward to seeing this come out in Spring

Oh you mentioned that you had issues with wire on these in the past but you never clarified what the problem was for me. Also how often do you root prune?

G'day Bretts, yeah i had to laugh to as i was wiring it. But determination has set in and i will see this project out to the end. Mela is right about the growth and if you look closely you will see old wire scars. This is the plan...wire in dormancy, hope to hell that they set enough..take wire off just before spring growth.. weigh down next springs secondary and tertiarys and repeat..year in year out. If you leave the wire on to long the tree suffers dieback on that branch.I only repot in the spring, feeding the hell out of it and permanent water makes it only necessary once .

[bodhidharma]

any pics from before the wiring? so we can see the full change.

no sorry, but the tree has been posted before and you can see the change.

[Handy Mick]

Nice willow, you've done a great job!
I have 2 buckets of contorted weeping willows ready to pot, if anyone is in the Southern Highlands or Goulburn area, I live in the middle of those two places.