Thicken Trunk With Wire?

[dbonsaiw]

I was working on a seiju elm yesterday and noticed that I left a guy wire on a branch too long. The branch swelled around the wire and literally ate it, leaving a portion of the branch considerably fatter than the rest of the branch. The swelling doesnt look great, but the branch is otherwise healthy and seems unaffected by the wire now living within it.

So my question is can this be done on purpose to increase the thickness of the trunk, add taper and maybe even fix reverse taper?

 

[Srt8madness]

That's how they swell some sort of pine in Japan. JWP maybe?

 

[Lutonian]

It can be done on purpose, but it mostly gives poor results like big scares uneven taper and can damage tools when you cut into wire u did know was there.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

 

[Dav4]

View attachment 457701

You must be in the "beat the trunk with a hammer" camp...

 

[Bnana]

Will it swell and get thicker? yes. Will it be ugly? Definitely.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Perhaps it would be wiser to save your wire money for another project?

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Leprous Garden]

Of course also the risk of girdling your branch and killing it.

 

[Paradox]

It will look really bad and ugly for a very long time if not for the life of the tree

 

[Pixar]

Any photos of the culprit ?

 

[dbonsaiw]

LMAO. Seems like a hard no.

 

[discusmike]

Maybe you can cut the branch off before the bulge and grow a new one

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

LMAO. Seems like a hard no.

Hokkaido and seiju will always develop some knobs, prune well and don’t worry about it.

 

[Pixar]

Hokkaido and seiju will always develop some knobs, prune well and don’t worry about it.

Do what he said

 

[johnbaz]

Hi
I bought a Scots Pine with a really bad inverse taper a few years ago, I cheated and cut a stone withan angle grinder/diamond blade!
I actually thought about tapping the trunk or putting wire on to make the base swell!

And with the stone in place!!

The tree had several bar branches so I jinned some but very quickly removed the jins as they were still bar branches!!

I'm thinking of removing the bottom right branch as it's still just about a bar branch (This pic is from the other side as I couldn't make my mind up on a front!!) It's the one covered by the grey/gray bag in the last pic!

By the way, I had to put rocks on the surface of the soil as squirrels and birds were almost digging the tree out of the container!!

It needs to go in to a better soil as it's actually in potting compost! It seems to really like the stuff though!

I've had a cork Bark Elm since around 2005, A couple of years ago I saw something sticking out of the bark that i've not noticed before, Steel wire from the original Chinese growers!!, I pulled on it and a load of thick bark came off so I stopped pulling and nipped it off with cutters!, Strangely, It doesn't seem to have affected the tree!!

John

 

[Pixar]

Put some lime sulfur on the spot where's there is no bark and covert to deadwood

 

[Pixar]

quirrels and birds were almost digging the tree out of the container!!

It needs to go in to a better soil as it's actually in potting compost! It seems to really like the stuff though!

I've had a cork Bark Elm since around 2005, A couple of years ago I saw something sticking out of the bark that i've not noticed before, Steel wire from the original Chinese growers!!, I pulled on it and a load of thick bark came off so I stopped pulling and nipped it off with cutters!, Strangely, It doesn't seem to have affected the tree!!

John

've had a cork Bark Elm since around 2005, A couple of years ago I saw something sticking out of the bark that i've not noticed before, Steel wire from the original Chinese growers!!, I pulled on it and a load of thick bark came off so I stopped pulling and nipped it off with cutters!, Strangely, It doesn't seem to have affected the tree!!

Put some lime sulfur on the spot where's there is no bark and covert to deadwood

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I've tried wrapping wire clockwise around a trunk base for a season, letting it swell and then remove it. Then next year I wrapped wire counter clockwise..
It seems to work, but the biting in is uneven and so is the swelling. Difficult to control if you ask me.

 

[Shibui]

It is possible to swell the trunk by allowing wire to dig in. The spiral winding ensures that there is still a sap path to keep the trunk alive. I've been experimenting with mam size maples with wire left on the trunks. So far the attrition rate is pretty high (ugly swelling) but I have had a couple that look promising.
I certainly would not recommend it as a good way to increase trunk thickness.

 

[Ply]

I've tried wrapping wire clockwise around a trunk base for a season, letting it swell and then remove it. Then next year I wrapped wire counter clockwise..
It seems to work, but the biting in is uneven and so is the swelling. Difficult to control if you ask me.

Any pictures?