Page 62 - Tài liệu Ebook cây cảnh Bonsai Basics

64 TRAI I G BONSAI

The technique
This consists of wrapping the length of
metal wire spirally round the trunk
or branch, working upwards from the
lovver end. This restrictive wrapping will
enable you to obtain the shape you re-
quire. The wire should not be too tight,
or it will cut off the sap flow and even-
tually strangle the tree.
This technique of shaping bonsai has
developed relatively recently, but it is
universally approved. However, you
must be careful that it does not mark the
bark or become embedded in the tree.
For this reason it must be regularly
I. The metal wire should be wrapped spirally round
removed and rewound.
the trunk and branches.
Conifers should be wired at the end of
the dormant period, usually in late win-
ter. By contrast, deciduous trees should
be wired in spring. Wiring should be left
on conifers for five to six months and on
deciduous trees for about eight to ten
months, though there are no hard and
fast rules. Keep a watchful eye on your
bonsai, and remove any wires that
threaten to mark the wood.
Metal wire is also used to brace the
branches. That is, it is used to keep
tension (generally downwards) on bran-
ches so that they maintain their direction
of growth. Copper wire which is used for
bracing should be anchored in the
ground by a hook, or simply attached to 2. Snip off the end of wire with wire cutters, an
the container. In some cases, the wire essential piece of equipment.
bracing may link the trunk and one
branch.
Wiring is one of the bonsai styling
techniques and not a part of the aesthet-
ics of bonsai as many seem to think.
Trees should therefore not be kept per-
manently wired, as if the wire had some
significance in itself. Wiring is a rather
clumsy method of shaping the tree,
considered by some to be contradictory
to the spirit of bonsai. It should be
practised sparingly and only when abso-
lutely necessary.
If you have inadvertently forgotten a
wire and it has become embedded in the
wood, do not try to remove it, as you will
3. Do not damage the branch when wiring. Make
probably do more harm than good. sure it is not wrapped round too tightly, as the
Simply cut it off flush with the wood. branch will thicken as it grows.