March 2006 Program Notes

For our March general meeting Jim Gremel was on hand to conduct a workshop on small Juniper stock. Jim, who is well known for taking pliable young material and bending it all around into interesting shapes, brought along examples, large and small, of what he has done in ten years of training in the “yamadori style”. Jim’s technique involves putting copper wire of an appropriate size onto the long whips of shimpaku (juniper) and bending it into coils or snakes or any other twisted shape that comes to mind. After this the material is allowed to grow for some time which will fatten the trunk and increase the size of the tree. This technique can also be applied to Pines and other material if it is done when the material is most bendable.

Jim used copper wire, in various sizes depending on the thickness of the material. He coiled one piece around the lower thicker half of the whip and then added another thinner piece of wire, coiled half way between the coils of the larger wire, extending all the way up to the tip. Where the larger wire ends Jim indicated that you should cross the smaller wire over it to keep the tip of the larger wire anchored to the material. The bending is accomplished by simultaneously bending and twisting the material, which allows for tighter bends because it distributes the stress of the bend over a larger portion of the wood. When twisting always twist in the same direction as the wire is applied so that the wire becomes tighter as you twist. If the wire is too loose it will increase the chances of breaking the wood.

Jim mentioned that the right half of your brain, the creative half, has to be allowed some say in your bending. Think about how you want the bends to look after you are finished but then just let yourself do it without thinking too much about it while you are doing it. An overly analytical approach will lead to predictable curvature in the tree which is less desireable. The bends in the tree should appear to be as random as possible. With multiple trunk material Jim emphasized that all of the trunks should be going generally in the same direction or be treated in a similar manner. The trunks should come together gently “like a fork in a river, not a V shape.” His example was a cascade; all of the movement has to go in the same direction as the main trunk, if there is a branch sticking up straight in the opposite direction it makes the tree look like a bush, destroying the illusion that you are trying to achieve.

Leave the wire on the tree until it is biting into the wood significantly. This will cause scarring in the short term but will also help to keep the wood in its new shape. Over the course of a couple years the wire scars will all but dissapear and can even lead to some more character in the tree.

Jim mentioned that the Juniper whips should be transplanted into larger containers if you want them to grow vigourously. He showed two examples of trees that had been wired and then allowed to grow in large containers and one example of one that had been wired and then confined to a small container. The one in the bonsai container was quite small and elegant looking. Jim emphasized that it will never be any larger than that if it remains in the bonsai container and that the foliage will grow slowly. Refinement is possible, but the trunk will never fatten. The trees that had been transplanted into larger containers, and fertilized heavily, sent out long whips of foliage. The trunks fatten up significantly. He then rewires the ones that he grows out to continue the same treatment with the branches. Planting the whips in a 1-gallon will allow them to grow significantly, but Jim said that they grow faster in 5 gallon containers or even faster in the ground. As with all stock in development, if you want fast and furious growth you must apply high nitrogen fertilizer liberally.

Jim’s program gives good examples for two things: the usefullness of wiring technique, and the incredible versatility of developing your own trees from seedlings and cuttings. Wiring is probably the most important technique for maximizing the development of your trees quickly, it allows you to take material that is totally without character and make it into something interesting. The earlier in a young plant’s life that you start tweaking the more character it will have when it gets older. Allow the plant to grow out until it has enough wood to make the wiring practical, then wire it into a shape that you think is, or will be, interesting and allow it to grow out again. The larger examples that Jim brought were all the subjects of multiple rounds of wiring; let them serve as an example of what can be accomplished by someone who is dedicated and creative; hopefully this techique will inspire more than a few club members to use more of the right half of their brains.

Tags: Demonstrations, Jim Gremel, Junipers, Wiring, yamadori