Training Trees

Some of you have been asking how i train various types of conifers and deciduous trees, both in gardens and as Bonsai, to look the way they do. Below are a few pictures of an old Japanese technique using bamboo held with either hemp rope or tarred jute twine, as well as a picture of anodized aluminum wire bound around a pair of branches, which is really just the modern approach to the old fashioned method of hemp rope binding. While both techniques are highly effective, they can be labor intensive and require regular inspection to make sure that the wire/ropes are not cutting into the branches as they swell and grow through the spring summer season.