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Often I see questions on how to deal with seedlings and when to wire etcetc. So here is my way..

I grow most of my plants from very small -seed or cutting- as I sincerely believe you can get better bonsai that way. You control roots and trunk shape from the start, and therefor the final outcome. To do this, I already start working the roots and stems within the first months of the plant. As soon as there is some growth of > 10cm I put it in 1mm wire to get a basic shape in the trunk. This you can do very easily, as the sapling has no wood in it yet, and is very flexible. It will set within weeks.

Examples



Forsythia cutting: winter 2011/2012. Wired this week on the first read shoot coming of the cutting



Ligustrum spp. Cut back from a nursery pllant to the first small branch at the bottom. Wound the small branch around a bamboo stick in order to create a twisted trunk after it matures in a years time



Larche after 2 years of growth this plant was wired in a screw. Now only a small hook keeps it together to set. The bottom branches are allowed to grow freely so the tunk can fatten up

Top vriew of the same larche

I completely agree with your method. In the long run you'll save yourself alot of hassle trying to get branches to set. You'll also save your tree the pain of broken branches.

thanks for the advice on wiring the trees.pictures are really helpfull.

As we often see questions about "when should I wire", I thought I would dig up this old, yet still relevant, post.

You said you work the roots. How do you do that? Wiring?

Ivan Mann wrote: You said you work the roots. How do you do that? Wiring?

I trim roots of very young seedlings:

leatherback wrote:

Ivan Mann wrote: You said you work the roots. How do you do that? Wiring?

I trim roots of very young seedlings:

I thought you meant you knew how to make the grow large and in the right places, sort of like branches. I was hoping for some magic.

This is why you trim them. To force them to grow sideroots.

thanx for this. I planted some seeds and can not wait to shape them a bit. they still need a bit of growing to to to get to 10 cm.

would love to see how some of your trees look like now from wiring from seedlings