by Pierre Kaufke

This article is reprinted from the Florida Bonsai, Spring 1983. Although the article is over 20 years old, it may be worth trying on some of your bonsai that needs a branch or two. I plan on trying it next spring on several of my trees. I will report back to you on my results. This is another of those long term projects in the world of bonsai - ED

As all Bonsaiists know, the trees in nature, or even those in nursery pots, do not grow perfectly and have to be trained into Bonsai season after season. One of the imperfections in trees which otherwise have all Bonsai qualities (rootage, taper, etc.) is the fact that their branches have a tendency to grow upwards at rather sharp angles with the trunk. To bring these branches into Bonsai position, several ways have been explored and written about: wiring down the offending branches if that is possible, cutting into the trunk and then wire down the branch in question, even using car body filler to fill in the crack created by the preceding technique. Here is an alternate method which I have tried successfully on various fast-growing trees (crepe myrtle, trident maple, azalea and privet) and which yields satisfactory results.

The trees that needed correction had branching as shown in Fig. 1. Any mechanical way of bending such branches downward would have resulted inevitably in a catastrophe. So I had recourse to a technique, the result of which I had seen in one of the many books I had studied (with a magnifying glass, as I like to do in order to better see details of wiring and branching!).

This technique, by the way, had already proved itself quite by accident as I had been pruning trees in the wild for future collection. Thus, at bud break, I cut off the branches as in Fig. 2 (note that the cut is not flush with the trunk, but leaves "shoulders"), hoping that some buds would break in acceptable places. As I mentioned earlier, this method had already been "tested" accidentally.

After a few weeks, buds did indeed develop; actually, several buds broke around every cut site. Only the ones that grew from under the "shoulders" were kept, all others rubbed off. Even of the well-placed buds, only one, the best-placed one, was ultimately allowed to develop (Fig. 3). As the new twigs hardened off and the leaves became dark green and leathery, they were encouraged to grow by regular applications of foliar spray containing diluted fertilizer. At the end of summer, when the new shoots had gathered enough girth (Fig. 4), the shoulders were carefully carved with a sharp carving tool to look like Fig. 5. The last flush of fall growth started a nice callus which continued vigorously the following spring.

During the second year, the tree was well-fertilized (although the tree had received adequate nourishment in the first year, I had been wary to "sock it" to what I considered to be a convalescent).

The tips were loosely wired up and the branches allowed to thicken freely, at the same time as all secondary branches were encouraged. Incidentally, foliar spray was continued.

This method, of course, takes time to yield adequate branches, but the results— especially with fast-growing plant material —are quite worthwhile. Actually, I believe that a tree treated in this manner will be show-worthy well before one treated according to other methods.

Note: the same method may be used if the branches are too heavy, or if only the second branch is too heavy in relation to the first branch.