Styling a large Yamadori Scots Pine-reducing branch length and developing foliage pads©  Home

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For this demo I used a wonderful product called Petflex™. I first used cohesive bandaging when I was demoing in Atlanta in 2004 and the reason I used it was because we had run out of Raffia and I remembered that ankle bandage may do. So we went to a pharmacy to get this but the only colour they had was pink r flesh. So I wrapped all the branches in pink stretch bandage. Yes it did look extremely funny but it sure did the job. I went on to Colorado and some horsy folk told me about a product that they used for their horses fetlocks. And so the use of cohesive bandage was born for the Bonsai artist.

This is a bandage with a coating of natural rubber latex to provide its cohesive properties. These are manufactured from a combination of high strength elastic, general polyester, non-woven cloth and a latex coating. This gives a bandage with excellent cohesive properties adhering extremely well to themselves Cohesive bandages cling to themselves and not to the bark and are very useful for retaining wire and protecting branches when  bent. They allow movement without tightening or loosening and remain lightweight and breathable even when wet as they easily shed water. Re-use of cohesive bandages IS NOT recommended.

       
This is the pine before it was dewired in July 2009   Its very 'leggy'                 and this is the pine after rewiring in September 2009-its now a lot tighter-new front

Yamadori Scots Pine. I took this to Belgium as some of the Bonsai Artists in Mechelin
were interested in Yamadori Pines. This was a rejected pine and I brought it back
where it would become a part of my own collection instead It is around 180- years
old and has a reasonable nebari but it is very tall and the branches were thin and not very tight.

After wiring and shaping the pine was still very leggy.
I wanted to retain the height (for the present)

and I needed to try and bring all the branches in nearer the tree.
Initially by wiring and then by inarch grafting
 

The pine was dewired in June 09-coming into summer.

It was now the end of summer 2009 and there was not much time left to do this kind of work.

After removing the wires which had been on for two years the tree still looked gangly and awkward. It needed a stiff dose of Craig Coussins  now.

I am assisted by my friend and Bonsai Buddy, Trevor Smith one of the Uk's most exciting young Masters

Trevor was featured on two of my books and has assisted me in many of the styling's at my own collection

I applied Petflex to most of the tree except the fine ends. I was not looking for back budding in this case but more to place the branches so I could inarch graft these to branches deeper inside the structure. .

Using Petfex helps protect the branches from splitting when I do extreme bending. Extreme Bending is a recognised technique amongst some Bonsai artists  but not the purists . That's fine. I delve into both camps. Using techniques where and how these are needed. As you can see I do not cover the area immediately behind the leading bud as this will allow back budding to progress normally in this area.

The classic way to wire a branch. Going over the top and each wire /wires then go in different directions. This is the only way to ensure that the branches will not 'rock' and are secured enough to bend.

Multiple wiring was a technique I introduced some years ago. I plagiarised this from my own teachers technique of using two wires as a better opting that]=nm one. In mature trees it is best to use one or two wires but rare more. In young  trees however, you can use as many wires as go onto a branch as each end lead of to a different twig. (See Bonsai School)

Before A

After A some more fine refinement will take place as the tree settles down. Feeding will be increased in September until November and then all feed will be removed. I use Biogold in handfuls' on the surface. Its crude but it works. Also where I stay has a lot of rain so the soil is very porous because of that issue.

Before B

under construction 6 September 2009 This will be allowed to develop over the next year  However, in May 2010 certain areas will be exposed to allow inarch grafting to start and these areas will be recovered for a year.. Depending on the vigour of the Pine the Petflex may be removed with existing wire around August 2010 except for the grafted areas..