Are There Any Alternatives To Using Wire For Shaping Bonsai?

When it comes to shaping a bonsai, wire is going to be the best method to use. It can be difficult to apply correctly, but it will get you the best results and the most control over your branches.

However, not everyone is a fan of wiring their trees so I will go through some of the common alternatives that you can use to shape a bonsai that don’t involve wire.

Some methods are better than others, but it is good to be aware of what is possible.

Clip and Grow Pruning Can Shape A Tree

Clip and grow pruning is a very popular technique where you are using the trees natural growth habits to your advantage.

When you look at a branch you will see that the leaves along it will be facing different directions. You can control where you tree grows based on this. Every time you prune, the leaf directly below your cut should produce a new shoot.

This means all you need to do is do is prune back to a leaf that is facing the direction you want and you should get a branch developing in that direction. 

Pruning is of course how you build ramification, so if you can get the tree to ramify in the direction you want this does make life a lot easier.

You can do a lot of work with this method and you can really start to develop a tree into a decent shape, but I do feel it has some limitations. I find that branches in general like to grow upwards, and trying to prune to overcome this is very hard as you are normally trying to prune to get horizontal growth.

People will argue that this method is very natural looking, which it can be, but on a small tree where the growth is more upright it doesn’t look right.

I really think you need to pair this method with one of the options below (especially guy wires) as this can help you lower some branches and actually make things look more natural

Guy Wires Can Shape A Bonsai

Guy wires are a form of wiring… so maybe this is cheating? Isn’t this just wiring? …I guess it is, but it is also not.

Sometimes these are called “guide wires” which I actually like, because this describes the process well. Guy wires are very simple. You take a piece of wire and tie one end to your branch and then the other end to the pot. You then can tighten this wire and make it shorter, which will pull your branch down.

Although you are using wire, it is very different to the usual application of bonsai wire. Normally you need to twist the wire all down the length of the branch and while this can give you more control it is a lot harder to do. Guy wires are really simple to do as you just need to loop the wire around one point.

This does mean you need to be careful as a lot of force will be concentrated in one area, but I do find for just lowering the angle of a branch it works really well. You are just guiding it in a slightly different direction as a whole, rather than changing the shape of the branch.

Guy Wires Work Well With Clip and Grow

If you use clip and grow you will get a branch that has natural movement, then you can use guy wires to just change the overall angle of the branch and stop it growing so upward.

If you think about normal wiring, you can take a straight branch and add some bends along it. You don’t need to do this with clip and grow as all your pruning has created these natural bends and angle changes, so you can just use guy wires to take the whole branch and move it into a slightly different direction.

You can Sometimes Use String/Cable Ties Instead Of Wire

You can use string or cable ties if you are stuck, but to be honest it isn’t the best.

Really all you are doing is using these as guy wires… without the wire. I have done this in the past and it has worked, but I do think it is easier to just use wire and the string is pretty ugly looking.

I did find that both would cut in to the tree, which isn’t ideal, really you need to protect the tee somehow. This is easier to do with wire as you can use some plastic fish tank tubing, you can also buy wire extremely cheaply and you can do this with very thin wire…so while the string works, I just wouldn’t bother.

Change the Angle Of The Pot

You can use the sun to help you get your tree to grow in a certain direction. Your tree is always going to lean towards the light, so you can change the angle of the tree to get it to grow in slightly different directions.

You could change the angle of the pot, or even plant the tree in the pot at a different angle and this will help you get it to grow in the direction you want.

This isn’t exactly a quick or efficient way to do things when it comes to shaping a tree, but it is something you can play around with and it will have some influence on things.

Adding Weight To The Branches Is An Alternative To Wire

If we look at Japanese garden trees, they are sort of like bonsai. They are well pruned and kind of shaped …maybe the refinement is not as intense a bonsai, but there are closer than a tree that is just left alone.

A traditional way to shape these trees is through tying weights to the end of the branches. You will see bamboo canes are used to direct the branches in certain direction and basically bricks are tried to the end to pull it all down.  

I’ve not actually seen this used in bonsai, but it would work. I think because our trees are in a pot, we can just anchor a wire to this and pull it down, but you could add some weight and it would have the same effect.

Conclusion 

As you can see there are quite a few different alternative methods to shape a tree without wire. I would suggest you use clip and grow in combination with guy wires to accomplish the bulk of your shaping.

These two methods will serve you well, but you should also not be scared to use wire in the more traditional way. If you take the time to learn how to wire and how to use properly, it can be a really invaluable skill to have for your bonsais.

(You can read more about – Frequently Asked Questions About – Bonsai Wire)