Frequently Asked Questions About – Bonsai Wire

Wiring a bonsai is something a lot of people shy away from and I think this is more because they are unsure about a lot of the process.

I have written some articles on Why We Wire and When We Should Wire.

However, I do get a lot of questions on the topic, which I have answered below and hopefully these will make you feel more comfortable about actually wanting to wire your trees.

How Tight Should Bonsai Wire Be?

Bonsai wire needs to be placed on fairly snugly. It should be mostly touching the branch in most places.

I think the best thing to compare it to is a ring. You want your ring to be snug. You want it touching the majority of your finger …you don’t want it too loose or too tight.

If you can get the wire to be like this, it will be perfect. The tree is going to swell as it grows, so a little bit of space here and there is fine.

Adding the wire too loosely usually will mean you don’t really have control of the branch. You will not be able to get the bends you want, it will have the space to not go where you want it to, so it can be very annoying.

Adding it too tightly may be fine today, but as the tree swells, it is going to start cutting in very quickly. You may find that is starting to cause damage, but it also may not have been on long enough to allow the branch to set into position so you are going to have to remove it before it has done its job.

Can Bonsai Wire Be Left on During Winter?

Bonsai wire can be left on during winter. This isn’t a problem.

You need to leave the wire on long enough so that the branch can set into place, but you also need to remove it before it starts cutting in and causing damage.

The tree will not be growing over winter, so it will not be setting into place…. however, the seasons either side of this will really be when you need to pay attention.

In autumn as the tree is shutting down for winter, it will draw a lot of energy into the tree and this can thicken things up and then in spring, as the tree explodes with growth, this will also cause things to thicken up.

You really need to be paying attention to the wire at this time things can quickly swell and cause damage. However, if it looks fine after autumn, you can leave it on until spring, where again you need to watch it carefully.

Does Bonsai Wire Affect the Growth of the Tree?

Bonsai wire does not affect the growth of the tree. The tree is going to grow regardless and if the wire gets in the way, well this will not stop it.

The tree will just keep growing and push into the wire. As the wire cannot be moved, the tree will kind of have to grow around it, so in this way it can affect the growth of the tree.

If you allow this to happen it is going to leave your branches looking very ugly as it will look like the wire has started to cut into the tree and it will leave marks where it has been and can be hard to heal.

Should Thicker Branches Be Wired Differently Than Thinner Branches?

This is very much a “it depends” answers. It really depends on how thick the branches are and how much you are trying to bend them.

In theory you can wire a thick and thin branch the same way, but the reality is that a thicker branch will need more force and may be more inflexible, so you may need to take a difference approach.

Basically thicker branches are much harder to bend as …well, they are thicker. You will just have to test the branch you are trying to bend and see how it reacts.

At what point a branch becomes too thick to bend easily with just wire is really going to depend on a lot of things, but really the main issue will be that the wire you have is just not thick enough to get the job done.

The usual tricks are to use copper wire, which is much stronger than aluminium and should allow you to bend a thicker branch while keeping the thickness of the wire the same. The next thing you will see is the wire being doubled up. The wire is just applied twice, and both wires are side by side. This will of course give you twice the strength and usually solves the issue.

You will also often see guy wires being used to add some extra force on to the branch to help get it to bend and in very rare occasions cuts may be made into the branch, to basically create wedges of space that can open and allow the branch to bend.

(You can read more about – How Do You Choose The Right Size Bonsai Wire?)

Is There a Specific Technique for Applying Bonsai Wire?

Bonsai wiring looks easy, but it’s not as there is definitely a technique and getting this right or wrong can really make a difference.

I am not going to cover this here as it could honestly be multiple articles on this one topic.

All you need to know is that yes, there is a specific way to apply the wire and you need to learn how do this. A large part of this will involve hands on hands on experience. I found that being told what to do was maybe 10% of it, the other 90% was from actually having the wire in my hand and practicing how to apply it …and even now I would still say I am pretty bad at wiring.

Can I Leave Bonsai Wire on for Too Long?

Yes, you can leave bonsai wire on for too long and if you do this, it will become very obvious.

The wire is going to start cutting into the tree and it is going to leave marks. It is going to be very clear to you that this is happening and if you ignore it, it is only going to get worse.

If you just leave the wire on it will eventually get lost in the tree. The branch will just keep growing and the wire will not move and it will get basically swallowed up by the tree. This can be bad for the trees health, as well as the fact that it looks dreadful.

The second you see the wire cutting in, you need to be removing it, even if the branch is not fully set in place yet.   

How Do I Properly Remove Bonsai Wire Without Damaging the Tree?

The best way to remove bonsai wire is to use wire cutters. You should use bonsai wire cutters as these are designed in a way to cause less damage. If you look at them the tip is pretty much flat, meaning you can get the cutters right over the wire, while not touching the bark.

Bonsai wire is usually coiled around the branch so you need to work your way along the coil, slowly snipping bits off.

Some people like to unwind the wire (I am guilty of this) and it can actually cause damage, especially if the wire has started to cut in. Unwinding it can cause you to basically pull the bark up with the wire, so you will basically be stripping it off, which is never ideal.

(You can read more about – When Do You Remove The Wire From Your Bonsai?)

Are There Any Specific Techniques for Wiring Cascade or Literati Style Bonsai?

You will wire all bonsai trees in the same way. It doesn’t matter the final style you are aiming for, the application of the wire is all the same.

The only difference is just how you place the branches to create the look you want. I would even argue that you are going to wire a literati and cascade in the same style, the only difference is the shape and direction of the main trunk.

If you had a literati pine, you would still wire the branches in a downward sweeping fashion, it is just that they are on top of a tall thin trunk. Then for a cascade pine, again the branches will be sweeping downward …but so will the main trunk line.

Wiring is all the same for any tree, it’s just how you place each branch that will give you different styles.

Can I Wire a Bonsai Tree That Already Has Flowers or Fruit?

You can wire a bonsai that has flowers and fruit, but I would argue that this is not the best time to do it.

Wiring is a lot trickery than you think, and if you are new to it, you can really mess it up.  It is very easy to knock off leaves, fruit and flowers …so if you want to avoid that, I would wait until another time of the year to wire.

It can be better to wire in late winter when the tree is dormant and more importantly …without leaves. Then you can wire things and you will not really be knocking anything off.

Can Bonsai Wire Be Used on All Types of Bonsai Trees?

You can pretty much wire any tree. However, some are going to be some that are more flexible than others and so you may find there are a small handful of trees where it is just not ideal to bend them a lot.

You will need to experiment with whatever species you own, but I would say for the vast majority of them, some sort of wiring is going to work and at the very least you should be able to use guy wires to help pull some branches into a better position.

(You can read more about – Are There Any Alternatives To Using Wire For Shaping Bonsai?)

Can Bonsai Wire Damage the Branches?

Wire shouldn’t damage your branches, but there are two instances when it can.

The first is when you are putting it on. If you do this wrong, or you do it too aggressively you can damage the branch. This is pretty common the first few times you try to wire a tree, you will usually snap something.

My advice for this is to wire a tree you don’t mind damaging and get some practice before you wire a tree you care about.

The other type of damage is when you leave the wire on too long and it starts to cut in. The branch will grow and expand and push up against the wire. As the wire cannot move it will cause the tree to just keep pushing against it and it will eventually cause marks and scars that can be quite ugly.  

Are There Any Tips for Avoiding Wire Marks on the Branches?

The best thing you can do to avoid wire marks is to pay close attention to your tree, especially when it is growing.

You will be surprised at how quickly wire can start to cut in, it can almost seem like overnight. This really means you need to be checking pretty often. I usually start checking it daily, when I am watering my trees. If a branch starts growing, it won’t be long before it starts cutting in.

You can also remove the wire in sections, so if the wire at one point is cutting in, don’t be sacred to remove that section and leave the rest.

You also need to remember that you can always rewire a branch, so if you remove the wire to prevent damage …and it hasn’t set into place yet …you can just rewire the branch again.

How Often Should Bonsai Wire Be Checked and Adjusted?

As I just mentioned above, once you branch really starts to grow, you will need to be checking it fairly often to make sure it is not cutting in.

As for adjusting it, you shouldn’t need to adjust anything. You add the wire, set the branch into the position you want and then you leave it to set into place.

The only time you would maybe adjust something is if you where making a very large bend. You might not be able to do this is all in one go and you may need to bend this over time, Every few weeks you would return and bend the branch some more until you finally get the angle you need, although this technique is pretty rare and probably something you will never need to do.   

How Long Should Bonsai Wire Stay on the Tree?

How long the wire should stay on is a bit vague as the real answer is that it should stay on until the branch has set into its new position.

This can be pretty hard to judge so as a general rule of thumb you should just keep it on until it gets tight and remove just before it causes any marks.

By this point the tree has swollen, and therefore should have grown and set into place. Although, not always. If you remove the wire and the tree moves back into its original shape, then you will just need to rewire it again and keep repeating this until it sets into place.

Conclusion

As you can see there are a lot of good questions around wiring and hopefully things are a little clearer now and you feel more confident about wanting to wire your tree.

If there is still something you are unsure about that I haven’t answered above, then just ask me and I can add it.