Bonsai Training Wire: Why a Complete Kit is Best

The art of bonsai has been around for centuries, originating in Japan as a type of meditation for monks attempting to discover inner enlightenment. These days, most people doing the art of bonsai aren’t monks, but they still find it to be a very meditative hobby, helping center their thoughts and focus on crafting a special look for a small tree. Starting a new hobby does require some research, especially when it comes to bonsai, so if you are going to get into the hobby you need to learn what you need to start. Purchasing a bonsai pot and looking up some guides isn’t enough, you need to also buy bonsai training wire and pruning shears; which means buying a complete wiring kit with a set of pruning shears may be the best bet for you.

The Techniques You Need to Learn for Bonsai

Bonsai has two main techniques when it comes to shaping your small tree in a manner that gives a pleasing presentation, while still maintaining the health of the plant: pruning, and bonsai wiring. Below we will focus on wiring.

Bonsai Wiring

One of the most important techniques you need to learn in bonsai is wiring. Wiring will train the tree to grow in certain ways to help it visually and keep it healthy. When you buy bonsai training wire, you should get a complete kit that includes several sizes, and metal types as well as cutters. The wire you choose for your tree depends on what you want to achieve, and the strength of the branches. A kit will often include wire that is 1.0 mm, 1.5mm, 2.0mm, 2.5mm and 3.0mm thick and made of aluminum and copper, in addition to a storage bag to keep them together and safe. It can also include cutters to be able to easily cut the wire to the right length, or remove them from the bonsai without damaging the tree.

When you are wiring your bonsai, you need to watch what time of year you are doing the wiring, as trees grow a lot during their natural growing season. If you are not attentive you could have the bark grow over the wires and leave permanent scarring. Wire training is often best during the spring or autumn, when most of the growing hasn’t started, or is already done for the year. Depending on what your intended outcome is, you can choose to either coil wiring around the branches that you want to shape, ensuring the wire always attaches to the trunk at some point, and wrapped around branches at 45 degree angles to allow for potential growth. If you want a branch to grow upwards, you attach the wire from above the branch, and downwards would be attaching to the branch from below. For branches too thick or weak for coiling, you can choose the guy wire method if you want to pull the branch downward. This would require you to attach the wire to the branch, then to somewhere on a root, or the pot itself to gently tug it downwards.

If you are worried about damaging the bark on a branch, you can use raffia soaked in water as a wrap on the bark before wrapping the wire on, to give it a protective layer.

Lastly, when you are removing wire from a bonsai tree, snip the wire at every coil if possible. You don’t want to unwind the wire as that could cause damaging to the tree. Reusing wire isn’t worth it if you damaged the tree while trying to recover the wire. It’s better to have extra wire than to reuse it.

Complete Kit for Bonsai Training Wire

If you are looking to buy bonsai training wire and want a high quality complete kit that includes all that you need, visit Leaves & Soul for their selection of bonsai related products.

Click here to learn more.