As promised here is the result of my experiment with the Literai Juniper.
Introduction: This juniper had a fairly straight up trunk until about 12 months ago ( 12 July 2004) when the guy wire was applied to introduce some movement in to the trunkline. The trunk itself has never been trained with coiled wire.
Pic 1: Guy wire intact and under tension
Pic 2: two hours after guy wire was cut (please note that there is no tension on the bottom wire)
Pic 3: both pictures superimposed to show movement
Result:
The trunk did move quite a bit. This did not however happen instantly but slowly over a period of one hour. (I waited another hour before taking the photograph to be sure no further movement took place). It did not return to the completly to the straight up position.
The bend in the botom third held better than the bend in the top third.
Conclusion:
Further questions to be answered:
Was 12 months long enough to set the trunk?
Would the same happened if the trunk had been shaped with coiled wire?
Only one thing to do- I will wire the trunk in July and repeat the experiment in another 12 months
Someone remind me please!!
Regards
Mike