Texas Ebony, Ebanopsis

dbz12fan

A month back our club had a workshop which the club payed 50 percent of the cost of the tree and the member payed the other 50 percent. The trees brought for the workshop were all $20 trees, so each member payed $10 to participate. I chose a texas ebony, ebanopsis (which is the new name; I prefer to call them texas ebony), to work with. The tree had a slender trunk, much like most texas ebonies. I decided that since I do not have many slender trees in my collection, I should not chop it back like I usually do.

The final result turned out well. A few branches were too thick to bend (texas ebony branches are very brittle once they thicken up). As you can see, I still attempted to bend them anyways. The main problem with the tree is the lack of a back branch. I did get a bud to pop in the perfect spot. So, within the next year, a back branch should appear.

Suggestions, comments, virtuals, etc.

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Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

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Carl_Bergstrom

Looks good, Charles.

I might try to reduce the apex a bit, but I'm not dead-set on this.

You'd get a lot more holding power to move those lower branches if you went twice around the trunk at the position shown in the arrow. You want to be able to bend each branch separately without that movement of one branch moving the other one.

Best regards,
Carl

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dbz12fan

Carl,
I bent these branches to the breaking point. Any further and they would have snapped. Unfortunaly, once a branch stiffens up on a texas ebony, it is quite hard to bend it without snapping it.

I spent a little bit of time making a virtual of what I plan to do for the future. I plan to fill out the right side with much more foliage.

Attached Images

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"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

Carl_Bergstrom

Charles,

The issue is not so muich how far you can bend the branches but rather how safely you can bend them.

If the wire is placed so that force on the upper branch also places force on the lower, you risk damaging or even breaking the lower as you try to position the upper.

(Beside the point, perhaps, but I don't mind the upward movement to the branches here. No need to make a Texas ebony pine.)

Best regards,
Carl

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dbz12fan

I agree Carl. One other point to make is that depending on whether the wire come from above or below on the branch will decide how far the branch can be bent safely. On the thickest lower branch, I put the wire opposite of what I should have (I just noticed that in the picture).

I agree with you that the upper growth on the branching looks fine.

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"Success demands understanding"-Andy Rutledge

Charles Bevan
Vero Beach, Fl

Bart Thomas(deceased)

Hi, Charles.

Nice tree, specially for that cost! I agree with the suggestion that the upper portion needs more work to better define the branch structure and to get the tree into better balance.

I think the point about the wiring between the two lower branches needs to be clarified for those with less ezperience than those who have been in the discussion this far (and, yes, I agree with you about the care that must be used in bending the branches on an ebanopsis).

However, if this were a pine, or other more commonly used tree, you would have taken another turn around the trunk between the branches simply because it would have given you a better anchor. That is, I think the point that Carl was making.

I've seen enough of your work to have a high regard for it and for the intensity of your study of bonsai. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that, before you are out of college, you will be a real contender in the new talent competition.

However, having said that, I'd suggest you show that bit of wiring to JVL and ask for his comments

Best regards,

Bart

RonMartin(deceased)

Nice tree but, the problem is that you will be out of college, finished your masters and almost done with your PhD before you get any thickness or much taper to that trunk. TE's trunk up kind of slow.
Not a big deal though. Unlike me you have plenty of time. ;o)
In the meantime you have something nice to work with. Not that bad a deal.

TreeBay

Persimmon another member of the ebony family. I haven't wired Texas Ebony but if it's anything like persimmon (used to make golf club heads) it's an extremely hard and brittle wood.

OMC is right that you need to get a minimum of about 1.5 turns around the trunk between the two branches to get any leverage at all. Otherwise when you press down on the branch you just make the wire bulge out a bit and then relax - if not immediately then over a few hours - back toward the original configuration.
You have the space here to do that between these two branches, and the wiring will look neater if you do.

Another point is that if you want to lower a branch, bring the wire into the branch, off the trunk, on top of the branch. If you want to lower it, do the opposite. The branch on the left is wired as if it were to be raised (aside from the fact there isn't much more than a full turn of wire on it. The first branch on the right has the wire coming in tangent to the side of the branch, as if it were to be pushed back away from the front of the tree.

So the wire should enter the branch tangent to the side opposite the direction that the branch will be moved towards. That's the rule but if it makes your brain hurt like mine, just wire the branches with the wire coming in on top and 90% of the time you'll be right

The reason for wiring this way is that the wire will tighten against the trunk as it is bent. If you do the opposite, you'll find you have a gap as the wire is bent.

Wow. This needs photos, animations, something!

Regards,

Matt

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Bart Thomas(deceased)

Matt:

That is the most succinct statement of the theory behind wiring technique that I have ever seen. I have added it to my personal archive.

(Art Skolnick says the same thing in his presentation on wiring, but I couldn't fit him on my hard drive. )

Perhaps it could be the basis of an article on the how and why of wiring.