Windswept: growing toward the sun

redhawkbonsai

Windswept: growing toward the sun

I've found that if a tree is placed with the windswept direction facing due south (or north for people in the southern hemisphere) and prop it up @ a 25 to 35 degree angle to get the best sun light. This way there’s fewer problems with branches wanting to grow the wrong direction or opposite way of the “windswept” and they’ll grow towards the sun. Facing the equator @ an angle between the horizon and straight up is the best that we can practically give it. Ideally I would follow it with the rising and setting sun, but I have better things to do and other trees to tend to!

All plants grow upward toward the sun; regardless of how much or how little sun they receive (this is fact, not opinion). Since the purpose of a windswept is to create the illusion of always having been blown sideways by the wind, you want the plant to continue to grow “sideways” in that direction. So if the potted tree is at a tipped angle so that “sideways” is reaching more of an upward direction while growing, the natural growth will be facing “sideways”. Think of any plant left in a sunny window facing one direction too long – doesn’t everything start growing or leaning in the direction of the sun it was receiving? So, if the plant is deliberately placed so that sideways is angled a little up, it will a have more natural windswept looking growth with less maintenance of having to trim and wire the branches to make them go that way.

The upward angle doesn’t have to be 90 degrees, by putting a couple of wooden wedges (around a 25 to 35 degree angle) under the end of the pot to prop the windswept end upwards, it’ll be reaching more toward the sun. Down here in south Texas, facing the pot due south and propping upwards gives the growth maximum exposure to the sunlight all day and no need to move the plant around all day to follow the sun.

When watering with this technique, its better to set it flat until the water has drained out, then prop it back up into the sun.

Good luck, redhawk

Attached Images

	Windswept tilted.jpg (3.8 KB, 106 views)
	windswept.jpg (3.4 KB, 104 views)

__________________

Advertisement

anttal63

only one word red; brilliant! thankyou for sharing.

__________________
Antonio . . .
------------------------------------

irene_b

Good thread David!
My Bald Cypress Cascade I lay on it's side to promote the growth toward the sun and not fight the nature of the tree.
Irene

__________________
....MOM....
Student of Life
Student of Nature
http://gongshi.freeforums.org/index.php
http://bonsaivaultforum.freeforums.org/index.php

redhawkbonsai

Thanks Antonio:

Sometimes ya' gotta think "outside the bonsai pot"

redhawk

__________________

BarbaraM

Redhawk, I tilted my windswept boxwood up and rotated the growth tips toward the window of my cold weather greenhouse (solid roof) where it resides. The growth direction of the leaves changed within a couple of days. For fun I rotated the pot 1/4 further around and the leaves turned. I have returned it to the direct position even though that is not my favorite viewing angle. Encouraging this growth direction will simplify the training process when it really puts on growth this spring. Thanks for your tips.

__________________
"What I like about bonsai is that it has a beginning but no end. A bud today becomes a branch tomorrow. It is like searching for the rainbw's end; the farther it is pursued, the farther away it is." John Naka

Glider

That's a really nice idea. It would probably make the growth more naturally flowing too as there'd be less need for drastic wiring.

__________________
Experience is knowledge gained immediately after it was needed.

redhawkbonsai

BabrabaM and Glider thanks!

SHARING Thats what its all about !

regards, redhawk

__________________

redhawkbonsai

thanks Irene!
Ya' gotta show me that cascade..

D

__________________

jondenver

Better yet, put them in the back of your truck or on the top of your car, tie em down and drive as usual. This technique I have found to be the best for windswept.