Discussion from this thread centered on Colin Lewis' recommendation of cotton twine to tie trees into pots, based on his observation of ruined nebaris by those who were never taught how to avoid that.

I hope the static photos here can help. This technique works best on a pot with four holes spaced at the corners of the pot. Quality bonsai pots will have holes in this configuration, and if you have access to a carbide drill bit, you can add them to cheaper pots. Others can give better advice on that technique.

The key to wiring a tree into the pot is to protect the roots. How is this done? On trees with little or no roots, or root on one side only, we use the "Square Roots" method, cutting dimensional lumber (2X4, 2X2) to brace the bare side of the tree and keep it steady in the pot. These remain in the pot and are reset or replaced in subsequent pottings until the nebari is sufficient to be wired by itself.

But how do we wire in a tree with an established nebari that we want to protect? In previous years, I might just pad the wires and let them show, especially since I wasn't working with great material anyway.

This is the repotting of an old fukien tea (not my own, but my work) that some friends came over to help me with. I want to thank Bill Neff for his help repotting. Thanks also to Patty Crise, who photographed the whole process for me.

In this technique, the wires are space widely on the nebari, past the large roots. This creates a kind of harness that distributes the force evenly and does not pull on any single root excessively. I have found that this technique not only doesn't harm the nebari, it also holds the tree far more securely in the pot!

Photo 27427 shows the tree out of the pot and ready for root work. 27428 is the rootball nearing completion. Notice how much root we have removed. 27429 shows Bill Neff steadying the tree while I begin wiring the tree in place.

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__________________
Chris Johnston
Sashi-no-eda.blogspot.com

Kansas City Area Workshops 2008

The next series of pics shows how this is accomplished. The wires are connected at the corners and loosely twisted together, just snug it up a bit. Plan your work ahead, so that the final tie will be above the portion of the nebari that will hold the most force, i.e., away from the slant of a slant style tree, etc. Make your wires with a longer end (to go across the wide side) and a shorter end (for the narrow side). Once you have gotten three sides twisted, you will have one tail left.

Instead of trying to tie that one into the middle of a wire, make a small tail with an extra piece of wire and loop it around the first wire, twisting it several times to keep it attached. Now you have two ends to twist together. This is the one that will take the force. Snug this one as tightly as you can, alternating between pulling with your pliers and twisting up the slack. If you pull and twist at the same time, you will tend to break your wires.

Then go back and snip the extra bits. If the wire wants to ride up the nebari too much, you can use a bit of bamboo chopstick driven into the rootball as a peg to space it out.

It's impossible to teach good technique except in person, however it is good to try to illustrate new techniques. I hope this has raised questions and perhaps clarified a few things about wiring trees in pots.

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Here is the tree securely tied in the pot.

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Only one question left, chris ...
Can we see a shot of the whole tree post-repot?
The parts I can see are just TEASING me!

Oh, yeah, thanks for the good info and progression of shots.

pootsie

This is the best post-op photo I have. The tree looks essentially similar to the pre-op, seen with the backdrop.

I must point out that this is not "my" tree, it is just given to me to "care" for it each "summer." I don't want to "mislead" anyone into thinking I "know" anything about "bonsai" or how to "repot" them. Just trying to illustrate an excellent technique, which of course, I did not "invent," "copyright," or "patent." I actually "learned" this from my "teacher."

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Thanks for the informative post. And whatEVER (heavy and thick enough?) could you be takling about in that last paragraph?

WF

WF,
We don't want to go there. It is not pretty (tho is public),

John
I have several patents, but none in Bonsai :-(

What was that joke flying right over my head? Did I use the words, "thick and heavy?"

Chris,

Very "informative" post."Thanks".

andy

Very good article that I agree with.