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Bonsai How To

Sealing Cuts with Aluminum Foil

A Happy Bonsai reader asked me how do I attach aluminum foil on my bonsai trees when I seal cuttings (refer to post – Sealing Cuts of Bonsai Trees).   Although it seems obvious to me, it probably isn’t so clear for many others.  So here, I have taken a photo of the aluminum foil that I use for sealing cuttings of my bonsai trees.  Yes, these are aluminum foil tapes with a removable paper liner.

Bonsai Tree Pruning Sealer Bonsai Tree Pruning Sealer

The aluminum foil conforms well to irregular and curved surfaces.  More advantages: waterproof sealing and heat reflection 😉

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Bonsai How To Featured Articles

Bending Big Branches by Notching

What is Notching?

Last week, Teacher Wong demonstrated how to bend thick branches of a Eugenia uniflora (aka Brazilian Cherry, 紅果 in Chinese) bonsai tree by notching.  “So, what is notching?” you probably will ask.  Notching is a technique of bending a branch by cutting a “V” shape across the width of the branch and bend it into position  Notching is especially useful for bending thick branches.

Bending-Bonsai-Tree Bending-Bonsai-Tree

We must make the cuttings of the “V” shape as smooth and as straight as possible so to avoid any gap in between the cuttings when we pull together the cuttings and bend the branch with a guy wire tourniquet.

Bending-Bonsai-Tree Bending-Bonsai-Tree

Wound Care: Wound Sealant or Waterproof Adhesive Tape?

While many bonsai enthusiasts prefer the use of wound sealant to protect cutting wounds on their bonsai trees, Teacher Wong advises us to use waterproof adhesive tape to tightly and completely wrap around the cutting wound for protection. And same as how we use adhesive aluminum foil, we should never use any wound sealant when we are using waterproof adhesive tape (for more about adhesive aluminum foil, visit Sealing Cuts of Bonsai Trees.)

Bending-Bonsai-Tree Bending-Bonsai-Tree

Besides bending two major branches by notching, we also cut away some unsightly roots of the bonsai tree.

Bending-Bonsai-Tree Bending-Bonsai-Tree
LEFT: Before RIGHT: After

Best Time for Notching

Since notching leaves a big wound on the bonsai tree, the most suitable time periods to carry out such operation for our trees are either in spring (when the weather is still cool  while the tree has started its growing season), or in early autumn (when the summer heat has gone, and our tree still have much time to heal its wound before it goes dormant).

Recommendation

While I was trying to find out the proper term of this “V-shaped cutting and bending” technique, I came across a very useful article that describe different ways to bend thick or brittle branches with lots of photo illustrations by Harry Harrington in his very informational website.