wireing deciduous trees

Does anyone wire when you can see the branches and let them sit thru winter ??? i would like to some if it is ok...thanks john

yes its the only time i wire my deciduous trees -it is easy to see, the branches start to set without the wire cutting in etc but i normally remove it carefully after the spring flush of growth. over the next few weeks i'll wire 3 of my acers (palmatum), a couple of tridents and guy wire a white beech. after christmas i'll be doing a european beech group of 25 trees too. i user aluminium wire for all these trees though as its easier to get off in the spring amongst the new leaves

cheers Marcus

Thank You Marcus.. For your quick reply ! i will start on a small trident...take care john

I've pondered this very question myself recently, and the only problem I have read about with wiring in fall, and allowing it to stay on through winter, is that the branches don't actively heal throughout the Winter and hard frosts can damage them. Thus the possibility of loosing a branch that had been wired, Maybe its not a big issue further down south or in the UK but in my frosty world of Nor, I would worry about it.

Also I'm a very busy guy in the spring and I just know I would flake out and forget a branch here or there and get scarring.
But I'd love to hear the pro's and cons for fall-into-winter wiring I'm very interested in this.
-Jay

Thanks Drgonzo for your reply,, I put my trees in a green house befor hard winter sets in ..maybe that will make a differance.. take care john

I would imagine it has a lot to do with the sort of winter protection you can offer your trees. I would think the healing and lignification process wouldn't really commence in ernest until carbohydrates were available to the plant for use in repairing the broken cell walls from the wiring and i would imagine this would happen around the time of leaves hardening off in spring. One could conceivably wait till early spring and avoid danger of frost damage through the winter and still enjoy bare branches, just watch out for knocking off swelling buds.

I find that for me, up here, the best time to wire is just as the new growth is beginning to change color and harden up. I always wire my Beeches in late June and haven't scarred them yet. Just as the new green is turning brown...on goes the wire. This holds for my other deciduous trees as well. Often I try to wire some trees while the growth is still rather immature and the healing time can be as little as a week. My bougainvillea, when wired green, often sets in about ten days.
-Jay

Drgonzo ,, You make so good points,, I Just wanted to try a couple of trees bare to see...lets see if anyone else has a opion to share ok ???? thanks take care john

Hello,
Fresh wired trees i put in the greenhouse this time of year.
Sunip

I often wire deciduous trees after leaf fall. It is easier to do then, and it is easier to keep an eye on the wires and trees after it is done.

There is more growth added to roots, trunks and branches (more in terms of diameter than length) in the winter months than many people think, so you cannot just ignore them.

I'm not at all sure of what the reaction might be if the trees were put into a greenhouse after wiring, though. I just leave mine out on the tables, or in a shed where they stay pretty cold.

Hello,
I put them frost free in the greenhouse to recover for a while.
Frost on newly wired and bended branches is not helpful for the tree in that stressful condition.
I also learned that in freezing conditions, the wire on the trees is conductive for the cold temperatures
and so cause of extra damage
Sunip.

Frost on newly wired and bended branches is not helpful for the tree in that stressful condition.
I also learned that in freezing conditions, the wire on the trees is conductive for the cold temperatures
and so cause of extra damage

Hmmm. I've read similar comments, but in my many years in bonsai have never observed any damage from wires on my trees overwinter. Or from bent branches in the cold. I have difficulty thinking what physiological reason would cause it. I've often wondered if that is yet another bonsai myth.

JimLewis wrote:

Frost on newly wired and bended branches is not helpful for the tree in that stressful condition.
I also learned that in freezing conditions, the wire on the trees is conductive for the cold temperatures
and so cause of extra damage

Hmmm. I've read similar comments, but in my many years in bonsai have never observed any damage from wires on my trees overwinter. Or from bent branches in the cold. I have difficulty thinking what physiological reason would cause it. I've often wondered if that is yet another bonsai myth.

I'm pretty sure it is one of the old bonsai myths Jim. The wire temperature can't be any colder then that of the air, right? If anything, it might actually provide a modicum of insulation, I would think.

About branch bending in winter. I think a lot has to do with your particular climate.

This fall I let them freeze outside about 5 times, light frosts and freezes.
Then after they "harden up", that's just what they do....harden up, especially on trees like trident maple, hornbeam, zelkova etc.

I find it hard to do any heavy bending in the Winter time. Mine are just too brittle.

Here in Central Wisconsin, where it can get as cold as –30ºF, although I haven't seen –30F since the early 1990's,
I just brought my trees in for the winter and put them in the 10'X12' 2" thick Styrofoam shelter I built in the garage.
They are kept in deep dormancy at 28º-30ºF in their shelter.


I like to wire Maples and Zelkova after leaf pruning in the early summer.
I wire Hornbeams in the winter because they are still flexible at 28ºF.

Anyways, I'll bet ya that a lot of things are different in the Carolinas then up here in the frozen tundra of Central Wisconsin.