Azalea Jukokan first time wiring results, can you give me some tips?

Hi everyone
I bought this azalea jukokan and decided to wire it a bit already.
This is the first time I actually wired a bonsai so it probably looks a bit messy.
I'm still waiting for some thicker wire to use on some other branches.
I have not touched the top of the tree yet.
The rightside branches form a nice moon shape around the tree (not really visible in this picture).

Before wiring:



After me wiring it:

colin lewis has a free wiring class on craftsy.com

I would ask why you think you need to wire? This is a very important question? What are you trying to accomplish?

How long have you been caring for this tree? the best advice is to learn to care for it first...train later

I find that it is much more effective to train azaleas via pruning rather than trying to wire branches.... 10 minutes of pruning + 3 weeks for buds to reemerge, beats hours of wiring with lots of broken brittle branches. ****With the caveat, that you know the health and vigor of the tree...newly imported stock should probably be allowed to just grow for 1-2 seasons before anything is done training wise(perhaps importing in your country is different than the US...total bare root and long quarantines here mean trees need time to recover to achieve full health and vigor)...gives you the opportunity to spend a season learning the likes and dislikes of your plant...it matters:)

Use guy wiring or props to move larger branches...larger wire is not the answer with azaleas...if you wire anything, best practice is it should only be the finest branches...

YMMV

John

kevin stoeveken wrote:colin lewis has a free wiring class on craftsy.com

Thank you
I got the craftsy wiring class now.