anchoring for bending

those twisty wires for moving bigger branches - sorry can't recall the technical name. Tryng to move a recalcitrant branch, but the tree is in a proper (ish) pot, so not sure what to anchor it to?

There are several options. I have run a cable around the pot, to anchor to. You can also put the pot onto a board and put eye screws in the wood. For bending, some turnbuckles can be handy.

I've sometimes been able to feed wires up through the drainage holes to serve as guy wires.

Dave

There's a technical name? Tourniquet maybe. I assume you mean where you pass a loop around two branches and twist the 2 ends together and then use a "tommy bar" to twist the wires so that they spiral and shorten pulling together the two branches or pulling down the thinner upper branch. If there's no lower branch the drain hole(s) can be used to create an anchor point using a thicker piece of wire. Then the tourniquet can be attached to this and the branch to be moved.

This tecnique, I know as guy wires. A length of wire is bent in two, to make a long u shape.The branch that you want to bend is usually wired. With a pair of pliers, pull the wire, on the wired branch, so there is a gap between the wire and branch. Thread one end of the u shaped wire, in the gap that you made with the pliers, all the way to the middle of the u shape. You should now have an upside down u shape, dangling from your wired branch. If you dont have a drainage hole or dead branch to tighten your wire around, use a screw or eye[ from hook and eye] and screw into the trunk but not in a visible part of the tree.[when removed this wound heals very quickly]. Place both loose ends of your u shape around the eye/ screw and twist together. Bend the branch down and keep twisting up the slack. This is a lot easier with two people, especially with larger trees. When the branch is in the required position, yuo can neaten up the two wires between the branch and the screw, by twisting them together with a small nail.

thanks chaps. I guessed in the end and came up with pretty much what you described. I used a large root to anchor the guy line and put some mesh around the wire to prevent scarring. Never thought about using the drainaige holes. The size of the branch being bent isn't enough I think to cause the root to be pulled out of place.

bobby little wrote:thanks chaps. I guessed in the end and came up with pretty much what you described. I used a large root to anchor the guy line and put some mesh around the wire to prevent scarring. Never thought about using the drainaige holes. The size of the branch being bent isn't enough I think to cause the root to be pulled out of place.

It all depends on the caliber of the branch, but when you attach a guy wire to a root on one side, you may want to consider applying an additional guy wire on the other side of the tree to balance the force, so you are not tilting the tree.
If I plan to pull down only one heavier branch I usually use a tiebar (tierod).

-dorothy

It's called a 'Spanish Windless'

Bob

i used aluminium tubes 8mm round you can buy these at the local hardware store
they bend but don't bend back!!!
screwed them on, for the rest normal technique's.
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Turnbuckle

I have discovered personally what others have written already. It's best to use a root or another branch to do this. That way there will be no stress on the posture of the tree.

I was doing this to one of my ficus and used the pot as the anchor. When I checked on it about a week later I discovered that aside from moving the branches (some) it also realigned the whole tree moving about an inch or so to the left.

Anchor the tree to itself.

Ed