As a preface, my trees are mostly yamadori shore pine, yam mountain hemlock and field Scots Pine. I live on Vancouver Island British Columbia.
I think I’m over cautious when it comes to wire bite. I think wire scars, from my own experience, are extremely unsightly and so far permanent. I do have trouble keeping branches set in place
Id love to know more about the best time to apply wire and what are the signs that the wire needs to come off soon or ASAP. What are your experiences with wire marks? Do they sluff off over time as bark accumulates? Do they become more natural looking?
Hi @Yugen
Sounds like most of your trees have rough bark?
If so, you may be able to let the wire bit a little as the marked will be gone in a season or two. Smooth bark trees are a different story. You need to let the tree grow with wire on so that it can set. If you watch the videos on structural and secondary wiring it will help.
Hi @Yugen, I agree with you that wire scars are ugly and in my opinion can spoil what would otherwise be a good Bonsai. As AndyK rightly says you could leave them on for a little longer on rough bark trees. It boils down to your location, speed of growth and your experience. We’ve all had wire scarring on our trees at some point or other when first starting. As for them growing out it depends upon the how bad the scar is and where on the tree it is.
