Juniper trunk snapped

Hi. I snapped the main trunk of my juniper procumbens. I have wired it and overbent the trunk. The trunk has snapped almost half of it. I believe the front part of the trunk is still intact. Will the branches above the trunk survive. I have bent it back to close in the gap and applied healing paste. Thanks in advance.

I would also wrap it tightly with rafia or electrical tape to ensure it cannot move at all. Just a breeze would be enough to move it and prevent it joining again. It’s hard to say if the branches will survive or not. It will always be a weak spot from now on. Have you a photo you could post?

1 Like

Oh man, sorry to hear that. Would you mind posting a picture of the break/tree? And how significant the bend you were trying to accomplish was?

Could be a good lesson for others too to see the trunk thickness/bend attempt.

I hope it recovers.

2 Likes

When performing big bends on junipers you need utilize raffia to achieve compression along the trunk. Survival rate and breaks are less likely to happen.
If there is any chance of deadwood within the area to be bent it will break, this is why we clean and identify the live vein, then separate the live and dead area if a bend is to be performed in that area.
Lessons are always to be learned :+1:t2: :evergreen_tree: :grinning:

4 Likes

The break is at the back of this juniper. My wire is thick enough for it not to move. Looks like half of the diameter of the trunk snapped. I managed to put it back in place and applied healing paste. Thanks for the replies.

I thought you were working with a larger diameter trunk.
Now I can see where the cause might have been. When wiring try to get even spacing and laying the wire at 55-60 degrees across the trunk or branch. In your pics I see the wire laying perpendicular across the trunk. The mechanics of the wire are not being utilized when placed at 90 degrees across the trunk, compression of the trunk structure and holding power of the wire are gone.
Practice, practice, practice…
Have you watched the wiring videos in the library?

5 Likes

to answer your question… I say, yes you should be OK. Starting out I broke a few and bent them back together, applied pasted, and wrapped them with tape. Didn’t lose any. Like others have said, proper wiring and compression with raffia is the way to go for significant bends.
But now you have an area you will contend with for the life of the tree, but I bet you’ll find a way to may it work … if not the tree will tell you. :slight_smile:

1 Like

I am just 3 months to the hobby so yeah, I admit I need practice. But isn’t it when you wire it let’s say 55 to 65 degrees and you bend it, the orientation of the wire changes and the angle changes. Just a thought. And if you notice I made sure I angled 55 to 65 but some branches are Jin the way. Can you maintain that angle of 55 and y5 when branches are in the way? And it is not actually 90 degrees. I made sure they were not perpendicular, the angle of the wire changes especially if you bend it towards where you wire them in that circular motion. It snapped coz I have mistakenly bent it where the trunk branches out to the primary branch(the seller has snipped of thr original trunk and made the primary branch the new trunk) I have watched the videos on wiring, fyi

I think what MTBakerbonsai means is that whilst the wire facing us appears to be at around 45dregees, on the back of the tree the wire, instead of following the same angle is perpendicular across the trunk. When branches are bent, the wire should naturally follow round the bend at 50 - 60 degrees.
Don’t be too upset, you are so early in the hobby. Everybody has (and still does) break trees occasionally.
I can’t remember which stream it was but Ryan even broke a major branch!

2 Likes

Yes I noticed that yesterday when I turned the tree around. Thanks

1 Like