You know, there’s an artistic freedom that occurs when you crack the trunk while styling a tree. Whatever you do after that doesn’t matter anymore so you might as well go all in on the design and not worry about stuff like “will the tree survive”. I like some aspects of the tree like the defining branch (lower right) and the general flow of the design. But I didn’t really know what to do with the branches on the left, the apex is kinda weird, and it’s very 2 dimensional. Also the wiring up top is pretty janky.
I fully expect the top third to die back. Once the trunk cracked and I decided to go all in on the design I trimmed off way more foliage than I normally would have, so we’ll see if the tree is a loss or not.
I’m bummed that I pushed the tree too far, but I really learned a lot. It was my first time working with 4 gauge wire which wasn’t easy LOL. But the design aspect of this was a lot of fun. Not bad for $40
That was the most amount of bend I was able to get on the bottom half of the trunk, even with dual 4-guage wires. It just wouldn’t hold. This was my first time using 4-guage trying to bend a think(ish) trunk and didn’t have a good feel for what was too think to work. I guess I could have tried using a trunk splitter but I didn’t think it would be necessary and once the trunk was already wired it was too late.
I ended up cracking the trunk at the bottom of the first bend back to the right, just above the left most branch on the left side. I assume the top 1/3 will die back to the crack. If the tree survives the year I might try using a trunk splitter next spring to really put some movement in. This is pretty much experiment material at this point.
Have you thought about using a rebar to do a 3-point bend? Anchor the wire at the bottom, put a block between the rebar and the trunk (I like to drill a hole for the rebar for the block), and then pull the top of the portion to be bent towards the rebar. Ugly as sin, but very effective and low cost.
That’s a great idea! and I’ve got nothing to loose. I just measured it and I think a 1ft rebar will work. Would you use it on the right to put a lower curve to the right in? If I put it on the left, it would create a big long continuous left curve over the bottom 2/3 of the trunk before it moves back to the right.
What do you think?
I’ll try to create some sketches of what it might look like
I know it would be hard, but ideally I would do a double curve. The bottom to the left and then to the right above that. I really like the lower sketch you made with the double curve.
Yea, I agree about the sketch. You wouldn’t suggest putting two rebar bends on at the same time would you? One on lower left, and then another on the other size? It feels like that would be nuts. Probably go for the thicker part now, lower trunk bending to the left. And once that sets, put the rebar on the right to bend it back. That would give me something close to my original sketch.
I will say getting 2 bends in without messing up the placement of the defining branch is gonna be hard. That’s the one big physical constraint I need to keep in mind.
as long as you have that bottom right branch you have some design options, this plus the deadwood you can make from the top your going to loose. slight angle change …might be something there
