How to Bend and Shape a Ginkgo Tree for Bonsai

  Although the ginkgo is a deciduous tree, its trunk is straight and its bark smooth, and its leaves in particular turn yellow before falling, so that even the fallen yellow leaves spread on the ground look very beautiful. For this reason, ginkgo trees are often used in street greening, garden landscaping and other aspects, forming splendid scenery, and ginkgo trees can also be made into bonsai for appreciation. Since the ginkgo tree combines ornamental value, economic benefit and medicinal efficacy in one, the practice of using it for bonsai is becoming more and more common.

  However, the ginkgo trees used for making bonsai are quite different from those used for greening and landscaping purposes. For bonsai, the ginkgo tree is required to have a short, small plant shape, whereas ginkgo trees used for greening and beautifying the environment are required to be tall and upright. But growing and maintaining ginkgo bonsai is often more difficult: besides dwarfing, you also need to be able to create bends and shapes, which is the biggest difference from ginkgo trees used in landscaping. Moreover, a ginkgo bonsai can form a landscape on its own, so how do you bend a ginkgo tree to make a bonsai?

  In the process of making a ginkgo tree into a bonsai, the shaping mainly involves bending its trunk according to the owner's conception and idea. If possible, bending the branches and side branches as well will make the bonsai's shape more beautiful and the ornamental effect even better. But bending and shaping a ginkgo tree also requires us to master certain knowledge and skills. The specific method is:

  First prepare some metal wire; generally 16-18 gauge iron wire is used, and the original wire should be longer than the ginkgo tree's trunk or branch. Then insert one end of the wire into the potting soil and fix it, then, at an angle of about 45 degrees, wrap the wire tightly upward around the branch until it is close to the top of the branch. Next, following the direction in which the wire is wrapped, twist the branch in the same direction to bend it.

  After completing the bending treatment by wrapping wire around the branch, the ginkgo tree should look fairly natural and not awkward, with the wire and branch together forming a scalene triangular tree form. But the length of time the wire is wrapped must be controlled well; generally it can only be untied and removed after 1 year. After 1 year, the bent part has basically set in shape, better meeting our design needs for the branch's form. It is also generally required to remove the wrapped wire promptly after 1 year, otherwise, if too much time passes, the bent part will become more pronounced in its curvature and may even damage the bark, affecting the tree's vigor.

  Of course, bending and shaping the ginkgo tree's branches is only one aspect of the bonsai-making process, an important measure or step in shaping the bonsai. If you want a ginkgo bonsai to shine with a perfect shape, we also need to do a good job with pruning and shaping and other treatments. And daily care and management work cannot be neglected either. Only by doing well in all aspects together can the ginkgo bonsai often achieve the effect we want.