This crepe myrtle is very early in its development, and I need to bring some branches down along with a little mid summer trimming. Crepe myrtle has such smooth delicate bark though, and I hate the idea of wire marks on the branches.
Fortunately, this ceramic training pot is just right for a tie down ring. A long piece of wire with a few twisted loops can be secured just below the lip of the pot Allowing me to use guy wires with plastic tubing to protect the bark.
The ring is prepped – better to make more twists that you think you will need!
I positioned the tie down points in the places where I thought I would need them and secured the ring with a twist. Since this pot is round, it was easy to rotate the ring to adjust the position of the tie down points slightly. The same method could be used with just about any pot with a lip, but in the case of a rectangular pot, for example, adjusting the position would be more cumbersome.
I ran each guy wire through a short piece of tubing and secured this around the branch.
Then I could thread the wire through one of the loops and pull it down into position. With this arrangement, I don’t need to worry about wire scarring and I can leave the guy wired on for an extended period.
This tree has a long way to go, but there’s some potential there.
That’s all for now.
Bonsai Iterate 