My best friends wife is Japanese. Her family lives in Japan. When I have questions I ask her father about Bonsai ( he is a real nice guy ).
Anyways he tells me to seal my cuts on my Bonsai ( which I haven't done ). He even mailed me a tube of pasty looking stuff.
Also the books I have say seal your cuts, and a lot of reading on the internet says seal your cuts.
On this forum is the first place I heard don't seal your cuts.
So I am confused should I be sealing my cuts or not?
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IndorBonsai
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Gnome
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IndorBonsai,
The nature of trees are such that they readily compartmentalize wounds, they never really heal but instead the tree grows around the injury. It is now generally accepted that if pruned correctly a tree does just as well, or perhaps even better, without the application of sealant.
It is now common practice to prune just beyond the ring of tissue known as the branch collar. By pruning this way you are taking advantage of the trees natural tendency to compartmentalize. It used to be that it was common to make flush cuts, this is now no longer so.
Seems pretty straight forward doesn't it? Here's the thing, this is in relation to full scale trees in the landscape. Many bonsai growers feel that this is just as applicable to bonsai as any other tree while others see it differently.
For instance Walter Pall states that in general he avoids sealant while William Valavanis seals routinely. Two well known and respected artists with two very different approaches.
As for myself, I seal on an individual basis. On my Zelkova broom, sealing the cut site was a necessity in order to promote callous formation at the chop site. I also seal large cuts on deciduous material until I get a good callous started. This is not intended to prevent rot, instead it helps to prevent the site from drying out while the callous is forming. After I get a callous I remove the sealant to avoid a situation where moisture is trapped long term. Sometimes if I'm shortening a branch and I'm afraid of die back I'll leave the branch a little long and put a dab of wood glue on the end. I'll go back later and clean up the stub after it dies back naturally. Again, this is not to prevent rot but to temporarily prevent moisture loss.
On the other hand, If I remove a relatively small branch from a trunk I tend to leave it uncovered. Also, I have never sealed a Pine or a Spruce as they seem to provide their own sealant.
Much like soil composition and fertilization practices whether to seal or not to seal is largely a matter of circumstance and personal preference. At least that's how I see it.
Norm
The nature of trees are such that they readily compartmentalize wounds, they never really heal but instead the tree grows around the injury. It is now generally accepted that if pruned correctly a tree does just as well, or perhaps even better, without the application of sealant.
It is now common practice to prune just beyond the ring of tissue known as the branch collar. By pruning this way you are taking advantage of the trees natural tendency to compartmentalize. It used to be that it was common to make flush cuts, this is now no longer so.
Seems pretty straight forward doesn't it? Here's the thing, this is in relation to full scale trees in the landscape. Many bonsai growers feel that this is just as applicable to bonsai as any other tree while others see it differently.
For instance Walter Pall states that in general he avoids sealant while William Valavanis seals routinely. Two well known and respected artists with two very different approaches.
As for myself, I seal on an individual basis. On my Zelkova broom, sealing the cut site was a necessity in order to promote callous formation at the chop site. I also seal large cuts on deciduous material until I get a good callous started. This is not intended to prevent rot, instead it helps to prevent the site from drying out while the callous is forming. After I get a callous I remove the sealant to avoid a situation where moisture is trapped long term. Sometimes if I'm shortening a branch and I'm afraid of die back I'll leave the branch a little long and put a dab of wood glue on the end. I'll go back later and clean up the stub after it dies back naturally. Again, this is not to prevent rot but to temporarily prevent moisture loss.
On the other hand, If I remove a relatively small branch from a trunk I tend to leave it uncovered. Also, I have never sealed a Pine or a Spruce as they seem to provide their own sealant.
Much like soil composition and fertilization practices whether to seal or not to seal is largely a matter of circumstance and personal preference. At least that's how I see it.
Norm
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The Helpful Gardener
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Bonsai is a tradition laden prctice with many of the techniques dataing back hundreds, even thousands of years. In the span of that time we have come to understand the workings of plants and trees much better. In particular I refer to the work of Dr. Alex Shigo. While he might not be a common name in the bonsai lexicon, he is the preeminent name in arboriculture. Dr. Shigo did the early work on plant compartmentalization of wounds, what he reffered to as CODIT, or compartmentalization of disease in trees. His work has led to a new understanding of how trees work; it is still occasionally villefied by some old school types, and I to this day will run across an arborstist who won't give up the can of wound dressing, but they are a dying breed...if you read this article you will see that the doctor did what all great innovators and scientist do, he simply chose not to believe the standard "knowledge", he tested it and proved it to be incorrect...
[url]https://www.shigoandtrees.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=5[/url]
His later work in support of CODIT actually found wound dressing to be often detrimental (trapping water behind it from condensation or leaks, creating a habitat for rot) and in the best of situations, unecessary. There are situations, such as oaks or dogwoods where leaving an open wound is ill advised and some sealant called for, but these circumstances are rare. I quote from Pirones Tree Maintenance 7th Edition(most recent version of the bible for arborists...)
HG
[url]https://www.shigoandtrees.com/index.php?_a=viewDoc&docId=5[/url]
His later work in support of CODIT actually found wound dressing to be often detrimental (trapping water behind it from condensation or leaks, creating a habitat for rot) and in the best of situations, unecessary. There are situations, such as oaks or dogwoods where leaving an open wound is ill advised and some sealant called for, but these circumstances are rare. I quote from Pirones Tree Maintenance 7th Edition(most recent version of the bible for arborists...)
There are a number of tree care practices that have changed considerably over the years; we also do not supplement soil in the planting hole much any more (other than the addition of some compost as an innoculant for the soil); most homeowners I tell this are stunned, as they had always heard different (from Grampa and Dad and the guy next door). While these scientific breakthroughs aren't common knowledge (Shigo did his seminal work in the 50's and the word STILL isn't out), they are none the less science, not conjecture, so I feel comfortable in bucking the old school in much the same fashion as Dr. Shigo, and offer this knowledge here, in hopes of being helpful, not confusing. Old beliefs die hard, but I feel that we should adopt newer thinking instead of "we always did it like this". My practice crosses boundaries between science and art all the time, so I am less surprised by new finidings, but understand how relearning long held belief can be disconcerting; it took my friend Lisa five years to convince me to go organic. Now look at me...Arborists and gardeners have been advised over the years to use various dressings ranging from commercial tree paints, orange shellac, asphalt paints, creosote paints and house paint, to grafting wax. Current research indicates these materials are not effective in protecting trees from wood-rotting organisms. Indeed they may prolong the the period of susceptibility.
HG
Last edited by The Helpful Gardener on Fri May 08, 2009 2:37 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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IndorBonsai
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Since I don't seal my cuts, reading about the research that Alex Shigo did makes me feel better. I thought I might be putting my trees at higher risk of dying from not sealing.
With my own experience I found that by reading about your trees/plants and doing your trimming/pruning during the recommended time of year works fine.
It is good to know that there is research that backs up my own experiences.
With my own experience I found that by reading about your trees/plants and doing your trimming/pruning during the recommended time of year works fine.
It is good to know that there is research that backs up my own experiences.
I've never had a problem not sealing, even when our arborist prunes our full sized trees.