The series below illustrates a styling exercise on a Juniper involving the bending of a heavy branch by means of first splitting it lengthwise, and then binding with raffia, and wiring. Final positioning is achieved by means of a tourniquet, which gives fine control of branch position.


This picture shows the full tree. This Juniperus Chinensis stands 74cm tall and is estimated to be around 45 years old. The tree has already had some styling work done such as branch selection and positioning.
The branch causing the problem is the one on the top left of the picture sticking up at about 20 degrees. It is completely at odds with the rest of the tree style. The choice was to use it or lose it, but removal of this branch would leave a large void on that side of the tree which would look worse still. Unfortunately the branch is quite thick, as seen in close up, and cannot be bent by simple wiring alone.
It was decided to split the branch horizontally along it's length which would enable it to be bent more easily. The edges of the split would then be sealed with cut paste prior to being bound tightly with wetted raffia and then wired with 5mm aluminium wire.

Here the branch is shown in it's original position before any changes are made. Notice the size of the branch compared to the trunk. Although this branch is disproportionally heavy, removal was not considered an appropriate option.
This branch already has a nice bend horizontally toward the viewer, so it will only require bending in one plane, i.e. vertically downwards.





Trunk splitters are used to split the branch from the outside end in towards the trunk.








Once split through, the edges of the cut are treated with wound sealer, and then the branch is tightly wrapped with raffia that has previously been soaked in warm water. As the raffia dries it tightens around the branch and helps bind the two halves together. Raffia is also used this way when bending tight curves. It will stop the various layers within the branch de-laminating.

This picture shows the two wire wire wraps have been applied and the branch has already had it's position changed slightly. Notice that one of the wire loops acts as an anchor point for the tourniquet wire. If a convenient wire loop isn't available, the tourniquet wire can be passed over the branch after first placing a small piece of garden hose over the bark to protect it from the wire. The bottom of the tourniquet loop is secured around a convenient exposed root or branch lower on the tree.


Using a small piece of wire as a lever the tourniquet loop is twisted together until the branch is pulled slowly to the desired position.
Although the bend angle is not too severe, this could not have been acheived safely without first splitting the branch.There would have been too much chance of breaking or otherwise damaging the branch.