Straighten the Bent Trunk or Branch of a Garden Plant - Part 3

(This is the continuation of Part 2)

Today, I finally removed the splint I devised to straighten a bent branches in a Sandpaper Vine (Petrea volubilis). Based on my observation of this vine from images on the internet, I noticed from the photos that the mature vine doesn't necessarily grow straight up.

Even the lower branches grow and eventually harden into whatever shape, form or position that isn't necessarily vertical. The three photos below show the usual typical growth patterns of the Sandpaper vines, if left to themselves.







Although their lower branches look like a convoluted mess, I'm still assuming that the above vines have had minimal training at their latter growing stages.





Removing the Fasteners of the Splints

The removal of the fasteners of the splints was easy enough. I wasn't exactly sure if the branches have adapted to the new vertical positions.

There was no tension felt in removing the twist ties. This indicated that the clamped branches wouldn't be snapping back to their original distorted forms.

The procedure is straightforward. Simply untwist the twisted tie wires in any order. Then, remove the bamboo strips.


No Mealy Bug Infestation

I was initially expecting a few mealy bugs present and hiding in the nooks between the branches and the bamboo strips. Something like this happened when I splinted a broken branch in one of our Bauhinia kockiana vines. Mealy bugs are a nuisance in our garden.

Fortunately, there were no signs of any mealy bug infestation. This, in spite of the recent rain that we've had.


No Scarring or Visible Damage from Girdling

There was no breakage on the surface of the bark of the branches. It's as if the branch grew normally in a vertical position. Because the bamboo strips sandwiched the branches flatly together, there was no constriction at a certain point on the branches. The absence of a ring constriction prevented unwanted girdling of the branches' bark.





Before and After Splinting Comparison

Shown on the left is the original plant that has grown untrained since we bought it. The angle or opening at the crook of the two lower branches is probably 50 to 60 degrees.

After about 4 months, the photo on right shows the Sandpaper vine's (Petrea volubilis) two branches after the splint is removed. Notice how vertically straighter are the branches. The plant in the right photo has no ties holding its top. The ageing and eventual hardening of the thinner branch made it stronger and erect on its own.

I'm not saying 4 months is the optimum waiting period for the branches to correct themselves. I was actually targeting just 3 months. I just simply forgot about the splint. You could always check once in a while. If the crook of the branches is still big, you could always splint them together again.



There are bends near the top of the plant but these aren't as bad as the lower branches of the left photo. These too can be corrected by tying and training the parts to a stake for a more vertical and straighter configuration.



Go ahead, post your comment below!