I think there are only two things you can do which jump immediately to mind on acoustic guitar and you’re already doing the first one, ie slides and pull-offs to compensate for a full or half-tone bend.
The second is of course the string gauge you use. I use 11’s on my Martin, if I use 10’s the bends are slightly easier but the cost is a thinner overall tone, it’s a compromise really.

Richard

Hi Thorsten!
We are in the same boat: acoustic only!

Bending is probably THE biggest difference between playing acoustic and electric and that’s obviously due to the difference in string gauge.

Technique is crucial for bending, especially if you want to do full bends and one and a half tone bends. But I’ll assume you know how to bend properly.

As Richard points out, one obvious approach to easier bending is to use lighter strings. Using 10’s will make bending much easier than using 12’s or 13’s. I personally don’t like playing with such a light string gauge because the tone is too thin to my taste, but it is an option. Some guitarists use a hybrid set of strings, putting slightly lighter strings where they often bend.

Another very effective approach (that I sometimes use) is to drop the tuning a whole step, especially with heavier gauges (I use 11’s and 12’s). That makes a hell of a difference in terms of bending and it gives a very nice and rich tone. The drawback of course, is when you play with other musicians, since you’re one tone off. But putting a capo is an easy fix.

If you are a fanatic string bending player and your playing style absolutely requires it, you could also consider buying a guitar with a shorter scale length. So bending is easier on a 000 than on an OM and a whole lot easier than on a dreadnought. Isn’t that a good reason to get that 000-28 vintage Martin? 🙂

As for me, I almost never bend on the lower strings because I rarely use them as bendable melodic strings.