Blue Atlas Cedar next steps.

[Mike132327]

I recently purchased this Blue Atlas Cedar. It was buried in among a few other cedars. This one had the most movement in the trunk and very full branches with low growth. All of the grafts looked about the same so I went with this one for the other features. I am making this post for advice on long term development of this tree.

I like the size of the tree currently (41” tall, 2” girth just above graft). I think I would like this to be about the finished height of the tree I would like to get the trunk in proportion with the height. I would like this to present as a big powerful tree like you would see in the mountains. I am hoping the graft area swells like I have seen on many other BAC as I’d prefer that over the inverse taper I have now. If it doesn’t I might try to just bury or ground layer it.

Should I trim the apical leaders back to new shoots post flush this spring? I am assuming that not cutting the tree back hard will help nutrition be balanced and help grow the trunk and increase back budding.

I have space to plant it in the ground which from my research is the consensus as the quickest way to increase trunk diameter as a general statement. However I have read that BAC don’t love having their roots worked on. Would ground planting make its eventual move back to a container a riskier maneuver?

I am not opposed to building a grow box where I can get it out of the ground every few years without disturbing the roots too much. Would this yield better results than continued up potting?

I plan to keep it in nutrient rich organic soil with a few amendments for drainage, and feeding it throughout the season while I am growing the trunk. I would guess this is an 8-10 year project to get it to start looking like what I see in my head. I am not in a rush to get this in a bonsai pot. I would prefer the best quality tree I can muster here however long it takes.

I know there were a ton of questions here and I hope I have given enough info on the tree, and my goal. What would be the next steps you’d take to start this tree on its journey?

 

[WNC Bonsai]

That looks like a pretty good graft with only a small amount of reverse taper—let’s hope the root stock catches up with the grafted part. The potential issue with ground growing this is they reportedly are difficult to transplant once they are in the ground and develop a decent set of roots. Have you wated the assortment of YouTibe videos on these? Corin at Greenwood Bonsai has done several, plus there are one or two others showing work. In addition Madam Bonsai has done a few. She as well as some others tend to be very aggressive in their approach so flip a coin and see which works for you.

 

[Mike132327]

That looks like a pretty good graft with only a small amount of reverse taper—let’s hope the root stock catches up with the grafted part. The potential issue with ground growing this is they reportedly are difficult to transplant once they are in the ground and develop a decent set of roots. Have you wated the assortment of YouTibe videos on these? Corin at Greenwood Bonsai has done several, plus there are one or two others showing work. In addition Madam Bonsai has done a few. She as well as some others tend to be very aggressive in their approach so flip a coin and see which works for you.

I have ran the YouTube gauntlet Corins videos were quite good. I am also half way through the Mirai live on a piece of nursery stock Ryan was working with. Other than Mirai everyone seems to cut them down a bit and keep them on the shorter end at least for the videos I have seen.

From my understanding they back bud well but not on older wood, but are quite vigorous in terms of needle production. With how young this tree is there’s really not much old wood so I’m hoping some good opportunities present themselves. It seems like the clip and grow method should be able to work for this. I was just not sure how much of an impact it would have on the truck thickening up.

I have also heard they are tough to layer. It will probably just be a deeper pot if the graft doesn’t catch up. I haven’t gotten deeper in there to see how long that section is but nothing a deeper pot couldn’t solve I suppose.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

The only one who has reported much success air layering them is Nilly’s Bonsai. He says it takes a couple of years and is at best a 50:50 proposition so don’t count on it. Eastern Leaf has a couple of videos showing how to wire them for more movement. As you can see from my post I opted to bend mine into a cascade instead of lopping off the top as Corin does. I also have decided not to count on back budding and instead develop what I have so I haven’t cut much off. At this point I think the main thing is to remove bar branches and reduce whorls, wire the branches, and keep it growing to increase girth and foliage.

Thread 'Bending my Blue Atlas Cedar'

Aug 28, 2024

After almost a year of reading, planning, and getting materials ready, I decided to take the plunge and put a big bend in my BAC that I picked up last Oct. I decided to use a hybrid method based on the established practice of applying raffia and wire. However I also added a trick employed by David of the Bonsai Worx YouTube channel—I’ll include a link below. He basically doesn’t use raffia and instead uses about 3 strands of 6 mil aluminum wire instead of copper. He then pulls the tree or branch into place using copper guy wires. They feel the flexibility of the aluminum along with the...

• WNC Bonsai
• Replies: 20
• Forum: Other Conifers

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• 

 

[Mike132327]

The only one who has reported much success air layering them is Nilly’s Bonsai. He says it takes a couple of years and is at best a 50:50 proposition so don’t count on it. Eastern Leaf has a couple of videos showing how to wire them for more movement. As you can see from my post I opted to bend mine into a cascade instead of lopping off the top as Corin does. I also have decided not to count on back budding and instead develop what I have so I haven’t cut much off. At this point I think the main thing is to remove bar branches and reduce whorls, wire the branches, and keep it growing to increase girth and foliage.

Thread 'Bending my Blue Atlas Cedar'

Aug 28, 2024

After almost a year of reading, planning, and getting materials ready, I decided to take the plunge and put a big bend in my BAC that I picked up last Oct. I decided to use a hybrid method based on the established practice of applying raffia and wire. However I also added a trick employed by David of the Bonsai Worx YouTube channel—I’ll include a link below. He basically doesn’t use raffia and instead uses about 3 strands of 6 mil aluminum wire instead of copper. He then pulls the tree or branch into place using copper guy wires. They feel the flexibility of the aluminum along with the...

• WNC Bonsai
• Replies: 20
• Forum: Other Conifers

• 
• 

I really love a good cascade and have seen some really great ones from blue cedars. If you have a pic of yours I’d love to see it!

The ground layer sounds out of the question I’m not really sweating it. It’s got a good few years of growing to do.

Do you have yours in standard bonsai soil 1/3-1/3-1/3? I’ve seen people do some organic matter in their mix as well for more water retention.