Brand new lebanon, and bonsai...ist. Looking for advice.

[MelkorBaug]

After searching for a plannting spot in my yard that would play well for this weeping cedar of lebanon cutting, I thought "why not bonsai, it will be beautiful and be able to exhibit that weeping feature if done right - and it won't literally ruin all the places I might put it!". The problem is the middle bit, "...done right". I've never done this and I have no idea what I'm doing. I've watched about 74 hours of youtube videos which really just showed me you can be way tougher on little tree kiddos than I would have thought, but I still don't know what I'm doing. I've planted him, I've mixed in "appropriate soil". I've positioned his roots lightly (with no trimming, supposedly cedars don't suffer much more than about 60%?), pulled him upright a bit with some wire and pulled the higher branch down a bit closer to the lower branch to exhibit a wind-blown weepy look that really appeals to me.... but I'm so scared I've just killed a $40 cutting.... and I could really use any advice you have for "The Constable".

Also, sorry for my dog's butt. She's just like that, sometimes.

Thank you!

 

[ShadyStump]

Looks like you accidentally made your first post on a busy day, and we all missed it.
Sorry about that.

I have no experience with cedar of Lebanon, but it looks alright so far. If you put a general location in your profile, we'll be able to tell you more. For now, we're just guessing mostly.

Thing to remember, trees are designed to live outdoors, so don't keep it in your house, even in winter. Assuming you're in the northern hemisphere, autumn is the second best time for potting up, so you're probably safe there.
Bonsai soil and those tiny pots don't hold a whole lot of water, so you'll probably have to water every day. If you take wooden or bamboo chopstick and stab it into the soil all the way to the bottom and leave it there, you can use it like a dipstick to check the moisture level.

I hope we haven't lost you, making you wait.
Welcome aboard!

 

[caffeinated]

I looove Cedar of Lebanon. They seem to make good bonsai without having to try too hard. Although, I just killed mine by not protecting it more from the sun during a heatwave, sooo If you're happy with the trunk size you should be good to go with what you're doing. If you ever decided you wanted to make it look older and thicken it up, you'll want to consider a larger growing pot to let it grow a little wild, though not anytime soon since you've just potted it up.