Hello all, first post here.
I have a Blue Atlas Cedar that I got as cheap sickly nursery stock a year and a half ago. I got it to full health last year and now have it in a pond basket coiled into quite a lovely extreme shape with some 5mm wire (cant ground grow atm). The tree is fairly young (trunk is thinner than a marker pen). It has some inverse taper near the bottom of the trunk, where it looks like a relatively large branch used to be, forming an ugly knuckle. It’s not outside the realm of possibility to achieve enough flair just underneath it to fix this (by cutting bark and other methods), but the obvious solution is a ground layer. I’m also honestly not sure from what I’ve seen whether the tree is grafted onto different rootstock (as I’ve heard Atlas Cedar can be); but this would be another reason to layer.
Now herein lies the problem. There is relatively little written online about layering Atlas Cedar (I’ve read basically all of it). It’s a mix of failed attempts, second hand accounts of successful attempts, mythical lore about how Atlas Cedar are difficult or impossible to layer, and steadfast conviction that they can or should be able to be layered given enough time. All accounts being several years old.
Does anyone have any first hand experience with layering Atlas Cedar? Does anyone have any valid scientific reason why Atlas Cedar can or cannot be layered? If I attempted a ground layering, would it be wise not to use sphagnum in order to not expose new roots to too much moisture? Would a tourniquet be better than cutting a ring of bark (as I’ve read)?
Im willing to take a risk here, and am happy to spend an extra season to get results (have heard that may be necessary with Atlas Cedar). However, I don’t want to attmept something that is completely futile and risk killing my tree.
Thanks
I have a Blue Atlas Cedar that I got as cheap sickly nursery stock a year and a half ago. I got it to full health last year and now have it in a pond basket coiled into quite a lovely extreme shape with some 5mm wire (cant ground grow atm). The tree is fairly young (trunk is thinner than a marker pen). It has some inverse taper near the bottom of the trunk, where it looks like a relatively large branch used to be, forming an ugly knuckle. It’s not outside the realm of possibility to achieve enough flair just underneath it to fix this (by cutting bark and other methods), but the obvious solution is a ground layer. I’m also honestly not sure from what I’ve seen whether the tree is grafted onto different rootstock (as I’ve heard Atlas Cedar can be); but this would be another reason to layer.
Now herein lies the problem. There is relatively little written online about layering Atlas Cedar (I’ve read basically all of it). It’s a mix of failed attempts, second hand accounts of successful attempts, mythical lore about how Atlas Cedar are difficult or impossible to layer, and steadfast conviction that they can or should be able to be layered given enough time. All accounts being several years old.
Does anyone have any first hand experience with layering Atlas Cedar? Does anyone have any valid scientific reason why Atlas Cedar can or cannot be layered? If I attempted a ground layering, would it be wise not to use sphagnum in order to not expose new roots to too much moisture? Would a tourniquet be better than cutting a ring of bark (as I’ve read)?
Im willing to take a risk here, and am happy to spend an extra season to get results (have heard that may be necessary with Atlas Cedar). However, I don’t want to attmept something that is completely futile and risk killing my tree.
Thanks
I hadn't thought about how long roots can survive on stored carbohydrates before this. Then later, when studying how root apical meristems operate, I realized it also could have been the loss of auxin caused the roots to quit growing! 
