Two cryptomeria japonica "globosa nana"

[WaywardSol]

I picked up these two a few days ago from a local nursery and used some spare time today to play with them. First time with cryptomeria.

Raked down to find the bases/clip problematic surface roots if needed/see what I was working with. Tree one had a few loosely circling roots bot nothing major, the other had no issues so it was mainly just giving a hair cut to what had been in the bit of reduced soil. Otherwise no root work and they were just slipped back into their pots minus what was raked away from the top.

I also got in to prune. Went a bit heavier than planned but made judgements but what I found as I got in there and the results are below. Little shaping/removing tips on what remained. Also a few guide wires added but otherwise no wiring.

Soooo. It's a start.


Side by side of tree one (right/finished) and tree 2 (left/still a baby bush). No before picture of 1, but while they were a good bit different as I got into them they looked pretty much the same to start.


Tree one before and after bending.


Tree two all done for the day and back in its pot.

Totally open to feedback and suggestions.

 

[Matt3839]

Nice. I’ve got a few cryptomeria japonicas and two Yoshino varieties I’m trying to grow out. They’re a long way off - still green trunks except for about bottom 4 inches. they’ve grown about an inch or two since I potted them up two months ago. Ones in a pond box and the rest are in regular pots. Anyways please keep posting your progress I’m looking forward to it since there aren’t many people that work with these trees it seems.

 

[StickyGecko]

Curious about how your guys’ cryptomeria are doing and if you have any advice/tips that you’ve learned on your journey?

I happened to pick one up at Lowe’s last week and have been scouring the interwebs since then for info, with a little pause for this hurricane that had some personal vendetta against the mountains. (my immediate surrounding areas were spared the complete devastation that starts 35 miles or so east)

I was able to come across a link to an Eisei-en Bonsai video on YT that included a portion on maintenance pruning a cryptomeria. Luckily there are subtitles, and although unsure on the cultivar of the one in the video, it seemed to have similar foliage if not the same. That gave me the confidence to do an initial cleanup on “Shirley”. I had previously located the root flare, but I’m afraid of messing with these surface roots too much. There’s a godawful amount of them, but some of them seem to be coming off the nebari and I don’t know if those are ok to trim. Also, is this normal or could it be a sign this tree is heavily root bound?

The foliage was incredibly dense, the parts buried under heavy foliage seemed dusty(?) and gross, so air flow was a goal with cleanup. I was also mindful to leave as much green as I could, so it is able to prepare for dormancy, knowing that I intend to do heavier shaping pruning this winter where I will remove some of the limbs, while keeping a few others to be sacrifice branches. What appears to be the original apex was cut in the past, creating this stubby dense area. I’m tossing around the idea of wiring one of the bigger lower branches to become the new leader and jining that, or seeing if growth will continue from that area. I don’t know if carving the trunk there would negotiate the bulge though. I doubt it.

I really like the trunk, i think it has some nice movement. I swear though it felt like I was holding the tree’s hair out of the way to photograph it the after styling pic is not the best, I’ll add a better one shortly.

 

[Deleted member 47471]

We have tons of tall and dwarf japonica at the nursery and their foliage seems to stay rubbery, fleshy, and bright. Curious to know if they can produce clusters and tufts of foliage similar to crypto black dragons

 

[Matt3839]

I don’t feel like I can comment much on This in terms of advice. My cryptomerias are still saplings so I’m just letting them grow unchecked in pots with potting soil/pumice mix. I treat them similar to my California redwood in terms of water/keeping the soil a little on the moist side. They seem to like it. I fertilized heavily this year with 10-8-8 gropower tablets and they grew about a foot. They get morning - early afternoon sun but are in shade after that.

I don’t have surface roots on any of mine, but they’re much younger than yours and barely are starting to develop a nebari.

The green caterpillars seem to love the foliage though and I came back after being gone for a few weeks in summer to find several really chewed up. Sprayed with BT and removed what I could find by hand and it seems to be under control now.

Here’s a good website for cryptomeria as well:

杉（スギ）の育て方

杉は幼木のうちは日陰がよく、大きくなるにつれ日当たりを好みます。盆栽としては日当たりでも日陰でも育つので置き場所は拘りませんが、小さい樹は夏の強い日差しや冬の乾燥に弱いので季節ごとの対策が必要です。年間を通じて風通しよく、日当たり～明るい半日陰くらいの環境で管理できればいいです。

bonsai-shinto--kimiko-com.translate.goog

I posted the google translate link but you may need to run it again through google translate, unless you speak Japanese of course.

 

[StickyGecko]

I don’t feel like I can comment much on This in terms of advice. My cryptomerias are still saplings so I’m just letting them grow unchecked in pots with potting soil/pumice mix. I treat them similar to my California redwood in terms of water/keeping the soil a little on the moist side. They seem to like it. I fertilized heavily this year with 10-8-8 gropower tablets and they grew about a foot. They get morning - early afternoon sun but are in shade after that.

I don’t have surface roots on any of mine, but they’re much younger than yours and barely are starting to develop a nebari.

The green caterpillars seem to love the foliage though and I came back after being gone for a few weeks in summer to find several really chewed up. Sprayed with BT and removed what I could find by hand and it seems to be under control now.

Here’s a good website for cryptomeria as well:

杉（スギ）の育て方

杉は幼木のうちは日陰がよく、大きくなるにつれ日当たりを好みます。盆栽としては日当たりでも日陰でも育つので置き場所は拘りませんが、小さい樹は夏の強い日差しや冬の乾燥に弱いので季節ごとの対策が必要です。年間を通じて風通しよく、日当たり～明るい半日陰くらいの環境で管理できればいいです。

bonsai-shinto--kimiko-com.translate.goog

I posted the google translate link but you may need to run it again through google translate, unless you speak Japanese of course.

Appreciate the heads up about the caterpillars, and thanks a bunch for the link! If I figure anything out with Shirley, I’ll be sure to pass along what I’ve learned. The calendar in that link is handy to have as well.

 

[StickyGecko]

We have tons of tall and dwarf japonica at the nursery and their foliage seems to stay rubbery, fleshy, and bright. Curious to know if they can produce clusters and tufts of foliage similar to crypto black dragons

I’m unfamiliar with the black dragons, what does it look like as far as the tufts/clusters?

 

[Deleted member 47471]

I’m unfamiliar with the black dragons, what does it look like as far as the tufts/clusters?

A:

B:

 

[StickyGecko]

A: View attachment 569087

B: View attachment 569088

After I replied I googled that is likely the tree in the video I watched, really similar foliage. I just took some close-ups from my dwarf.