Blue Atlas Cedar - Styling tips please!

[Brinley123]

Hi all,

Ive been a leech on this forum for a year or so, as long as ive been keeping bonsai! I did post this 2 days ago but was instantly banned, I thought id done something terribly wrong but thankfully ot was an error

So I was hoping I could get some advice from you all regarding my blue atlas cedar, I purchased it the other day for just over £100(let me know if thats a good price) because I just loved the foliage. Now the nebari is a little slender and its clearly overgrown, however I feel it has a lot of vigour and potential(maybe literati). I would love if I could some how get this to grow branches lower down but I guess this is impossible? I am stumped on how to shape this to get this ready towards being something like a bonsai! Any suggestions at all are appreciated, so far all i know is I need to make 1 apex!

Thank you in advance and im looking forward to contributing back once I gain more knowledge.

Pics : https://imageshack.us/user/brinley123

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Anything about Blue Atlas Cedar will get you insta-banned Just kidding of course Sorry about the mix-up!

I like this little tree. I think with a little wiring you might be surprised just how far you could change the appearance - and how interesting it could look.

First, make sure you don't trim any of the low branches right now. Just wire them so they weep downwards at perhaps a 30 degree angle... with the tips of the branches bending up a little so that the tips become horizontal.

You want to balance the strength of your tree so that you restrain the top and strengthen the bottom. You can see at the top of the tree you have two apices (dual apex) so you want to cut off the one that doesn't work with your design. I marked the one that seems to stick out at an awkward angle towards the rear - if you agree that this one is the ugly one, cut it off. When you cut it off, consider leaving a short 2 or 3 cm stub of deadwood behind as a jin (don't cut it back flush to the trunk).

Next, just a little lower you have another big strong branch that is too heavy. You want to keep this branch, but you want to restrain it. Trim it back pretty substantially, targeting to remove perhaps 50% of the foliage mass on the branch. Don't go overboard and remove too much, because you might lose the branch entirely.

If you take these steps, wiring the branches and restraining the top, you should see the bottom branches on the tree start to strengthen and thicken and you will be well on your way.

The only other issue with this tree is the reverse taper at the bottom of the trunk, which may have been caused by an old graft scar. You'll want to deal with that in another few years

 

[Fonz]

I'm working on a similar project. This is what I did:

Before:



After:

 

[Brinley123]

Bonsainut, I am in awe of how you see that resolution so quickly in a tree, clearly that comea with years of experience! Im going to give both of them suggestions a try this week, I agree it will hopefully bring the shape back to life!

Fonz, your taper and tree looks far better than mine, loving the shaping youve done with it, again I just admire how you see that final shape from the tree before!

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Just make sure you don't remove your lower branches like @Fonz did. He has that lower trunk to work with... you definitely want to keep every low branch that you have on your tree.

 

[Fonz]

Fonz, your taper and tree looks far better than mine, loving the shaping youve done with it, again I just admire how you see that final shape from the tree before!

Credits go to Danny Use, I follow workshops with him. This was my 1st project with him. He kinda did most of the work

 

[Adair M]

Just make sure you don't remove your lower branches like @Fonz did. He has that lower trunk to work with... you definitely want to keep every low branch that you have on your tree.

Atlas Cedar don’t backbud on bare wood. They will backbud where there are needles. The wood is very sappy, and generally easy to bend, but it also takes a long time for a branch to “set” in place. Aluminum wire just isn’t strong enough to hold. So plan on wiring with copper, and rather heavy gauges. Heavier than, say, JBP or JBP. And, even after the wire has been in place several years, when you take the wire off, the tree will STILL try to return to its original position! So, it will have to be rewired. Probably several times. It’s just the way Atlas Cedars are.

The bark will stay juvenile for a long, long time (25 to 30) years before it begins to get flaky and show the mature rough bark.

I’m not saying this to discourage you, just so you know what to expect. Now, start wiring!

 

[Brinley123]

Apologies for the very poor wiring(guy wires due to not have the larger gauge wire yet), what do you think, not sure if Im 100% happy but I definetely prefer it!

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