Cedrus Libani Hedgehog

[Sean M]

Hi all,

I was at the local nursery yesterday looking for a maple and came home with this instead.

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Its about 20cm high and 30cm wide. Being a wink in the postmans eye when it comes to bonsai (and the fact I can't find any more info on these trees) can anyone tell me how I should approach the styling of this one?

14032011426.jpg

I know it has a few setbacks such as the bulge where it may have been grafted, the straight base and the roots being a little wound around the trunk but I like it and don't want to stuff it too badly as I have read that Cedars are ultra slow at growing.

14032011427.jpg

I'm trying to get to the next Canberra Bonsai meeting in April but if I could get some advise before hand it would be much appreciated,

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Thanks in advance (for the constuctive critisism) Oh and I don't know how this ended up in the evergreen section

Sean

[Handy Mick]

Sean, treat it the same as any cedar,

Mick

[Sean M]

Sean, treat it the same as any cedar,

Mick

Well yes, thats the plan. I just don't know how to treat any Cedar, the styling/pruning of them is a bit light on this site (or I missed a post) but I guess it will grow back eventually and we can only learn!

[Watto]

Sean,
I love a good Cedar. In my limited experience I believe you can wire them almost any time of the year, your should "pinch out" the strong growth at the end of each branch (to help ramification) and only re-pot in October. I have found that they don't like root disturbance too much, and a "steady as you go" approach is the best bet. By that I mean don't rush it. Plenty of fertilizer and grow in full sun.
Most of all talk to it and enjoy it.

[Handy Mick]

Sean, this forum does not have all the answers, although it does have a lot. We are now in to autumn and a funny one it is, in saying so the answer is dont touch it till spring unless it is pot bound, then i would slip pot it, but give a good feed of fert. When you have new growth emerge in spring about an inch pinch back, as you would any normal pine, thats if you are happy with trunk thickness.

Mick

[Sean M]

Thanks Mick,

Sorry if I came across as a d**k, I've never had a go at a Cedar before and after reading they were slow growers didn't want to stuff it. I'll check the roots tomorrow and start it on a fat diet.

Watto

Thanks for your advise too, I'll have a look at what I can do wire wise and post some progression pics

[Handy Mick]

Sean, cedars are a great tree, yours looks like it is off to a good start.

Regards Mick

[kcpoole]

Nice tree
I do not have one myself, so cannot advise on care for them. the straight trunk can be mitigated at next repot by tilting to the right. There is pleanty of branching to take advantage of that you will robably neeed to thin out too

Ken

[Sean M]

Sean, this forum does not have all the answers, although it does have a lot. We are now in to autumn and a funny one it is, in saying so the answer is dont touch it till spring unless it is pot bound, then i would slip pot it, but give a good feed of fert. When you have new growth emerge in spring about an inch pinch back, as you would any normal pine, thats if you are happy with trunk thickness.

Hmmm seems this particular bit of advice is quite important that two people have given it to me!

[dragon]

Sean, this forum does not have all the answers, although it does have a lot. We are now in to autumn and a funny one it is, in saying so the answer is dont touch it till spring unless it is pot bound, then i would slip pot it, but give a good feed of fert. When you have new growth emerge in spring about an inch pinch back, as you would any normal pine, thats if you are happy with trunk thickness.

Hmmm seems this particular bit of advice is quite important that two people have given it to me!

the thing with this guy tpsky he says he has 22 years with bonsai but cant think for himself tpsky you just got bitten on the butt by a dragon
he hasdone it to several post
cheers dean the terror

[Sean M]

So after sitting and looking at this tree for a couple of days, I plucked up the courage to give it a small amount of shape. I haven't pruned back any length but cleaned up some of the branches. I'll wait until spring to do any real butchering.

21032011435.jpg

[CK*]

Hi Sean,

Was just browsing the forums and came across your Cedar. I've recently acquired one myself and am letting it grow to thicken the trunk a bit.
It's been a couple of years since your post, do you have an update on where this tree is at?

Cheers,

Chris

[Sean M]

Yes CK I do have an update. I went far too hard on this one and it bit the dust. Too much work on the foliage and roots at the same time. I have since acquired another cedar and I know now not to go so hard on them.

[CharbelCedrusLibani]

Hello,

Attached are images of my beautiful Libani Cedars which I've just recently wired and shaped

I know that these are at least 25-30 years old, however i'm unsure of the actual age.

Would anybody know roughly how old these are? Or would anybody know how I could find out?

Thanks!

[shibui]

There's no way of telling. Even cutting the trunk and counting growth rings can be misleading because new rings are laid down every time the tree stops growing - winter, lack of water, short of food, etc so can have many more rings than actual years. Besides, I don't think you'll want to cut through these trunks just to count rings.
Perceived age is far more important than actual age so just be satisfied with how they actually look. If people insist on knowing the real age tell them they are actually being quite rude to your trees (or that you don't really know).