Low N -> Blue Atlantic Cedar

[Naym]

Hi all,

I've managed to get hold of a blue atlantic cedar and I'm told that they do not like high Nitrogen fertilisers. Does anyone have any experience with these? How low is low in this case? For example, would a fruiting fertiliser be good or do I need to find something with lower N?

Thanks
Naym.

[LLK]

My blue Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlanticus) gets the same fertilisers as all my other exotics and slobbers it all up without complaining. Has done so for 7 years. Fertilisers: various, organic or chemical, 3 - 4 times a year. Couple of things, though: cedars like a very well draining soil mix but have to be kept moist, and they need protection from the sun from about late Spring to mid-Autumn, depending on temps. Repotting in early Spring, but not until really necessary; no drastic pruning and repotting in the same year.

LLK

[stymie]

I too, grow various Atlas cedars and have not heard anything about low nitrates. Mine have the same as everything else with the addition of at least three annual feeds of ericaceous fertiliser.

[Naym]

Sweet. Thanks guys, that simplifies things

[paddles]

I was told once, that a feed of iron chelates, will help them stay blue, my blue atlantic ceders are seed grown, and very hard to tell the difference between them and the standard atlantic ceders (Only when you put them side by side can you see the difference). I had a grafted one, but it died...

[LLK]

I was told once, that a feed of iron chelates, will help them stay blue, my blue atlantic ceders are seed grown, and very hard to tell the difference between them and the standard atlantic ceders (Only when you put them side by side can you see the difference). I had a grafted one, but it died...

Well, you could try giving the blue cedars Phostrogen as a fertiliser, which contains iron chelates and is for acid-loving plants, like the cedars for example. It helps to 'blue' some plants, like the Hydrangea, but I don't know about the Atlas cedars. Neither my blue Atlas nor my blue spruce get anything special, but Don gives something like Phostrogen.
Could the colouring be a question of maturity?
We need the opinion of an expert here.

LLK