Himalayan Cedar (cedrus deodara)

[BirchMan]

Hi all,

I bought this Himalayan Cedar today as a project plant. It's straight up and down, so lends itself to an upright style, and has branches in all directions allowing many options. It's about 1.2m tall at the top of the spindly leader.

I'm too scared to touch it too much right now, but i like to repot old stock i acquire as soon as i can; i read on another forum it's possible to lightly root prune and repot cedars in early autumn. Has anyone tried this before?

Apart from that, i know it needs partial shade being a cool climate plant (grows at 1500-3200m altitude according to Wikipedia), but has the annoyingly contrasting trait of needing some soil dryness between waterings.

Any pointers on growing these would be a great help, because i love cedars but just cooked my last one. Lucky it was much smaller than this.

p.s. Sorry about the large-ish photos, haven't quite sussed out how to reduce them.

[woody]

G'day BM,

Nice mate. I don't have much on the Himalayan. Usually grown as formal upright. A lot of informal styles are done as well. I have seen some cool windswept, cascade and driftwood styles.

Pots are usually unglazed and dull, exceptions to the Blue cedar.

Like you said, they need to be kept on the dry side.

On the root pruning, they should only be done if its absolutely necessary. And I am guessing this part, but maybe thats because they don't thicken much when there growth is restricted, ie, like in a pot. So basically, they suggest keeping it growing in open ground if you want some good thickness. The ones I've seen had no major thickness.

It needs consistent and regular shoot pruning. And if you go by the cedrus libani, prune in spring, pinching back the new shoots without damaging the needles. Feed from late spring to late summer.

Hardwood cuttings in late summer, early autumn.

I would like to add mate, the ones i've seen aren't so grey, but they may be younger than yours. All this knowledge I pass to you, is not from me, but picked from many books. Gordon Owen, David Squires, and Ken Norman. In my botanica, it says full sun, but thats for a non bonsai, and I don't know if you say that rule applies for bonsai.

Goodluck BM.
Woody

[Dave54]

Hi guys,
treat as any other bonsai, well drained mix, full sun, water well, especially in Summer. I have 40 plus in summer and -3 in winter.
Cedars don't shoot back on old wood so you must ensure you continually pinch out the new growth at the ends of the shoots, or they go very"leggy".
Without continual pinch back, the growth closest to the trunk dies back and won't grow back.
Don't require repotting as often as other trees, every few years is OK. Spring is your safest time, Autumn is a slightly more risky second option
Fertlize as normal.
cheers
Dave

[Grant Bowie]

I love cedars.

Golden cedar 15.JPG

here is a link to a thread on this cedar.

viewtopic.php?f=104&t=831&hilit=+golden+cedar

I mostly grew it in full sun but being a yellow one it would occasionally get a little burnt. Not usually a problem for the blues; but in WA who knows.

Grant

[BirchMan]

Thanks very much for the tips guys. It sounds like i should hold off any sort of transplanting till late spring, at which point i might look at putting in the garden bed for a couple of seasons and work on thickening the trunk. This would also help regulate the amount of moisture to the roots.

Would i perform wiring in the winter on this one? Or is virtually any time ok for conifers?

[craigw60]

Deodara are much more forgiving than atlas cedar, you would be very safe repotting in early autumn. If you were in melb. I would say you could do it now but I don't know your climate in Perth. The main thing with deodara bonsai is the need to feed and pinch them often or the foliage will get very leggy.
Craigw

[BirchMan]

don't know your climate in Perth.

Hotter and drier than Melbourne.