AusBonsai

Good afternoon all,
This is my first post and I hope I'm entering it in the correct section and that the photo links work,
I have been growing this Cedrus Deodara in a foam vege box for a few years now and to be honest it has been quite neglected. The tree currently is about 1800 tall and the base is the size of your average foam box.


https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtgdetZK5M1ir2aCnCm ... H?e=9ufzZV
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtgdetZK5M1ir2i49YR ... k?e=lc1PIZ
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AtgdetZK5M1ir2fkeyI ... o?e=1NnlNT

I was hoping to get some advice, please, about:

1. how much I can root prune at this time? I have consulted the care calendar provided by my local club, Canberra Bonsai Society, which says it's OK to root prune and repot in Aug-Sep in Canberra, but to be careful not to disturb the roots too much. I guess I'm just not sure what 'too much' actually means.

2. At what height is it OK to chop it at? Or should I wait to chop it in Jan-Dec?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Steve

Hi Steve,

I've found Deodars to be quite robust. 1/3 off the roots should be fine, don't bare-root, and repot when the buds are starting to swell (pretty much around now for me) - just standard care.

If you bring it along to a CBS meeting (when we can have them!), we can start to tackle shaping and thinking. It's a bit difficult to do it from the photos. I'd be more interested in describing a process to you, that yoiu can apply year-to-year, than just "cut here, bend there."

Good luck, hopefully see you soon,

Gavin

G'day Steve. What a ripper project you have ahead of you. I'm no expert but am literally about to get stuck into a neglected Deodara and Atlas myself. Found a video on mirai live while looking for inspiration. Ryan was working on a tall, pretty straight blue atlas for his nursery stock series. The main takeaway I got was not to feel like you have to conform to the usual process of really heavy trunk chopping every time. Ancient cedars are relatively straight, tall with a skinny trunk (relative to tree height) and lots of negative space. The long needles of deodara will mean fat pads so more height should help with spacing. Just my two cents, good luck with it, looking forward to updates. Cheers

Steve_64 wrote: ↑August 28th, 2021, 1:38 pm

careful not to disturb the roots too much. I guess I'm just not sure what 'too much' actually means.

Cedars have worm like roots that don't branch very much. They need a bit more care in the early stages or they can suffer a shock. The trick is to tease out the roots and find any which are curling around. They are usually the heavier ones. The can be cut back quite hard but leave as many of the fibrous roots there as possible and just shorten them so they face outwards. Once you do that a few times, cedars become much easier to handle.
We need better pictures before we can get to the pruning.....

Thank you, Gavin, Pat and Mike, for your advice. I have removed about a quarter of the roots and have put it back into grow box for now. Will bring it to a meeting when we can have them again, Gavin, and I'd be grateful for your advice then about chopping and styling. Thanks again to all of you and sorry for my slow response of thanks.
Steve