AusBonsai

Dears,

This is my first post to this forum, and i hope you can forgive my poor experience in this field.

i just got two Lebanon Cedar aged 8 years, with height of 70cm 28".

they were potted in big pots with very dense heavy brown soil. i washed the root carefully with running water until i got the root ball clear. i re-potted them in smaller pot with high quality peat moss so they can be ready to bonsai pot next year.

i pruned off all the small shoots along the main trunk and branches leaving pads on the branchs.

i found later that the branch are too long, and i had to shorten them, but too late as i already pruned , cut off the first two thirds (all shoots).

my question: will the branch will bud again ? or no? and if no, what did i do wrong

attached a picture before wiring

any suggestions

thank you so much

Hi Nabil,
Cedars are reluctant to make new shoots from bare branches so you might have to live with what you have. I would have cut back the strong shoots at the ends to encourage the smaller interior buds to grow and make your foliage pads closer to the trunk.
Cedars look great but they are very slow to develop so are not very common as bonsai.

Is it common to pot into Peat moss in Lebanon? I think cedars like good drainage and maybe peat will stay too wet and might cause problems with roots but maybe in your climate you can manage it.

thank you for your reply

sad to hear that i ended up with bold long branches.

you suggested to cut the strong shoots, you mean now what i have to do, or you meant what i had to do before?

here my area is so dry and hot, what do you suggest to add to peat moss?

It is difficult to suggest a good potting mix because your climate may be very different to here. We would use a potting mix consisting of large particles to ensure the pots drain well but that might not be appropriate for your area. I do not know anyone anywhere that would plant bonsai into peat moss. Some use a bit of peat in the mix with stone and other particles but I have never heard of peat only.

Cutting the strong shoots at the ends of the branches is what you should have done before.

If you want to get shoots closer to the trunk you could still try pruning the strong shoots at the ends of the branches. When you cut a lot of the strong shoots off the tree sometimes responds by making new buds to replace the ones you have cut but it does not always work with cedar. NEVER cut all the green off any branch on a cedar. if there is no leaves on a shoot or branch that part will usually die. When pruning cedar always leave some green leaves on the branches you want to keep.

Pruning like this to get new buds always works better if the tree is strong and healthy. Now that you have re-potted the tree it will be a bit weak and you should not prune any more until it recovers.

i repotted it without pruning any root, and i put it in large pot (not bonsai pot) in peat moss, it was in terrible bad quality like cement soil.

do you think i have to wait also to recover ? if so , i should not wire it also

nabil wrote:i repotted it without pruning any root, and i put it in large pot (not bonsai pot) in peat moss, it was in terrible bad quality like cement soil.

do you think i have to wait also to recover ? if so , i should not wire it also

Since you have recently repotted the tree I would not now wire the tree. You should wait no less than six months(your autumn after a full seasons growth) or even wait for a full year. Otherwise you risk killing the tree outright.

I would then wire down extravagantly the branches and this would make up for the lack of buds and growth closer to the trunk.

Lovely tree with lots of potential.

Search the site for other threads on Cedars; they are not a rare tree at all in bonsai culture.

Grant

any suggestion to prune the leader to make jin and form good apex?

Grant Bowie wrote:

nabil wrote:i repotted it without pruning any root, and i put it in large pot (not bonsai pot) in peat moss, it was in terrible bad quality like cement soil.

do you think i have to wait also to recover ? if so , i should not wire it also

Since you have recently repotted the tree I would not now wire the tree. You should wait no less than six months(your autumn after a full seasons growth) or even wait for a full year. Otherwise you risk killing the tree outright.

I would then wire down extravagantly the branches and this would make up for the lack of buds and growth closer to the trunk.

Lovely tree with lots of potential.

Search the site for other threads on Cedars; they are not a rare tree at all in bonsai culture.

Grant

so it counts as re-potted, even no root pruned , right?

nabil wrote:

Grant Bowie wrote:

nabil wrote:i repotted it without pruning any root, and i put it in large pot (not bonsai pot) in peat moss, it was in terrible bad quality like cement soil.

do you think i have to wait also to recover ? if so , i should not wire it also

Since you have recently repotted the tree I would not now wire the tree. You should wait no less than six months(your autumn after a full seasons growth) or even wait for a full year. Otherwise you risk killing the tree outright.

I would then wire down extravagantly the branches and this would make up for the lack of buds and growth closer to the trunk.

Lovely tree with lots of potential.

Search the site for other threads on Cedars; they are not a rare tree at all in bonsai culture.

Grant

so it counts as re-potted, even no root pruned , right?

Still a major shake up/challenge to a tree to have all its soil removed and replaced and it will take a while to settle in. I would err on the cautious side and concentrate on the health of the tree before I do major bending of branches and wiring etc.

I do a lot of work on Cedars about one month past the longest day of the year; here early January so where you live early June. If the tree is in good health, stable in the pot and it had good spring growth then, if you feel comfortable, you could work then. However if you do major bends of trunk or branches in the heat of summer you need to wrap with raffia, protect with shade cloth, frequent misting etc. After care is critical in summer.

Anyhow up to you.

Grant

the second tree

all needles on both trees are turning yellow and dropping heavily. even the new spring shoots

please advise what to do?

i moved them to shaded area.

how can i know if the trees are still alive?

Theyre most likely already dead mate, they would've been dying for a while if they're in the condition I am understanding you to have described. Post some pics though so we can be sure.

Regards,
Mo


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