Japanese Cedar Relocation

The 6ft sacrifice branch on this Japanese Cedar has been impeding the view of my monkey poles from the kitchen window so I recently decided to move it to a better location where it will get more sunlight too.  An overdue thinning out of the tree was performed too. Existing branches are lignifying well on this but its still not ready to put into a training pot.

Japanese Cedar Summer Work

Before. Summer 2015

Time to thin out excess growth on this cryptomeria japonica that’s in the growing bed.  A lot of growth over the past year and the branches are now starting to lignify.

After thinning.

I reduced the height and reduced branches at the new apex.  Bottom branches were left longer and the lowest untouched as they are sacrifice branches.  I plan to lift this next year and inspect the roots. I also have another one pictured below that I’m not training, just letting it grow unchecked for comparison’s sake.

 

Field Growing a Cryptomeria

I’ve been growing two Japanese (Temple?) Cedars in the flower beds for three years now.  I bought them as saplings online from a gardening website and wasn’t entirely sure of the suitability for bonsai at the time but thought it was worth a try.  The only examples of these trees as bonsai that I have seen are photographs of bonsai in Japan.  I think there’s one or two pieces of raw material belonging to NIBS members but they seem to be pretty rare in the UK (perhaps unsuitable in our climate?)

Anyway, I have since discovered that the variety that I bought are requiring quite a bit of patience! They are slow growing with coarse foliage and new wood takes a long time to lignify.

When bought, the trunks were green except for the base which was turning brown.  They were tall (approx 80cm) and slender and so my immediate thought was that they would be a long term project.  This post features the most promising of the two trees.

Over the past couple of years I have been letting the lower branches grow unhindered while keeping the apex short by pinching the new growth in spring and pruning in late summer.  As a result the tree is developing gradual taper throughout the trunk .

I’ve also been paying attention to the spacing of the branches and as you can see in the photo above, the branches are further apart in the lower half of the tree but closer in the upper trunk.

This year I’ve just finished pruning to develop branch taper.  It’s a cluttered picture I know but you can see how the trunk has finally lignified and hopefully it’ll not be too long before the primary branches turn woody as well.Anybody any advice on how to speed up the process of turning branches woody? I’d love to hear from anybody who has similar material in the UK especially.