Cryptomeria Japonica Bonsai (Japanese Red Cedar)
I purchased this Cryptomeria Japonica (Bandai Sugi) from Lone Pine Gardens in Sebastapol, CA in May of 2007. It is over 20 years old and has a great trunk and bark that resembles that of a redwood.
Below is my photo journal of it’s progress.
Interesting facts: Cryptomeria Japonica is the only species in its genus, and Cryptomeria is one of only 10 genera in the ancient family, Taxodiaceae, which once shared the landscape with the dinosaurs. Other Taxodiceae include: Dawn Redwood, California Redwood, Giant Sequoia, and Bald Cypress. Although it’s common name is cedar, it is not actually part of the true cedar (Cedrus) family.
5/19/07 - 10 gallon starter material from Lone Pine nursery.
Just after bringing it home and setting it up w/ the watering system
5/27/07 - After taking off the bottom row of branches and wiring the remaining ones.
Where the trunk was chopped
6/3/07
6/10/07 - The apex needs revision since it lacks sufficient taper.
Virtual planning.
After initial branch removal.
7/22/07 - Grinded the unwanted stump away.
The Arbortech mini grinder made this a very easy job.
8/17/07 - Refined the foliage in an attempt to move it down the branches closer to the trunk.
3/30/08 - New spring growth. Decided not to repot this year.
4/20/08
6/15/08 - Lots of new growth.
1/25/09 - It has made a full recovery from the hard pruning last year, so now it is finally time to repot.
The rootball was very hard and dense so it should enjoy the new soil mix.
This plastic training pot is a visual improvement.
3/30/09 - Did some pruning. Need to do more.
6/14/09 - More styling and foliage refinement.
Starting to make some sense of the apex.
Having a hard time choosing a front. Resorting to process of elimination (ie. determine what is not the front).
Chose a leader, need to carve the trunk some more.
8/4/09 - Did a lot of training this summer. The apex is finally coming together.
10/25/09 - Decided on this for the front.
2/8/10 - Need to put a major downward bend in the big bottom branch. I'll have to wrap the branch first and use really thick wire.
3/27/11 - My first attempt at taking decent pictures of my trees. I need a bigger backdrop for this one, and more lighting.
I tried a couple different lighting angles.
This is the type of pot that I want for this tree. I know it is relatively common, but cant find one online for the life of me. Anybody want to sell me one?
I found this pot via special order from bonsaimonk.com - looking forward to repotting to it this winter!
2/2/12 - The cold temps made the foliage really brown this year - freaked me out a little, but it seems like the tree is ok. I may protect it a little next year.
New Japanese pot from bonsaimonk.com arrived in time for repotting this year.
had to do a lot of root reduction to fit it in the shallower pot.
they say the pot is like the picture frame - looks a lot better even tho the foliage needs a lot of work still.
Finally did something with all the foliage and branching. cut back heavily and wired all branches down.
Just showing that all of the branches have wire on them for the first time. The foliage has always been so dense that I guess I was afraid to cut it back enough to wire like this before. glad I finally did.
July 2017. doing well, I think this will be the new front w/ next repot.
August 2018. Removed branch at bottom right. I was holding back the design.
Branch removed and jinned. More deadwood added throughout. plan to make more deadwood in crown and move foliage closer to trunk throughout.
December 2019
Very nice photos of progression .
Thanks T! It has recovered well from the repotting and is pushing out nice bright green foliage now. I need to update w/ some new pix soon.
What time of year did you do major pruning? I Have a couple cryptomeria that I want to start working this spring but I’m finding detailed development info hard to come by.
Thanks
Larry Aldrich
Seattle WA
Hi Larry,
The nice thing about cryptomeria is that it is very hardy so you can pretty much prune it any time of year and it will be fine. That said, common convention is that the best time to prune/style/repot is just before growth starts in the spring when the tree is dormant. At that time of year the least amount of sap is flowing and it is only a short while until new growth begins to start healing the cuts you make.
I trim mine whenever I can find the time all year round and it has always recovered just fine.
Cheers
Steve
Steve,
Thanks for the response. Has your work all been trial and error or do you have a source you might recommend. I will start working on my two this spring when new growth starts up and the rain slows a bit.
Larry Aldrich
Seattle WA
very impressive. looks beautiful
thanks Zach!
Very nice tree. How’s it doing?
Hi Stephen,
Thanks very much. It’s doing quite well actually turns out cryptomeria is a very hardy species.
I’ve taken the wire off now and it’s a little overgrown. I plan to style it some more soon before winter comes.
I’ll upload new pics when I can.
Cheers,
Steve
Steve – Thanks for getting back to me. Glad to hear your tree is doing well. I have purchased a nice Cryto. from Lone Pine and Steve Price is going to style it with me. It is a little over 2′ tall. I haven’t taken any pictures of it yet. It was in a 10 gal. container and now in a 15″x15″x5″ Anderson flat. May do a bit of branch pruning soon then leave it till spring. Look forward to your pics. – Steve
Hi Stephen,
I have learned here and there, and yes by a lot of trial and error, but there are lots of good (and bad) resources online – here is a post that covers some of the good ones worth checking out: https://www.marinhomestead.com/bonsai/how-to-learn-bonsai-online/
You’ll find that there are ‘bonsai celebrities’ that you can follow and learn from.
Enjoy
Steve
I like this tree and want to get/make some. Can you please email me? I live in Santa Rosa. thanks!
Hi Dave
Glad you like the tree – I need to post a recent picture of it. I am not a seller/distributor, but you should be able to find one if you hunt around a bit.
Cheers
Steve
Looks great, any updates? The dates on the pics are very helpful. I just picked up a large crypto this year. Initial hard prune completed.
Thanks for the prompt Jeff – I have added an update to the gallery. Tree is doing well. these are a very hardy species. 😉