Tall Atlas Cedar

Brian Underwood

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Kathy Shaner worked on this tree for a REBS demonstration in January of this year. I have never had a cedar, but always drool over the ones at Jim Gremel's place. I liked the tree from the beginning, and decided I would do the unthinkable and spend $20 on raffle tickets. Best $20 I ever spent...

The tree's styling during the demo ended shortly after these pictures were taken, and it still had some permanent marker drawings on it where Kathy wanted to open some shari.
 

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Brian Underwood

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I chose a slightly different front, and utilized the really long front left branch. I brought it way down with number 4 copper and a tourniquet, then wired out the rest of the tree. I did my best to shape the foliage pads like the Japanese Kokufu Bunjin trees, and it turned out pretty good. The new growth on it is impressive, and gives an interesting contrast in greens. It could use a little more wire, a new pot, and opening of the other 'sharpy' shari spots. I picked out a couple possible pots, and it will be repotted with Jim Gremel this week or next.

The photos are starting with the front and rotating around. It was a difficult tree to photograph as it is so darn tall, and the top jin got cut off in a few of the pictures (I'm contemplating removing it entirely...). Its also quite difficult to transport, and carry through doorways...
 

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mcpesq817

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Not bad for $20 :D Should turn out very nicely.
 

cquinn

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Definitely get rid of the jinned top. Nice tree!
 

Brian Underwood

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Thanks guys! If Jim says the jin can go, it'l go. That would at least make it fit in my Jeep better.

Gerhard; seed is the longest possible way to grow, but if you have 40 years or so, more power to you! I believe Jim grew his famous one (picture attached) from a small nursery plant he stuck in the ground in 1980. Here is a link to it's development; http://www.jimgremel.com/greenatlasdevel1.html
If you want to speed up the process a little, you can always sell an organ or two and buy a nice old cedar from Jim for 2.5k-4k... Totally worth the loss of a kidney or 1/2 a liver.
 

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GerhardG

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Hi Brian

:D Don't think selling organs will be profitable enough, home is Namibia on the south western part of Africa - can you imagine the courier costs, not to mention the eternal battle with the exchange rate.....:mad:

I was bloody lucky to get those seeds in the first place.....

Cheers
Gerhard
 

Brian Underwood

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I spent the afternoon at Jim Gremel's and repotted the cedar. I didn't have enough time to get out all the photo equipment to take proper pictures, but I was so excited I had to share... The cedar was potted into a nice unglazed round pot with dainty little feet. I really liked the pot and had Jim save it for me after it was fired last month (yeah, its a Gremel pot too...). It seems slightly too wide, but looks pretty darn good. I'll take some better pictures when I have time. Enjoy!
 

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october

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I love this tree... Literati and informal upright are my 2 favorite styles. This is a beautiful Literati. I can't wait to see it in the future after it's first trim.

Rob
 

Bill S

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Gerhard, I thought Windhoek would have been the mecca for that neck of the woods.:D
 

GerhardG

Mame
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Hi Bill

Namibia is a great country with more to see than there's time for in one lifetime, but Windhoek is no mecca for ANYTHING!:D
Simply the capitol, and was by definition a town but fast becoming a city, ergo not a nice place to live!:rolleyes:
 

Bill S

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Glad to see you took that in the spirt it was sent. I still find it fun and interesting to be able to sit and converse so easily with someone so far away.
Enjoy the day.

Bill
 

docs_bonsai

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Kathy Shaner worked on this tree for a REBS demonstration in January of this year. I have never had a cedar, but always drool over the ones at Jim Gremel's place. I liked the tree from the beginning, and decided I would do the unthinkable and spend $20 on raffle tickets. Best $20 I ever spent...

Brian, that's exactly what I did when Bob Shimon came to our club meeting for a demo on redwoods...I bought $20 in tickets and came home with a redwood stump...Never won anything but small stuff in the past..."Best $20 I ever spent" too!!
 

Brian Underwood

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Cedar gets a haircut!

So, I finally got around to working on a few trees and taking some pictures. This cedar just got its first haircut after a very vigorous growing season in which there were two flushes of growth. I rewired the apex and removed the funky jin, so now it fits in my Jeep better. I also found a good before picture with Kathy Shaner when I first won the tree early this spring. It has come a long way...

My apologies for the pic, the tree is very difficult to photograph (and carry through doorways...)

Enjoy! -=Brian=-
 

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Dwight

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Looks better now , in fact it looks real good. I can just see a bunch of ancient oriental gentlemen sitting on the floor admiring the tree and writing HiKu
 

Brian Van Fleet

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Nice work...good to get rid of the dead strike at the top.
 

fore

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I agree, very nice tree Brian! Next time we have a tree raffle, I'll buy more than $5 LOL
 

Brian Underwood

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Thanks guys! It has been a joy to work on aside from the painful needles. Buying raffle tickets has paid off more than a few times, and if you don't win, you are still supporting a cause. I really want to put this tree in the Toko Kazari, but it breaks the rules with visible wire... It is unfortunately the only appropriate size/style of tree I have.
 

edprocoat

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That is a beautiful tree! The removal of the top jin was a good move it looks much more natural.

ed
 
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