Why not Eastern Red Cedar

[just.wing.it]

closed at 4pm.

And they open the bonsai area at 10am....even though the arboretum opens earlier...

 

[Vinnie Charity]

Nice, and we will definitely be going earlier next time...

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Here’s one I saw today at the Carolina Bonsai Expo

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Here’s one I saw today at the Carolina Bonsai Expo

That’s a pretty awesome trunk! Can’t help but notice the foliage pads look pretty rough though....

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Some tree species definitely have the potential to make good bonsai. They have good bonsai traits.
Some tree species definitely have traits that make it likely that their best will be poor bonsai.

Most of us have some of each. I did dump all my ERC, when they all came down with cedar apple rust. But I do have my Magnolia, and a few others that will never make great bonsai. I keep them because I enjoy them. I am realistic, and have no plans for showing them, as they are not good bonsai. They are fun for me, but nothing special.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Here’s one I saw today at the Carolina Bonsai Expo

And yet the best part is the trunk, which is very unusual for an ERC, and to be improved, it would require changing foliage! Then it would not be at all recognizable as ERC.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Yes the foliage is scrappy looking, common for ERC. I don’t know how long they have been working it and this is the first time in 10 years that I have seen it on display so I suspect they are still developing the foliage. Arthur Joura, the curator, likes to specialize in native trees so you see a lot of things in the collection that are not commonly seen as bonsai.

 

[Vinnie Charity]

Some tree species definitely have the potential to make good bonsai. They have good bonsai traits.
Some tree species definitely have traits that make it likely that their best will be poor bonsai.

Most of us have some of each. I did dump all my ERC, when they all came down with cedar apple rust. But I do have my Magnolia, and a few others that will never make great bonsai. I keep them because I enjoy them. I am realistic, and have no plans for showing them, as they are not good bonsai. They are fun for me, but nothing special.

My thoughts exactly, and growing a miniature Cedar is all I want mine for...

 

[Vinnie Charity]

You won’t get rid of that rust. It is only one of the many problems with ERC. Have fun training it you want, but eventually you will realize ERC is a trash tree. Don’t judge how other juniper species respond to Bonsai training by this one.

It’s been 4 years and the rust has yet to return…

 

[TN_Jim]

It’s been 4 years and the rust has yet to return…

I’ve never seen rust on an erc in a pot; albeit, never on the few of mine since hardly seen the species elsewhere in cultivation.
I’ve worked around plenty of cedar apple rust at various stages, even brought a heavily infected hawthorn into the yard that I think released spores…

 

[Paradox]

I've had some cedar apple rust show up on a couple of procumbens juniper I had believe it or not. Fortunately it was in spots that I could just prune the infected branches off and burned them.

Saw it for a couple of years and that was it. I've never seen it again *crosses fingers*

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

It’s been 4 years and the rust has yet to return…

You’ve been fortunate so far. Has It developed into a nice bonsai in those 4 years?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I've had some cedar apple rust show up on a couple of procumbens juniper I had believe it or not. Fortunately it was in spots that I could just prune the infected branches off and burned them.

Saw it for a couple of years and that was it. I've never seen it again *crosses fingers*

If you ever find it on a trunk, get some DMSO and use it straight from the container with a cotton swab. The rust will soak it up and die.
Use gloves! I cannot stress that enough.

 

[Vinnie Charity]

You’ve been fortunate so far. Has It developed into a nice bonsai in those 4 years?

I’m allowing it to grow unchecked so the trunk gets thicker, I’ll post an updated picture in just a few.

Again, this was never meant to be a “nice” bonsai, but it will be fun to play with as I dug it up out of my front yard and said, “what the hell”, and put it in a nursery pot…

 

[Grunge_Bonsai]

I am brand new to bonsai so I have been mainly studying as opposed to actually working on trees. I only have 2 Junipers I am working on so far. In my studies I find very few people using Eastern Red Cedar as bonsai material. I was wondering why this is since it is almost impossible to look around in North Carolina without seeing one. I have hundreds of them on my property and it would be nice to work on a native tree.

This is mine. They are so slow-growing, it makes them hard to refine (like oaks — the best bet is to find one in the wild for proper trunk thickness).

I am trying to develop this one in a windswept style. May do a trunk chop at the skinny neck portion if it decides to push low growth later.

My issue with it is not for a lack of love, but a lack of patience. I will eventually do a very stylized shari to cover the wounds on it. Giving it a year to blast some growth out. If it refuses or gives a weak showing, I will let it winter and then plant it in the ground on the low lying area of my property.

For me, from what I can tell, there are simply better junipers than this to work with. I gave it a shot and won’t give up, but will focus my efforts on well studied junipers.