Cedar Bonsai Care Guide

Find a spot outdoors that provides full sun as this is required for a Cedar to grow with vitality. Protection from extremes of summer and winter is advised, both the hottest weeks of the summer and winter frosts.  

Cedar is a species that does well without too much water. Feel free to wait until the soil is dry before watering across the growing season. It is a species that can root rot if overwatered so judge carefully. This is all the more prescient in winter, be sure not to get the rootball too wet. 

Every two weeks throughout the growing season use a liquid feed for your Cedar Bonsai. Otherwise, use a solid organic fertiliser every month to six weeks. 

Pruning your bonsai is important not only to create or maintain an aesthetic style but to also ensure optimal health. Do not cut needles. The start of spring is the time to shorten twigs. Autumn is the time to prune larger branches. New shoots can be pinched throughout the growing season. 

Cedar can be wired and is suitable for both formal and informal upright styles. It has sensitive bark so proceed carefully, even with its young and flexible branches. We recommend using wires with a thickness that matches the thickness of the branch: if the wire you choose is too thick you will damage the bark. If it is too thin, it won’t be effective.

Repotting your tree is an important way to provide a fresh and suitable soil mix and ensure appropriate root health. A young Cedar bonsai should be repotted every 2 years in Spring or Autumn. Older Cedar should be repotted every three or four years at either interval. Be cautious when root pruning during your repot as the Cedar doesn’t take well to disturbance. It can cause older needles to fall, so root prune lightly.       

Trees that are ready for repotting will require root pruning, a suitable new pot and appropriate soil mix.

When repotting, do not cut back the root mass by a large amount, and choose a well-draining soil mix that has a neutral or slightly higher PH value of 5-6 but not over 7. We tend to use a mixture of different speciality bonsai soils on our trees. Every species is different so please contact us for free soil-mix advice or to take advantage of our repotting service.