whats the best time for a large chop on a rather big blue atlas cedar?
In the springtime, blue atlas cedar bonsai’s buds begin to swell and accumulate massive amounts of sugars and starches.
This is the best time to:
● Perform structural reduction of heavy branching
● Prune back finer pieces
● Reset strength; and
● Redistribute shape
Throughout the spring, blue atlas cedar bonsai may be pruned at will—provided the tree is strong and healthy.
Post-flush harden pruning may be done in late spring-early summer through mid-to-late summer. This is the window of time to perform refinement pruning, removing overly elongated tips to direct energy back to the interior.
Blue atlas cedar will push continuously and has the capacity to respond to pruning multiple times over the course of the growing season.
Styling of blue atlas cedar bonsai may be done in spring as well as in the early fall, but a heavy reduction of foliar mass on the trees should be performed only in the early spring.
Since the trees are an elongating species that produce heavy amounts of vascular tissue throughout the fall, heavy reduction in early fall leaves the trees depleted of energy and tends to delay growth.
As a general practice, fall pruning of blue atlas cedar should be avoided.
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