Anyone in Bald Cypress country?

MacInOakRidge

For many years I have had an idea. I have not had access to a cypress swamp that I could do what I wanted, when and where. I have an idea and would like to throw it out for someone who would be willing to experiment and give it a shot.

You need a nice looking cypress knee. Wide base tapering to a point. You'll find those all over a good cypress swamp. The next gets a little more difficult.

You need that knee to have a smaller or several smaller cypress trees growing near it. Drill several, properly placed holes in the knee and thread a branch through the holes. This is the typical way of grafting a branch on a tree where you want it.

Let the thing grow. In a year or so find out if the knee has adopted the branches and the branches can be cut off the donor tree and survive. If that happens then harvest the knee with root system attached.

If it works you would have a killer bald cypress with no cut back of the top, no pruning scars to heal, no jin. Only scars would be where you cut off the donor branch on the side of the knee, it would heal over quickly. No carving of the place where normally you would cut off the top of a tree to get the taper trunk. And no waiting for a suitable branch to develop to take the place of the top that was cut off. Just drill and put a branch there.

The result would be a nicely tapered tree with a very interesting trunk. The next part of the experiment would be to see if the limb growth would activate the natural sprouting of new buds on the old bark of the knee as you see when you chop off the top of a big cypress.

Any one out there willing and able to give this a shot? I think it would work.

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MacInOakRidge

I just borrowed this photos of ebay. Can you picture the limbs and leaves on these? That is what I am talking about. These stand from 18" to 24" tall.

Attached Images

	Cypress Knee.JPG (13.0 KB, 55 views)
	Cypress Knee2.JPG (23.4 KB, 59 views)

Bonsaifreak

Sounds interesting. The technical challenges to overcome would be finding the genetically identical knee and finding flexible enough (immature) lower branches for the thread graft.

Actually, the first obstacle would be to find collecting grounds for BC. My understanding it that it is illegal to collect them in Louisianna. Not so in East Texas or Arkansas. I am still looking for the opportunity to find my very own collected BC.

Jorge

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eminart

I think the biggest problem would be the lack of a root system on the knee. From my limited experience, a knee just tends to be one solid chunk of wood going straight down into the muck. I think it would be difficult to get one with any feeder roots. But, maybe I'm wrong.

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MacInOakRidge

The knee has to be hooked to something, likely a root. It may require looking at a good number of knees to find one that is on a root that is not way deep.

If the process would be successful and the knee suported growth of leaves you could cut the root off of the tree side and encourage growth of feeder roots on the side that is feeding the knee. This may be done by cutting off the feeder root side of the root that is supporting the knee, leaving the tree side of the root attached. That would force new feeder root growth close to the knee. Add the branches and then cut the root holding the knee off from the tree side. Stick it in a pot and admire your handy work.

I really don't know if this would work. A quick way to tell would be to drill a hole in a knee and stick a limb through. Wait a year and see if the knee will support the added limb. One may find out that there is some natural thing going on that would not do that. Like all the flow of nutrients goes from the knee to the root, backwards from the way the main trunk works. If that the case then there would be nothing to feed the added limb, it would be being pulled out of the grafted limb instead of adding to it.

anttal63

mac are you for real or have you just had a good smoke? lol

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rockm

BC knees are part of the tree's root system. They are, according to one of the definitive books written on the species ("Baldcypress, The Tree Unique, The Wood Eternal") made up totally of root tissue.

They are also apparently specialized tissue that can store considerable amounts of starches sent down from the upper part of the tree as glucose. ALthough no exact determination has been made as to their function, the book concludes knees are specialized storage centers for starches and not for structural support or for "breathing" as had been previously supposed.

Since you're dealing with specialized tissues meant to perform a function, I think there might be some difficulty in getting a branch graft to take.

Another difficulty is the root system to support the knee, as they are part of the root system themselves. To collect one successfully, you'd have to collect feeder roots along with it. You can't simply lop one off at ground level and work from there.

BC is an extremely interesting species. If you have one or want one as a bonsai, I'd highly recommend getting the above mentioned book. It will open your eyes to some of the particular quirks and habits of the species.

MacInOakRidge

Antonio, nope, no smoking going on here. Bald cypress are beautiful trees and make for a magnificent bonsai, properly handled.

Rockm, glad to hear that someone figured out what the knees are up to. I never bought the story about gasping for air for one minute.

Even if---- my thought is that it is a living organism. Living things can be influenced to do things that are against their nature. Bonsai, for example.

I just hope someone someplace that has access to a cypress swamp will at least take the time to drill a hole and stick a branch through it. The worst that could happen is the branch dies.

I have wandered a few swamps in years past and do not ever recall seeing leaves on a cypress knee. I sure would give it a shot if I could find any around here and could observe the result.

The knees are covered with bark just like the trunk is. There is an epidermal layer under the part that is exposed to the air. It just may be, given a chance, that the epidermal of the donor branch would graft to the epedermal of the host (knee) find the place very comfortable and grow. Only one way I know to find out and I am not in a situation to do it.

rockm

"Living things can be influenced to do things that are against their nature. Bonsai, for example"

No. They really can't. If it's not in their nature, it usually won't happen. Bonsai is NOT against a tree's nature, anyway. It is part of it. We are exploiting an existing natural reaction in plants when we use bonsai techniques. Nature "bonsais" trees all the time, whether through harsh weather or animal browsing. Trees developed the capability to dwarf their foliage and rejuvenate themselves by growing new shoots after they're damaged in response to what nature throws at them. We simply do it "artistically."

I'm afraid that trying to manipulate roots to accept grafts to become branch bearing trunks could be difficult, as root and top growth are two different types of plant tissue. To "convert" one to another requires a hormone signal. We can "tell" top growth tissue to produce roots with rooting hormone. I don't know if there is a hormone available that signals root tissue to become top growth.

Cypress knees do not produce bud growth. They have no latent resting buds, as the trunk and branches have. However, neither does plant scar tissue, yet it can be grafted onto in a manner similar to what you're describing. BC growers have thread grafted branches onto the scars around large trunk chops to produce branches where none would appear otherwise. This, however, is above ground growth.

Plants have no epidermal layer. Animals have epidermal layers to their skin. Plants are different. They have cambium underneath their bark. Underneath the cambium is phloem and xylem. You cannot think of plants in animal terms. They do not work the same way.

For what it's worth, extremely nice BC bonsai with similar taper can be made without using knees.