How About a Bald Cypress Forest?

Thomas_J.

For about the past year now I've been doing monthly newsletter articles for Dallas Bonsai Gardens. This months newsletter article will be on a small bald cypress forest you can make. I supply the link to purchase the starter trees, and I also tell my experience with sowing bald cypress seeds, if you have access to those.

The reason I'm mentioning it here is there are probably a lot out there that would like to try their hand at a bald cypress, but don't receive the newsletter. I hope quite a few of you will try this.

Here's the link to the newsletter

Attached Images

b cyp forest 7-01(08)#2.jpg (53.9 KB, 224 views)

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Thomas J.

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jeremy_norbury

How is this one doing now?

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radsnell

Do you line the pot with plastic, as their website recommends. Obviously in nature, the BC are in water, but I've never heard of lining the pot to create the "swamp".

Thomas_J.

This little group was put together mainly to show people especially beginners how easy it is to do something like this. I even included the website as to where to purchase this kind of material. Since then I have broken the group up and decided to grow them as flat top bald cypress. I stumbled upon a few pics of this style and really like it. When I have time I will post a few pics.

As to lining the pot with plastic, no, I grow them like any other bonsai tree in the same kind of soil even. There is a myth out there that these trees need to constantly be in water. That is wrong for bonsai culture on these. It is true they can tolerate a lot of water, but not necessary as some are led to believe.

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Thomas J.

knitfreak

What a great way for a beginner to make a forest! I definitely want to try this out, thanks for the link!

watzone69

Different people grow them in different ways. Last year I tried it in grow box lined with an old shower curtain. Kind of a variation of the technique that Grampz uses:

http://forum.bonsaitalk.com/f14/bal...821/index3.html

The soil was constantly wet and by summer's end the stink was pretty bad. I scooped the whole mess (without disturbing the roots) and put it into a plastic oil drain pan with a few holes poked in the bottom. I also added some more coarse sand and pine bark. This was more of a compromise between the "swamp" and a regular condition. The trunk did increase in girth from about a 1/4" to almost an inch. I don't know if keeping it in water through the summer did it or not but I like the results! When I repotted earlier this year, there were a ton of white, healthy roots. I put it in a pond basket with a free draining mix of pine bark and coarse sand. I 'm planning on putting the pond basket in a tray of water (not completely submerged) once summer really kicks in.

As for the forest, I joined the Arbor Day Foundation:

http://www.arborday.org/shopping/me...?trackingid=528

I got 10 free BC saplings (toothpick size trunks) for the $10 membership fee. I've planted those in a grow box and hope to make a nice group in a couple or three years.

Mike