Bald Cypress

Thomas_J.

I picked up this bald cypress at a local nursery here in Texas almost two years ago. It was about twelve feet in height and had all its foliage on the top 1/3 of the tree. After a trunk chop and a small root reduction, nothing else has been done except working the branches. The reason for the bar branch look, is because I'm styling it to look like the bald cypress that grow here in Texas. This tree has never been placed in shallow water like some enthusiasts tend to want to do. It grows just fine in the same type soil and conditions as my other trees.
Thomas J.

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Thomas_J.

This is a picture of the tree starting to bud not too long after the initial tunk chop. sorry for the picture size, it's all I have at the moment.
Thomas J.

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TreeBay

I have just put my Bald Cypress in shallow water for the summer. I used three of those plastic barrel liners - the 1/4 depth ones, and a few inches of water. I'm sure if I watered them every day they'd do fine, but they are in the growing area and get watered every two days and tend to get a bit dry. These are big stumps in a basic garden potting soil mix. Bald Cypress aren't too particular. Despite their moist habitat I have seen them on "drought-tolerant lists"

Your tree really shows how quickly branches can be developed in a couple of years. I wonder if it would be improved if you could get the branches to alternate more. At this point, although they don't quite line up, at this scale they almost look horizontally opposed. Mine are nowhere near this point. Just looking at healing the top cuts.

Nice tree!

Matt

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Whimsical

I think this, like many other subjects, depends on the zone you live in. My bald cypress in zone 9b will up and die if I don't keep them in a tray of water. I don't keep them sitting in the water 24/7. They actually go through about 2 gallons of water by half way through the day. I'm sure a lot of that is from evaporation, though.

TreeBay

I think you are right on with the location idea. But on another point, the USDA zone doesn't say much about anything except winter temps. Humidity and summer highs don't enter into it, and those are important factors in water consumption.

I was looking at the zone map and it looks like there are zone 8 & 9 regions up through the Pacific Northwest into Vancouver, Canada

Regards,

Matt

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bnsaijim

Constant water exposure may lead to a weak root system, from a bonsai standpoint, less able to withstand stress and poorly ramified.

One way to combat this is to simply alter your bonsai soil to retain more water... Bald cypress are actually amazingly drought tolerant.

I'm in Zone 9 and only have to water once a day- very thoroughly however. I can get away with about 36 hours. 48 hours leads to severe wilting which I obviously hesitate to do. This does happen at least once a summer, by accident, but the trees always recover....

I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours! ;^)

I use a mix of

50% pine bark "soil conditioner", roughly sifted to get out the largest chunks, usually contain some sand with it...

30% sifted haydite (for fines only, predominantly 4-5 mm),

20% pea gravel and coarse sand (builders pea gravel) for a little more water retention and weight to help hold the tree in the pot better.

Brands change about every year or two I generally go by particle size.... all ingredients are bought at Home Depot, Lowes, WalMart and the like...

Jim
TX

cyoung

Your work with the bald cypress is inspiring. They are such great trees in nature as well. I was wanting to know how to do a "trunk chop" I read you were only to take off 40% at a time but you obviously suceeded with more. How'd you do it. Any tips, there's a 4 year old Japanese maple I've been eyeballing....

bnsaijim

Bald Cypress are a little different...

You can take them from 30' down to 4'. Once recovered and sprouting well (1-2 years) you can pick a perfectly placed sprout to become your new leader... Depending on how extreme you want the taper that can be at any point on the remaining trunk. If you are shooting for a squat rapidly tapering trunk you start on the lower 30-50% of the tree and may do this several times over a number of years... If you are after a "taller" image, i.e., a mature flat top style, you may chop at 3' and never again...

Wouldn't do that to your maple though...

I don't mess with Japanese maples other than Tridents but I've seen Reiner Goebel drastically prune them back to a basic skeleton in late winter and build form the resulting back budding.

Jim
TX

Vonsgardens

Thomas J and all,
How is your cypress developing now? It's been 3 years. John