Cypress advice please

Hello all, I harvested in Dec 2014. It sat looking dead in 2015 but I patiently waited and in 2016 it started to back bud. Over the course of 2016 I didn't do much but trim some branches and look for the direction it would head. A month ago, before any signs of life, I carved it up and gave it a rough design. Last week I wired pretty much all the branches to give it some movement and pull some branches down. I intend on letting it grow this year, save some basic trimming.

I am pleased with the direction this is headed but I am new and need some advice.

1) How long does it take for a branch to "set". My fear is that the branches grow/swell too quickly and I have to rewire in a month or two because the wire will embed into it. So if I have to un-wire, will the branches be rigid enough to hold the desired shape?

2) I am going for the 'damaged flat-top' look- common in my hurricane alley of Florida. You can see that there is new growth on the highest point of the three and one new branch in particular is straight up. I am wondering if I should pursue this as a kind of quasi-leader branch and allow it to develop- or should I whack it now while I can?

3) I am open for suggestions. This is new to me, so I am just going by what I feel.

Mine seemed like I had to wire twice before they set good without letting the wire bite in. You should have way faster growth then mine though.

Monster.

Sorce

Patience and about five years of growth BEFORE you should have done anything to this.

The tree is very weak. It needs strength from unrestrained growth to get its feet back under it.

Without that time and growth, you will have nothing but a telephone pole with leaves for the next decade.

@rockm speaks the truth..

Shit. So what can I do now fellas, just let er get all bushy for several years? I don't mind that, just learning....

Appliance Guy said:

Shit. So what can I do now fellas, just let er get all bushy for several years? I don't mind that, just learning....

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It's not the end of the world - it will be fine. Just let it grow and regain vigor.

Appliance Guy said:

Shit. So what can I do now fellas, just let er get all bushy for several years? I don't mind that, just learning....

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Yep. Let it alone. Make sure its watered. Let it put on as much growth as it can for a few years.

Thanks group. I'll just let her be for a few years. I'll revist this site BEFORE I do anything else. Cheers!

@sorce I'm sitting here drinking a Mickey's hand grenade and I just realized the cap looks like your profile pic. That it?
And to add to the thread, I'm a novice but I wire my bc just after the third flush. Minimal swelling is why but I might be doing it all wrong

GGB said:

That it?

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Nice!

You can throw a real hand grenade at this tree and it wouldn't notice!

Sorce

I don't know much more than you do, I've only had my Cypress for a couple of months. Just let the thing grow, I'm doing the same with mine. I've trimmed off some of the lower branches, and left others to just get shaggy and thicken. I wired some of the branches, they ended up dying, but I wasn't as interested in keeping them, just more of an exercise in learning.

My in-laws live outside Pensacola in Navarre, didn't know there was any place to harvest up there.

Lobaeux said:

I don't know much more than you do, I've only had my Cypress for a couple of months. Just let the thing grow, I'm doing the same with mine. I've trimmed off some of the lower branches, and left others to just get shaggy and thicken. I wired some of the branches, they ended up dying, but I wasn't as interested in keeping them, just more of an exercise in learning.

My in-laws live outside Pensacola in Navarre, didn't know there was any place to harvest up there.

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Was private land north of here.

I am seeing little buds popping up in what I would consider wrong places, should I remove them now or let them row. I thought the idea was to pluck early so it doesn't become a bigger burden later... perhaps I am wrong?

No, do not remove them. It will be fine.

Thank you Vin.

Here's what mine looked like yesterday before and after I did a little trimming. Those two wired branches on opposite sides will be removed as well as that very long one on the left side pointing up. These guys grow so fast, if yours is healthy, I'd have no worry getting rid of some of the buds. It's leaning a little, an iguana climbed up on it.

Just wanna make sure I am on the same page as you guys. I know you say don't mess with it for a couple years, and I also hear that it is weak. Problem is this thing is growing nuts and can't appear any healthier, or atleast I don't know what to look for. I can't help but think that if left unattended for two years, it would not benefit anymore than selective pruning as necessary.

I have a couple concerns: 1) There are many 'double branches' from a single node...typically one dominates the other and my understanding is that the weaker branch should be removed. The concern is that in two years these will have fused and there will be a branch below another branch and not look appealing. 2) My second concern is the top. Currently there are several leaders competing for dominance. I was thinking I should pick the best (in terms of strength and placement) and remove the others.

Oh also wanted to say that I unwired the tree after five weeks. The branches grew so quickly that the wire needed to be removed... lesson learned....

Also considering whacking all the leaders. Long term this is a quasi-flat top and maybe no reason for an appex. I can always carve away the cambium later and polish her up.

Others might not agree, but if it were mine, I would select which leader I want to keep and get rid of the rest so they won't compete and/or form and ugly knot or reverse taper issue. Prune off the branches You don't need where you have more that one coming out at one place, they are stealing vigor from the one you want to keep. I would not shorten any of the branches now, maybe wire again for movement and direction (most want to grow up, we want them flatter). The reason why is that this is a big tree, the branches need to be thick where they come off the trunk, let them grow until they reach the thickness you like them cut back to start on ramification ( I learned this the hard way). You can leave all of the smaller stuff down low alone for now, a lot of it will die off during the winter, I have noticed this on mine. Hope it helps some.

John