Bald cypress chop

[crab apple]

Do ya'll think this BC needs another foot taken off of it, my plan is to make it a flat top and some of them seem kinda tall. It's 40 inches roughly from the soil level to the current chop. I hate to loose a year but if it's wrong it's wrong. This one seemed to have significantly less growth than my other BCs but did seem to survive it's harvest. If I reduce the height I would of course do it in the spring before bud break.
Thanks for any opinions.

 

[jandslegate]

I think it looks pretty good like that. I'm also curious what the consensus is as I have a few in development myself and am not super experienced with the species. It's got an interesting and beefy trunk going on.

 

[eugenev2]

By flat top did you have something like the below picture in mind?
Because I would probably say your tapering needs a bit of work and taking a bit off to correct this might be an option.
Although personally i don't think this style works the best for bald cypress, they are too stately for it. But this is my preference tho.

Base looks amazing tho.

 

[Maiden69]

It depends on what look are you going for, if you want a flat top as you have now you could keep it as is, or chop it to where you think you would want the top to start developing. If you are going to a more traditional tapered tree, chop were the flare stops to start your next trunk section. If it was my tree I would chop it a few inches above the end of the flare... Look into the below members threads, both have great BC trees.

@BillsBayou @Mellow Mullet

Food for thought...

 

[crab apple]

Thanks for the responses, those are some pretty amazing trees, I can see I have a long way to go but probably will re chop it again this spring.

 

[johng]

Well...if a natural appearing flat-top is your goal I would not chop it...they are typically very tall.

Besides...trees rarely respond as well to a second chop as they did to the first...at least not this soon after the first chop. The tree uses a lot of resources when you cut all the roots and foliage off...I wouldn't consider a second chop for at least 5 years. I could be wrong but that also appears to be a pond cypress from the thicker bark and foliage(a close up of the foliage would help). I find PC to be about half as vigorous as BC

By the way, the first example posted was developed by me...that photo is from 2013 and that was 5 years after collection.

 

[Katie0317]

By flat top did you have something like the below picture in mind?
Because I would probably say your tapering needs a bit of work and taking a bit off to correct this might be an option.
Although personally i don't think this style works the best for bald cypress, they are too stately for it. But this is my preference tho.

Base looks amazing tho.

You might want to study up on what bald cypress look like in nature. In Florida many bald cypress naturally have flat tops and in part it's what makes them so stately. The tree OP shows has especially nice fluting and I think if he were to study photos of bald cypress in nature he'd be inspired on what he should do next. Nature is great inspiration.

When I was a kid many people dug the BC's out from their lakefront beaches so people didn't bump their legs while swimming on the BC's knees. It's a shame so many were ripped out. There's still plenty though.

 

[eugenev2]

You might want to study up on what bald cypress look like in nature. In Florida many bald cypress naturally have flat tops and in part it's what makes them so stately. The tree OP shows has especially nice fluting and I think if he were to study photos of bald cypress in nature he'd be inspired on what he should do next. Nature is great inspiration.

When I was a kid many people dug the BC's out from their lakefront beaches so people didn't bump their legs while swimming on the BC's knees. It's a shame so many were ripped out. There's still plenty though.

Probably true, also part of the reason why i provided a picture to get an idea was he is envisaging. My comment was not based on Florida specifically but rather based on pictures I've seen, although I cannot say from which area they came from, as well as from how the trees growth tendency are from what i've seen locally, they seem to follow the same pattern as the bald cypress's cousin that we have here locally the red wood , not sure if this is because of climate differences or perhaps elevation differences (5751 feet above sea level) but they have a tendency to grow in a formal/informal upright and they look amazing.
But as I said, it was my opinion and probably influenced by the trees I saw growing up...although side note...I grew up seeing many flat top trees here in Africa...and I've never been a fan..so call it confirmation bias.

 

[eugenev2]

Well...if a natural appearing flat-top is your goal I would not chop it...they are typically very tall.

Besides...trees rarely respond as well to a second chop as they did to the first...at least not this soon after the first chop. The tree uses a lot of resources when you cut all the roots and foliage off...I wouldn't consider a second chop for at least 5 years. I could be wrong but that also appears to be a pond cypress from the thicker bark and foliage(a close up of the foliage would help). I find PC to be about half as vigorous as BC

By the way, the first example posted was developed by me...that photo is from 2013 and that was 5 years after collection.

O wow...pretty cool, it's a beautiful tree, any more recent pictures of it by chance?

 

[crab apple]

I appreciate everyone's responses, I'm a very avid outdoorsman here in FL and I'm looking at flat top BC all the time. I have a very specific goal for several of them just not this one in particular other that I left it kinda tall for a likely flat top also I'm still fairly new to bonsai in general.
I am curious to know if perhaps this is a pond cypress, I collected it in a swampy area, not really along a river so that could be pond cypress territory, I will enclose some pics of the foliage and maybe someone can identify it.

 

[johng]

I appreciate everyone's responses, I'm a very avid outdoorsman here in FL and I'm looking at flat top BC all the time. I have a very specific goal for several of them just not this one in particular other that I left it kinda tall for a likely flat top also I'm still fairly new to bonsai in general.
I am curious to know if perhaps this is a pond cypress, I collected it in a swampy area, not really along a river so that could be pond cypress territory, I will enclose some pics of the foliage and maybe someone can identify it.

In my experience, there is no doubt that is pond cypress!

 

[Cajunrider]

In my experience, there is no doubt that is pond cypress!

Or at least a cross between bald and pond cypress. They crossbreed a lot in south Florida.