Bald Cypress from cuttings

Cajunrider

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I heard you could air layer bc but never seen any examples
In about 3 weeks I will have pictures of my BC air layers. I actually did it at the wrong time of year yet 1 out of 2 is showing some strong roots. When the buds break and the leaves come out I will harvest that air layer.
 

Cajunrider

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Any luck with these cuttings? I've got a Montezuma cypress I want to propagate and am curious if the Bald Cypress cuttings are working.

Keegan
I have one montezuma cypress cutting growing for a year now. It's hanging on but is not thriving. Hopefully it will break out this year.
 

Cajunrider

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Will you be posting about this (here or on YT)?
I am so looking forward to see your thoughts on auxin and the flat top development in BCs Bill.

I myself have observed hundreds of BCs in my area that had beautiful classic conical forms. Then hurricane Rita ravaged the area and all the older BCs now have flat tops. In the hurricane they lost their tops and were stripped bare. Then they had a large number of buds near the top break. These outgrew every thing below and formed flat tops.

The juveniles regained their conical forms even if they lost their top. After the storm the buds came out but usually one won out and became the new top.

For me now, if my bonsai trunk is less than 6 inch and doesn't have prominent buttress, I will keep it in classic cone form. For the big ones, flat top is where it should be.
 
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Wilson

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The cuttings I took in 2018 had good roots, so I decided to give them a dormant season this winter. I am hopeful they will pull through.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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In my ''neck of the woods'' BC don't do flat tops. Lots of broken tops, more often ''candelabra'' in that branches form uprights to replace the top, but the classic southern style flat top doesn't really happen.

1300 year old bald cypress, southern Illinois.
cypress1300yr-old-4.jpg top of same tree DSCN1725.jpg

our canoe guide referred to ''Cypress Domes'' as areas where younger trees occur. Less than 2 or 3 centuries old. Most had been logged out, but along the old levees and dikes new ones had formed. The area had a number of levees built between 1880 and 1920, so the levees had been there for near 100 years. Changes downstream in river drainage meant that the levees were no longer being maintained as they were not needed the way they were at the end of the 19th century. So these pictures are ''cypress domes'', a mix of bald cypress, water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) being dominant. In the domes you see some cypress that are more broom style than ''classic'' ancient bald cypress style.
DSCN1732.jpg DSCN1744.jpg DSCN1735.jpg


And just to make ''ya all'' crazy, here is a Montezuma cypress, Taxodium huegelii, raised from seed in Wisconsin by Houston S, that judging by the ribbons, the judges really liked its ''weeping willow'' styling. I've talked to Houston, and he had decided that since he had absolutely no clue what was a natural style for this type of bald cypress, that he would just do what ever came to mind with it. And he did it very well. Award of Merit at the 2018 Midwest Bonsai Society Show, August at the Chicago Botanic Garden. This is the best show in the midwest, definitely one of the better shows of the year, of course the National Show in Rochester NY is a higher ranked show, but this August show is pretty high level of competition. So someone (the judge, or judges) liked it. I'm lucky enough to live near the owner and have seen it with no leaves, in autumn and winter, after the clean up and re-wiring this is a very well executed weeping tree.

T mucronatum HSanders IMG_20180818_145248022 (1).jpg
 

Trenthany

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Yes!

View attachment 190460


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Why would anyone want to make a bald cypress look like anything else? A style so unique and majestic and old should never be LOL'd into the corner. NOBODY puts baldy in the corner!

I'll continue to use flat-tops as my bald cypress template. Not only that, but the crown will tilt as close to 30° as I can make it. Why? Because I live at the 30° parallel and that's how the flat-tops tilt.

View attachment 190463

Ohio. Pfft. LOL hurricanes? No one LOLs hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. Talk to me the next time there's a black ice 20 car pile up in Ohio. Send me some LOLs.

Bald cypress where the limbs are wired at a downward angle from the bottom to the top make me say "LOL snow load". I'd post examples, but I know and love these people.

Maybe when Dale Cochoy visits in two weeks, I'll send him home with some good Cajun hogshead cheese for you. You know Dale?

Peace and love, brother.
Maybe you don’t get that down slope in LA but it’s surprisingly common here in FL. I may be picking up a giant rock tomorrow but if not I’ll get some shots. It’s not every tree but there’s a few right at work that have it.
 

Ccome15

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They had green all season. We'll see if they wake up with no real protection given this rough winter...
Underdog, did these make it? I collected and chopped two BC a few weeks ago. Took the tops, dipped in root hormone and literally just shoved in the mud a foot off the bank of my pond just to see if anything would happen. One nothing, the other pushed buds and they’re swelling to the point of now opening. Not sure if it’s just putting on one last show or going to actually do something.
 

Underdog

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Underdog, did these make it? I collected and chopped two BC a few weeks ago. Took the tops, dipped in root hormone and literally just shoved in the mud a foot off the bank of my pond just to see if anything would happen. One nothing, the other pushed buds and they’re swelling to the point of now opening. Not sure if it’s just putting on one last show or going to actually do something.
No. Not a one of my attempts made it. I do want to try again from the old tree in the strip mine land.
 
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