Bald Cypress group progression

[Maiden69]

I have 4 BC seedlings that I bought in March. They are all planted in inorganic soil, they do have 1/3" akadama, but that was not enough to keep them growing so I submerged the pots in water. I lost 2 to a hail storm. The other 3 are pictured here in order of time. The last one is a 1 gal tree I bought online in April. You can see it pictured behind the seedlings. The seedlings grew about the size of that 1 gal in 2 months, so I decided to move the 1 gal into a rootpouch and into water. It is finally thickening. I will include all the trees here as they are in development, as I decided to work on them I will create their own thread.


MARCH

JUNE

JULY

TODAY


TODAY Seedling

TODAY 1 Gal

APR

TODAY Seedlings

Today 1 Gal

 

[DonovanC]

Wow, awesome growth in one summer! Do you keep them in water consistently? I’ve been wanting to try a bald cypress, this is inspiring.
Also, where did you get those pots?

 

[Cajunrider]

I have 4 BC seedlings that I bought in March. They are all planted in inorganic soil, they do have 1/3" akadama, but that was not enough to keep them growing so I submerged the pots in water. I lost 2 to a hail storm. The other 3 are pictured here in order of time. The last one is a 1 gal tree I bought online in April. You can see it pictured behind the seedlings. The seedlings grew about the size of that 1 gal in 2 months, so I decided to move the 1 gal into a rootpouch and into water. It is finally thickening. I will include all the trees here as they are in development, as I decided to work on them I will create their own thread.


MARCH

JUNE

JULY

TODAY
View attachment 393275

TODAY Seedling

View attachment 393274

TODAY 1 Gal

APR

TODAY Seedlings

Today 1 Gal

Great progress!

 

[Maiden69]

Wow, awesome growth in one summer! Do you keep them in water consistently? I’ve been wanting to try a bald cypress, this is inspiring.
Also, where did you get those pots?

Yes, they are in water constantly. I flush the water every week and add some Summit Chemical Mosquito bits to prevent bugs from the water. I think I will remove them from the water as we get into cold weather and the BC lose their leaves and go into dormancy. One thing I would do differently is to use a much bigger pot, I think these ones are 5.5" and one of them is pushing out of the pot already and have a very thick root starting to circle the pot. All of them have finer roots going from under the pot into the water.

The pots are from Lowes, they are Pennington Bulb Pan terracotta planters. They are shallower than regular planters. They don't have "feet" so you will need to grind some grooves to help water flush out of the pot if using them on a bench.

Great progress!

Thanks.

 

[DonovanC]

Yes, they are in water constantly. I flush the water every week and add some Summit Chemical Mosquito bits to prevent bugs from the water. I think I will remove them from the water as we get into cold weather and the BC lose their leaves and go into dormancy. One thing I would do differently is to use a much bigger pot, I think these ones are 5.5" and one of them is pushing out of the pot already and have a very thick root starting to circle the pot. All of them have finer roots going from under the pot into the water.

The pots are from Lowes, they are Pennington Bulb Pan terracotta planters. They are shallower than regular planters. They don't have "feet" so you will need to grind some grooves to help water flush out of the pot if using them on a bench.


Thanks.

This is the push I needed. BC is one of my favorite species for sure, I’ve always wanted a few. I think I’m definitely going to start some next spring.
I love the pots, you’re right, they’ve proven too small for these trees. But they’re definitely useful. I’ve been trying to find some shallow pots for training junipers - honestly just for the aesthetic, the deeper pots work fine, but I’m partial the the look of the shallow pots.

 

[Colorado]

Wow, great thickening! Hard to find a more water-loving species.

 

[Cajunrider]

I am experiencing the same fast growth with my cypress yearlings. My current set up is a Home Depot medium mortar tub filled with 1 ft3 of cheap compost. The BC are planted on top of that in 2 12”x15” sieve seed trays from Amazon. The tub do not have drain holes so the small roots are free to go through the sieve trays and get as much water as they want. I an hoping this set up will keep the roots flat to be ready for bonsai pots.

 

[Moridin]

Nice progress man!

I thought I had good growth on mine but you have probably had double than what I had.

 

[Maiden69]

I think I’m definitely going to start some next spring.

I got my seedlings from Matt https://kaedebonsai-en.com/

 

[DonovanC]

I got my seedlings from Matt https://kaedebonsai-en.com/

Awesome, thanks. I’ll check them out

 

[Maiden69]

I repotted this ones Saturday, completely barerooted and screwed into a tile before placing them into 2 gal Rootpouch. I used Monto Clay from Bonsai Jack and Pumice. I will fertilize heavily this year. If they grow as fast as they did last year, I will probably open up the bottom of the bags and move into individual water containers filled 1/2 way with lava to allow for better growth. I think if I had used bigger pots last year the basal spread would had been wider.

The one on the right that you can't see had to be "slip potted" late fall into a Rootpouch because it was literally falling off the terracotta pot I had them in. That one was left alone this year. I was planning to do a forest with all of them, but after seeing the size of most examples here and Mirai's, I don't think I want to deal with something so big as I am not getting any younger.

This ones were cut as an experiment to see what to expect from the chop. Once new branches develop I will decide what to do with them. The twin trunk was 2 seedlings that were planted together, they are fused at the base right now.

I had to use the metal bars and strap them down to the bench as the wind kept knocking them sideways. I need to build a lower platform or a wind breaker as the slope in my backyard leaves them unprotected from the winds when they come from the south/southwest.

 

[Maiden69]

I think I may attempt to make this one a shohin... one of those new branches will be the future leader and lower branches.







Plenty of choices for the twin trunk

 

[Maiden69]

Today

 

[Maiden69]

Some close up of the trunks. This one and the twin were repotted this spring. The other single trunk was slip-potted last fall-early winter. Another lesson I learned was not to cut the bags for depth but just fold them outwards. That way if the tree grows too strong I can unroll the bag up and have more space for the soil so it doesn't start eroding outwards like the problem I had with the terracotta pot last year.

 

[Maiden69]

This guys are pushing/extending new growth non-stop... I guess they are loving the organic fertilizer, plus the 5:2 Humic/Kelp every 2 weeks.

 

[Maiden69]

Update picture. Nothing done other than feeding and watering.

 

[Backwardsvg]

How thick are these now?

 

[Maiden69]

How thick are these now?

I don't have exact sizes, let me see if I remember to check and take some pics when I get home.

 

[Maiden69]

All of them are between 3-4" at the base. The big one is about 4.5" I tried to take some pics but my iphone is inducing some kind of fish eye effect, and the pics don't show the correct shape. I'm going to have to figure this one out.

 

[Backwardsvg]

Wow from seedlings in 2021 to 4.5 inches in 2022??? That is absolutely insane growth.