Bald Cypress Repot and Trim

[Giga]

A Fall update, wait a minute, did I say Fall? Fall did not show up, so Summer is covering for him, it was in the upper 90's today with 100000000% humidity. Any how, a great growing season for this one. I kept it submerged all summer, bald cypress really like this and will respond with copious amounts of growth and close wounds quickly, give it a whirl if you are still on the sidelines.

The new leader grew to 7 feet and almost as big as my thumb at the base:

View attachment 163643

It also completely closed the wound where I had chopped it:

View attachment 163644

And is about half way on the larger "necked-up" wound:

View attachment 163645

The top leader grew so much that I was scared that it would get too thick, so I chopped it again. I know that it is early or late to do this, but I have done this before and in my climate, it will be OK.

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I sealed the would with paste and putty (no picture). Well this should wrap this one up for the rest of the year. It is really starting to take the shape that I have envisioned for it. Still haven't decided what to do with the jin yet, maybe next year.

if you get bud lower, closer to the other chop, chop it back to that. Better taper and greater overall image.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

if you get bud lower, closer to the other chop, chop it back to that. Better taper and greater overall image.

Yeah, I thought about that, too. We'll see what happens come spring or maybe next month, who knows with this crazy weather.

John

 

[JoeH]

Love what you are doing with it, I need to work on mine some more.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Did a little work on this one the other day...

It came out really well this spring



Plenty of choices for a new leader



I think I am gonna use this one



Nice smooth cut



Sealed it off



Applied a little wire to give some direction





Ready for the season

 

[GrimLore]

Very good progression and growth in a short time! This thread teaches a lot if one pays attention to details! Thank you!

Grimmy

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Very good progression and growth in a short time! This thread teaches a lot if one pays attention to details! Thank you!

Grimmy

Thanks, Grimmy!

 

[Cable]

Off topic but what do you do to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the standing water?

 

[JosephCooper]

Bald cypress foliage is so pretty...

 

[GrimLore]

Off topic but what do you do to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the standing water?

I force the water out of the pan every 2 - 3days with the hose, takes a few seconds and not really certain I need to.

Grimmy

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Off topic but what do you do to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the standing water?

I sometimes put mosquito bits in the tub, it smothers them. Mobile has a lot of swamp, and water in general, so the yard is full of mosquitoes anyway.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

More explosive growth, I will wire it in the coming weeks and thin it out some.

 

[KiwiPlantGuy]

Update:

More explosive growth, I will wire it in the coming weeks and thin it out some.

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Hi @Mellow Mullet,
I have a question about the chop and proportions. My tree has grown straight up to 7 feet and I am wanting to chop to create a realistic tree, as I have read these BC’s need to be a big bonsai (3 foot etc). Does this mean my first chop is around 12-15 inches??
Thank you for your thread as very motivating,
Charles

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Thanks for the compliments!

I sometimes don't follow the "rules", so I may be the wrong one to ask, but yes, that sounds about right. You will probably be doing 3 or 4 chops before you are done, each one 1/2 to 2/3 the length of the previous one. So if you start with 15" you should end up around 3-ish feet when done. Post some pictures! I love seeing what others are doing.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Removed most of the wire and gave it a little trim:











I am still on the fence as to shortening the gin, I may do it one day.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

UPDATE:

Before



After

 

[SU2]

Did a little work on this one the other day...

It came out really well this spring
Plenty of choices for a new leader
I think I am gonna use this one
Nice smooth cut
Sealed it off
Applied a little wire to give some direction

Thanks a ton for posting that, you are awesome at BC's man!!! Am re-visiting your site right now, makes me realize just how great this species is Can't wait til this winter so I can collect a decent amount, I only learned the species this year (early Jan '18!) and only collected 2 that survived :/ (well, 3, technically, there's a straggler that just won't die but it's 6mo old and has (2), ~4" shoots from the buttressing, nothing else, shoots appeared at ~3mo after collection and just stopped growing at that length! So weird...)

[may as well ask- do you happen to have any tips/tricks for dealing w/ BC's tendency to form realllly tall, raised-edge "craters" around wounds? All the spots that I'd removed branches from, with knob-cutters, look more like they want to form a volcano than a prairie! Have begun 'testing' an idea to speed-up/force smoother roll-overs: knicking the inside-rim of the 'crater' to wound/expose the inner-most edge of the rim, both removing some of the height of the crater as well as forcing it to callous again- am half-expecting this to back-fire and just cause a bigger cratering so I only tried it on one wound, was lucky enough to have 2 similarly-sized wounds beside each other so I could compare over time ]

 

[JoeH]

Off topic but what do you do to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the standing water?

Tadpoles here in my tub, its the circle of life.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Thanks a ton for posting that, you are awesome at BC's man!!! Am re-visiting your site right now, makes me realize just how great this species is Can't wait til this winter so I can collect a decent amount, I only learned the species this year (early Jan '18!) and only collected 2 that survived :/ (well, 3, technically, there's a straggler that just won't die but it's 6mo old and has (2), ~4" shoots from the buttressing, nothing else, shoots appeared at ~3mo after collection and just stopped growing at that length! So weird...)

[may as well ask- do you happen to have any tips/tricks for dealing w/ BC's tendency to form realllly tall, raised-edge "craters" around wounds? All the spots that I'd removed branches from, with knob-cutters, look more like they want to form a volcano than a prairie! Have begun 'testing' an idea to speed-up/force smoother roll-overs: knicking the inside-rim of the 'crater' to wound/expose the inner-most edge of the rim, both removing some of the height of the crater as well as forcing it to callous again- am half-expecting this to back-fire and just cause a bigger cratering so I only tried it on one wound, was lucky enough to have 2 similarly-sized wounds beside each other so I could compare over time ]

The large roll of callous is just the nature of the beast. I use concave cutters and go in pretty deep and make sure that the edges of the depression are smooth. Once they completely heal, it isn't too bad and when the trunk grows it kinda evens out. As far as trunk chops go, the large callous is what helps to blend the transitions. Just make sure that the wound is clean and smooth. Some say to make a 45 degree slant, but I find a little steeper to work better.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Tadpoles here in my tub, its the circle of life.

That must be some mean tadpoles! With teeth! I use a product called mosquito bits, it works well. I used to put a couple of drops of malathion in them, but found that birds like to drink out of the tubs, so I quit. The mosquito bits do not harm animals. There are so many mosquitoes here in the Heart of Dixie, the amount that I produce is inconsequential.

 

[JoeH]

That must be some mean tadpoles! With teeth! I use a product called mosquito bits, it works well. I used to put a couple of drops of malathion in them, but found that birds like to drink out of the tubs, so I quit. The mosquito bits do not harm animals. There are so many mosquitoes here in the Heart of Dixie, the amount that I produce is inconsequential.

As soon as the rains start the frogs start laying eggs and they hatch out, eat the mosquito larva and then turtles hatch out and feed on the tadpole masses. If my turtles lay eggs, then I have a ready food source for them.