Bald Cypress Sprouting This Late In The Year

Gandalph

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Hello All~

I live in Illinois, Zone 6a/5b, and have a small lake out back that has a multitude of Bald Cypress lining the lake bank. I have just noticed that there are literally hundreds of seedlings coming up

DSC01304 (Medium).jpg

DSC01305 (Medium).JPG (some of which pictured) and was wondering if this is normal this late in the season.

I have collected as many of them as I can to try and overwinter them in the house/garage, but am wondering how the rest will survive the winter.

Any thoughts?
 
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wvbonsai

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Don't focus on why they are there. If you have free access to them don't even bother collecting them. They will winter much better I'm their natural location, not to mention will greatly increase In trunk caliper when growing freely. Just keep an eye on them and maybe loft them in the spring and pit them on a plate/tile to develop se killer nebari and let them grow for a few years before employing standard trunk development procedures.
 

rockm

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The seedlings probably won't survive the winter inside or outside. Their best chance is outdoors.

Bald cypress seedlings have trouble overwintering in wet areas that experience icing. They are supposedly girdled by ice in the winter, which is one of the reasons they are limited mostly to warmer regions of the US. While their northernmost native range is in Illinois, it is spotty geographically. It all depends on where they are for them to have a chance to survive there as seedlings.

If you bring these trees inside, death is certain. Unless you have a greenhouse, you will not have adequate light or humidity to keep them healthy. Even if you do, they will be "short circuited" in their dormancy, and weakened as spring arrives. They will most likely limp along for a few months and then die indoors. You can't "save" them.

The reason for the sprouts is the conditions were correct for them to sprout--day length (autumn is the mirror of spring and daylengths can "fool" plants sometimes) and temperatures were correct. Happens alot to all kinds of plants.
 

Gandalph

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The seedlings probably won't survive the winter inside or outside. Their best chance is outdoors.

Bald cypress seedlings have trouble overwintering in wet areas that experience icing. They are supposedly girdled by ice in the winter, which is one of the reasons they are limited mostly to warmer regions of the US. While their northernmost native range is in Illinois, it is spotty geographically. It all depends on where they are for them to have a chance to survive there as seedlings.

If you bring these trees inside, death is certain. Unless you have a greenhouse, you will not have adequate light or humidity to keep them healthy. Even if you do, they will be "short circuited" in their dormancy, and weakened as spring arrives. They will most likely limp along for a few months and then die indoors. You can't "save" them.

The reason for the sprouts is the conditions were correct for them to sprout--day length (autumn is the mirror of spring and daylengths can "fool" plants sometimes) and temperatures were correct. Happens alot to all kinds of plants.
Thank you so much for your reply!

Yeah, You're right about the icing. The rains here in October usually fill the lake such that when freezing weather arrives, the already full lake has covered the seedlings, frozen them and thus killed them.

What would you think about overwintering in an unheated garage? Seems like that may be the best.
 

rockm

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Freezing doesn't really affect Bald Cypress that much unless it gets consistently below 15 F for a long time. BC native to the northern range of the species are pretty cold tolerant. I've got one here in N. Va. that was collected in Louisiana that has withstood temps down to -13 F with minimal protection. The issue with seedlings is the direct physical affect of ice around their trunks. The ice grinds into relatively tender tissue all around the trunk's circumference, girdling it and killing it.

You will probably not be successful in keeping these newly sprouted seedlings in the garage. They have no time to undergo the dormancy process and "harden off" for the winter. That process takes weeks, if not months, to complete adequately. The problem with these seedlings is basically they have rotten timing. They've poked their heads up at exactly the wrong time of year.

Of course, nothing's stopping you from trying. You've got nothing to lose. The garage option is probably the best one you've got if you want to try. Just don't get too attached to them and hope for the best.
 

Gandalph

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Freezing doesn't really affect Bald Cypress that much unless it gets consistently below 15 F for a long time. BC native to the northern range of the species are pretty cold tolerant. I've got one here in N. Va. that was collected in Louisiana that has withstood temps down to -13 F with minimal protection. The issue with seedlings is the direct physical affect of ice around their trunks. The ice grinds into relatively tender tissue all around the trunk's circumference, girdling it and killing it.

You will probably not be successful in keeping these newly sprouted seedlings in the garage. They have no time to undergo the dormancy process and "harden off" for the winter. That process takes weeks, if not months, to complete adequately. The problem with these seedlings is basically they have rotten timing. They've poked their heads up at exactly the wrong time of year.

Of course, nothing's stopping you from trying. You've got nothing to lose. The garage option is probably the best one you've got if you want to try. Just don't get too attached to them and hope for the best.

Thanks for the input rockm. Actually these seedlings were outside for about 2 months before bringing in. I have since returned them outdoors and will try the garage thing.

Let you know what happens in the spring.
 

Gandalph

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I realized this morning that I hadn't updated this thread so I've included a few pictures to with the intention of helping those that may be interested.

These pictures are the ones that I overwintered inside the house in a makeshift greenhouse. I pulled them out in March and put under shade. They lost all foliage, until June. It is as if they went through dormancy of sorts from March through the middle of June.

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These are the ones that were overwintered in the garage:
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And these are whats' left of the ones grown in ground after a nasty a##ed cat dug some up.
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Hope this series helps
 
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