Cutting top of Bald cypress
- Thread starter Ipheek
- Start date
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
Trash,
like you said, you are a newbie.
like you said, you are a newbie.
AlainK
Imperial Masterpiece
At this time of the year, it is very unlikely a cutting will root. I'm not sure cuttings are easy to take in any season anyway.
You should try it, but don't hope too much.
jquast
Chumono
they do air layer easily, I've taken several in the past.
Really? I thought there could be something done.
Oh I’m not doing anything now. I’m not that new haha I’m thinking in the next two-three years. Just wondering what people do!At this time of the year, it is very unlikely a cutting will root. I'm not sure cuttings are easy to take in any season anyway.
You should try it, but don't hope too much.
Sweet! I just feel like it’s a waste to just toss it.
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
Welcome to Crazy!
Stick it in the ground, when it is brown in a month it won't feel like such a waste.
That's what I do.
Sorce
Stick it in the ground, when it is brown in a month it won't feel like such a waste.
That's what I do.
Sorce
lehigh4me
Yamadori
Me too, Sorce. lmao
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
Air layering, trying to save a top is mostly unless and pointless UNLESS the piece being removed is worth saving. If it's just a telephone pole straight with no taper or branching, it's not worth the trouble.
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
I am not sure calling it useless is on the mark, at least for me.. It is a second plant after all, whether you have future bonsai hopes for it or simply want another bald cypress. The questions for me would be:
---Is it worth your time as a prospective new plant? Probably not. You can but well rooting and growing bc for $6 or maybe less.
---Is it simply something you want to do, just because you can? Have at it and have fun learning from the experience.
I have a lot of experimental things going on that I don't need to share and I don't need approval on. They are simply things I want to do. I don't expect any grand revelations and I am sure anything I am doing has already been done before, but not by me.
rockm
Spuds Moyogi
it is NOT a "second plant" it is formerly part of the plant you're working on. I understand the impulse to "save" stuff you cut off of trees, but it's a pack rat instinct for the most part. The thought that a cut off top is "going to waste" or is "free" material are illusions. They're neither. They're time and resource sucks that take your eye off the ball of developing the tree you're working on.
Some of that stuff that's removed is worth the trouble of air layering/rooting, whatever. 99 percent of it isn't. I've "saved" the tops of BC and rooted them in water. Only to have a mostly mediocre piece of material that I don't have time for.
To each his own...
penumbra
Imperial Masterpiece
Well of course it is a second plant if you root it. And as such it has the same potential as any other bc you might buy as a rooted cutting or seedling.
I'm not saying it is worth the time but I am saying that if the chap wants to layer or root it for his (or her) own experience, let them have at it. I have a low wet area in my yard I would love to have a few bc in. Not that that have to have the wet but if the poster wants to make another tree for any reason please don't discourage him. Don't put your mediocre piece of material on him (or her).
I know that it is all about bonsai for you and a lot of others here, and I consider you experience vast and your trees sublime, but we are all on different paths. I am one of those you target as having a pack rat instinct. I love hauling a ton of potted ficus (9 varieties) down to the garden center , or the flea market, or simply giving them away which pleases me most of all.
I love to propagate plants. That doesn't make me a bad bonsai nut.
HENDO
Shohin
I just had a friend chop a large 50 gallon nursery BC exactly one month ago as an "expirement". He planted the top and some branches and they are actually doing quite well. Like @sorce said, if it is brown in the near future toss it, if not you have a bonus tree! I suppose it also depends on your real-estate and if it actually has potential or not... I am kind of with @rockm here, if it isn't anything special it would ultimately likely just be a waste of resources... I'm certainly not doing it with my BC chop tops, they will never become flared monsters like their bottoms were.
Here is the expirement tree "top" as of 2 days ago, not pretty by any means but seems to be healthy:
Here is the expirement tree "top" as of 2 days ago, not pretty by any means but seems to be healthy:
sorce
Nonsense Rascal
There is more to be learned from it jammed in the ground than thrown in the bin.
Sorce
Sorce
Trenthany
Chumono
How do you find $6 bald cypress? I am looking to collect because I can’t find them for under $20 and that’s 24” 1 gal saplings.
Trenthany
Chumono
I want to save every cypress I can because I love the tree. Having them in my yard and at work makes me happy. I’m not looking to bonsai every cypress I plant. Of course if it grows into something I might! Lol
Trenthany
Chumono
Sounds like the one I saw getting pulled back in July! It got yanked out by a truck when they couldn’t get it dug up. I snatched it Before it got tossed, got a bunch of swamp muck in a bucket, added potting soil and a ton of fertilizer. Flooded it and hoped. Wound up chopping it when branches were dead all the way down to 18” or so. These trees are tough! Couldn’t have gotten worse treatment. No feeder roots at all and half the bark stripped off up to about 5’. This was purely a horticulture experiment to see if it would live. Wanted to replicate its home as much as possible. It isn’t exactly bonsai material, but if it lives I’ll keep it as a specimen for sure! I thought I had my first stump! Who knows maybe in a a couple decades I’ll have something interesting to bonsai anyways! Here’s some pictures 2 months later (didn’t think it would live so didn’t take any pictures! Lol). All I’ve done is keep it flooded since I stuck it in the pot. It barely fit but I wanted to save as many roots as possible this spring I’ll trim roots further back if it has enough fine roots. I may wait two years to be safe.
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