Monterey Cypress from Seed

[jostikums]

Hello Eric Schrader,
For your Monterey Cypress - do you pinch the growing tips throughout the summer or let it grow out and cut it back?

 

[sheltone]

I've been trying to move along some of my Monterey Cypresses in the last couple months. Spent some free time over the last few days wiring this one. More photos etc on my blog.

Just leaving Carmel today and after 5 days of ( as usual) walking around bumping into/ tripping over things because I was obsessing on the trees. So from the vintage pint of having been immersed in Monterey Cypress lately, I say Bravo! Really nice. Any tips for growing them from seed? ( I might have slipped a couple of cones in my pocket )

 

[Loup97]

Can we have update ? and some photos of the process before this result ?

 

[Eric Schrader]

Another Cypress from the same seedling batch. This one was never in the ground, but has gradually gained more and more character. I just finished wiring it again. Loving the stones in this composition due to the reminder of Point Lobos.

 

[Eric Schrader]

Hello Eric Schrader,
For your Monterey Cypress - do you pinch the growing tips throughout the summer or let it grow out and cut it back?

Yes, unlike juniper, when they are growing vigorously it's productive to pinch. When they are slower, I leave the tips alone.

 

[Eric Schrader]

Can we have update ? and some photos of the process before this result ?

Well, these were ground grown, kinda like a hedge. I don't have any good photos prior to the first posted here TBH.
Here is a more recent image of the same tree. The foliage is mature, but the tree has been weak for the last couple years.

 

[ABCarve]

You mentioned the foliage is mature. Does this mean there is juvenile foliage at times? Does the foliage change character with age? I have a 6 year old golden Monterey cypress and has very different foliage.

 

[dacoontz]

All beauties. Collected some seed last time I was in the Bay Area. Would love to know the process to get the seeds started. Maybe another thread out there about this already?

 

[Ry2Tree2]

All beauties. Collected some seed last time I was in the Bay Area. Would love to know the process to get the seeds started. Maybe another thread out there about this already?

Sheffield's seeds suggests the following for Monterey seeds:

Scarification: Soak in water, let stand in water for 24 hours.
Stratification: cold stratify for 30 days.
Germination: sow seed 1/16" deep, tamp the soil, mulch the seed bed.

 

[florencechan.ca]

You mentioned the foliage is mature. Does this mean there is juvenile foliage at times? Does the foliage change character with age? I have a 6 year old golden Monterey cypress and has very different foliage.

They can range between needled (around 0.5cm) to much more dense scaly foliage, and I've seen this range widely across all of the seedlings I've got that are now reaching the 3 year stage (these are all base H. macrocarpa, not varietals, as far as I know). I *do* have a lemon cypress/Wilma Goldcrest tree that's around 6-7 years old and that has neither ever put off any cones or developed scaly foliage. I'd be interested to know if they ever do, but have a feeling their lack of scaly foliage and cones is a product of cultivation.

 

[Rivka]

These are inspiring.
Any advice on nurturing newly chopped Montereys and encouraging back budding on them?

I just was given two Cupressus macrocarpa 'Donard Gold' which were about 6ft tall and had been neglected this spring, though healthy at their core, they have a lot of dried out foliage on the inner portion of their branches.
I chopped them to about 12-16” and got them out of their root-bound pots and into larger Anderson deep flats, roots seem ok.
I see what you mean about the older bark, these definitely havevthat developed on the lower trunk i kept and it’s lovely.

I tend toward bluer plants, so this bright chartreuse foliage will really stand out in my collective!

 

[Eric Schrader]

The foliage on young trees is more like a procumbens juniper, then the mature foliage is more like a shimpaku. It takes a few years to mature - and it will revert to more juvenile in response to hard pruning.

To @Rivka 's question re: back budding - once the interior growth has died off, back budding is difficult to impossible. This is common in a lot of cypress and even chamaecyparis species. And technically, these are now in the genus "Hesperocyparis" so add that to the list. I have yet to attempt grafting, but I suspect that this might work as a renewal technique. I have one tree that suffered a lot of die-off of branching that I plan to try it on.
Keep in mind that their natural growth habit tends to highlight the no-backbudding habit - all the foliage is at the tops/outer branching.

For freshly collected seed no cold or soaking is required. However when collecting, it's easy to end up with immature seeds because the cones seem to mature prior to the seed by a period of some months. I've collected cones that had nearly 100% germination of seeds, and others that had 0%.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Hi Eric - do you have any experience with propagation via air-layer? I brought a Monterrey cypress with me from SoCal and it continues to grow like a weed - in fact it is too large right now for bonsai use, so there is some heavy pruning in its future. I'm wondering if I should bother with trying to air-layer the top off.

By the way... love the aroma of these guys!

 

[Eric Schrader]

Hi Eric - do you have any experience with propagation via air-layer? I brought a Monterrey cypress with me from SoCal and it continues to grow like a weed - in fact it is too large right now for bonsai use, so there is some heavy pruning in its future. I'm wondering if I should bother with trying to air-layer the top off.

By the way... love the aroma of these guys!

No, I have not air layered them. I imagine for some reason that it will not work at all, but there's no way to know for sure until you try!
The smell while working on them is amazing...and when they're growing well you get it even just walking past.

 

[Rivka]

I’m going to explore self approach grafting with the two i get, pleanty of leggy but healthy branches to work with. I’ll document