Monterey Cypress

[FourMileMarc]

Hello,

I bought this Monterey Cypress a couple months ago from a local nursery and chopped and trimmed it the other day. My 2 ideas for it are drawn out in 2 of the 4 attachments. One version is very similar to how they grow around here in a forest environment up away from the coast a bit, heavy on one side and lean and dead on the other. The other drawing is that of a windswept style. You all are more than welcome to give opinions on which you like better or even tweak the pictures how you see fit. The one photo where you can see most of the trunk is the front and the other is the back. Light will now get down into the interior growth and most of the lower branches are sacrafice for trunk taper. I will let it grow full out for most of next season and then start creating the new trunk line and branches. It is rootbound in this can so I plan on transplanting in late may to a wood crate if it responds well during spring. I have a good Hort/Arbor backround but this is my first year at bonsai, I have read much and also Nakas books but have no real practical experience with bonsai pruning techniques, although most seems fairly intuitive and not much different than macro tree trimming. None the less, feel free to offer advise on training and especially if anyone has worked with Monterey Cypress. The tree has a 1.8 inch trunk base and is 5 years old.

Cheers

 

[Martin Sweeney]

FourMileMarc,

I do not have any experience with this species.

Can you offer details as to why you choose the front you did? From the picture, which is never the best place to start, the back looks more promising to me than the front I understand you to be considering.

Regards,
Martin

 

[FourMileMarc]

Martin,

This seemed to be the best front for the final image. It leans to the right and slightly toward the viewer with most branches toward the side and back down low. This side also has the best roots. It is still a little thick with foliage for vigor in the spring and I had to shrink the size of the photo for upload so I know. I will try to find some time to take better photos but it may not matter much because I will not use most of the branches in the future as you can see from the drawings. These drawings I am thinking may be obtainable with this vigorous species in 10 years. I do know that these backbud very well for a conifer and are frequently used as hedges so I believe their are so many possibilities that I run the risk of changing my mind too much, hence why I am drawing and attempting to formulate a plan.

 

[Smoke]

My personal opinion is to go with pic two. Windswept is cool but to get it looking convincing is a bugger. Your drawing in two is very convincing and looks dead on.

 

[FourMileMarc]

Thanx Smoke, Drawing 2 would probably be more suited to my level of experience right now, But in many years? I was thinking of aiming for 2 with even a more full form while leaving options open for something more like drawing 1 in the future, kind of what happens to these trees in nature anyway. They start out with conical excurrent growth habbit, then crown out and then shed anything that gets to long in the shade due to weak wood. Then they form more of a flat top style. I just love the idea of replicating my native environment.

And where do I find this gentleman and what is his hourly rate for instruction?

These are Monterey Cypress. Fantastic

 

[FourMileMarc]

Update for 2011 for this tree. I have followed the vision in my early drawing but have decided it needs the second left branch for now. I wish I had known then what I know now about letting side sacrafice branches develop for too long with too many in one area and in the front. As you can see those cut scars will take plenty long to heal. This species develops very quickly although the bark will take some time to grow. I am surprised that this is such an under utilized species for bonsai.

It was quite a challenge to make sure I had coarse to fine in branch diameter from bottom to top. This will be a very flat topped and wide tree as is typical for the species in nature, with very flat planed appearance. Even though right now it looks like a Christmas tree.

Almost all the large roots have been removed from the trunk and the nebari (buried in soil) is beginning to flare very nicely. Secondary roots grow very easily from the crown callous.

The hole on the right side will have to be dealt with. I was planning to either let the little sprout grow as can be seen in the pic, or grow the 3rd back branch to fill out forward in this area or try and grow the 1st right branch upwards a little to fill it in. This may be convincing with the way Monterey Cypress grows in nature but perhaps not with more traditional Bonsai. I am open to suggestions.

 

[Ry2Tree2]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I appreciated your update on the tree! Do you have another? I am curious about this species and it is not commonly used as far as I have found. have you found a good way to induce back budding?

 

[aml1014]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I appreciated your update on the tree! Do you have another? I am curious about this species and it is not commonly used as far as I have found. have you found a good way to induce back budding?

Unfortunately, it appears he hasn't been on the site since 2012, so we may not get an update any time soon if at all. Looks like a cool tree though.

Aaron

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Hi, I just wanted to say that I appreciated your update on the tree! Do you have another? I am curious about this species and it is not commonly used as far as I have found. have you found a good way to induce back budding?

Try searching "Monterey Cypress" with posts from member Eric Schrader. He has more things on his blog too; the link in his signature. He posts more info at his blog.