New Bald Cypress

[Danilo]

Went to a nursery (non bonsai) to pick up a Bougainvillea today, and accidentally saw a couple of Bald Cypress' as we drove past them... Ended up paying $45 for it, and it was about 18-20 feet tall before we chopped it down at the nursery.
I think this tree has great potential even though the taper is not there yet, but the trunk is nice and has a small hollow section that caught my eye.
I took a couple of bad pictures, but I think this would work well as a flat top, and there is a decent branch in good placement for it. Don't think I'll be doing anything more than another cut and some wire work on it this year, but it is due for a new nursery pot with some better soil.
We had to cut 3 super thick roots that broke trough the pot and into the ground.

 

[Danilo]

I'm thinking this is a good way to go with it...
I cleaned the bark with a brush and water as well.

 

[Poink88]

I have two that I chopped. Both have much longer chop (than you are planning on doing) to create the illusion of taper. (mine is about 3x the diameter I think)

 

[Danilo]

I have two that I chopped. Both have much longer chop (than you are planning on doing) to create the illusion of taper. (mine is about 3x the diameter I think)

I could not find one with a thicker base, so I will be growing this over a couple years to get better taper... I wish I could have found something with more of a taper to it. I think for the price I got this one for, in 3-5 years it will be quite nice.

 

[Poink88]

I am sorry, what I mean is the chop length is about 3x the diameter of my tree.

Your tree is fine!

 

[Danilo]

I am sorry, what I mean is the chop length is about 3x the diameter of my tree.

Your tree is fine!

How thick is it?

 

[Ris]

Good find Danilo,
I have 2 that I have been working on which the smaller tree was airlayered from the tall tree and now the taller tree needs another airlayer.
Here are pictures of my Bald cypress.


I bought 2 Dawn redwood(14ft) from home depot earlier this year and airlayered both.
I will do another airlayer on them next spring, their about same in size 3" to 3 1/2" trunks.
Lots of fine roots, nothing for a nebari yet


Thanks for posting pictures.

Rishi.

 

[Poink88]

How thick is it?

IIRC, one is about 1.5" and the other is about 2.5" at chop level.

By the way, if you investigate under the soil, you may find a wonderful base hiding.

 

[Danilo]

IIRC, one is about 1.5" and the other is about 2.5" at chop level.

By the way, if you investigate under the soil, you may find a wonderful base hiding.

Yup, Im gonna have to wait till I can get over to my parents house, and takea a hose to clean of the roots and see what's down there... Can't do that on my balcony.
I'm trying to see what the best time of the year it is to do that, and just prune off the really thick roots... I know it has a few massive roots, as they were growing into the ground beneath the pot.

 

[Dav4]

I'm trying to see what the best time of the year it is to do that, and just prune off the really thick roots... I know it has a few massive roots, as they were growing into the ground beneath the pot.

You need to fill out your user cp so we know where you are and can give you good advice. If you live in south FL, you could probably work the roots in Dec/Jan. If you live near me, maybe February. If you live in upstate New York, probably May. It all depends on location...

 

[edprocoat]

Danillo, you could chop that just above the bottom branch an inch above the split in the trunk and late next summer it would be 7 foot tall. They grow like weeds with fertlizer and plenty of water. I seen videos where they cut them out of the ground with chainsaws chop them down to stump with barely any roots put them in a sack and drive them back through the swamps in an air boat and a year later they have a full tree.

Mine I chopped in october last year, thought it had died, threw it in a refuse pile and a month later found it growing 2 new sprouts and decided to cut off the circling roots at the bottom of the container, a month later it was bushed out and nearly 4 foot tall, chopped it down and wired it it out 3 times this summer. Basically I started out doing all the wrong things and the tree did not care. They are very hardy.

ed

 

[Danilo]

You need to fill out your user cp so we know where you are and can give you good advice. If you live in south FL, you could probably work the roots in Dec/Jan. If you live near me, maybe February. If you live in upstate New York, probably May. It all depends on location...

I'm in Miami, so I'll wait till late December or January to do some root clean up and get it into some better soil, and maybe a wider pot to start getting the roots shallower hopefu
Ly cutting off very little.
Thanks

 

[Danilo]

I went ahead and chopped the tree down a big chunk, way below where I originally intended to, but I think in the long run this will work best.
I also made a small channel on top of the branch, and fit the branch that will grow as the new top in there. I'm hoping that in a few years it will fuse, and look good.

 

[edprocoat]

I just bought another Bald Cypress a few days ago. I chopped it down and cut the roots off as they were a mess. I am not too worried about it if it is anything like my last one it will be fine. I will get some pics up in a few days as I am too busy getting ready to move right now. Mine looks to be about teh same size as yours. My last one satrted to grow about mid February last winter in Fl. It grew 4 feet in a month! I chopped it several times and wired it out a bunch. I hope to do the same with the new one, they are fun to work on as they really take off when they decide to grow.

ed

 

[Danilo]

Are they supposed to be putting out growth now? I though it would not start till some point next year... there are a few buds on the trunk, and a 2 inch growth (2 days) from one of the branches.

 

[Danilo]

Took the tree to my parents house to clean up the roots and get it into a flat pot so that I don't have to do it when there is real structure to the tree and destroy branches, and I'm glad I did.
It took me close to 2 hours with a saw (hand), my hands, cutters and the hose to clean up the mess.... I could have used an electric saw, would make it much easier.
There were some massive roots that I had to deal with... up to 2'' thick.
The tree gained 3-5'' in height, and there was some decent usable thick roots, some that make it look stronger. I did accidentally chop one that I did not see, that I wish I would have left longer.
My pictures kind of suck, and it's from when I opened the sack before placing it in the pot with good soil.

 

[JudyB]

Nice base you have started. Do you plan on keeping it in a pool of water for developing it further? I find that it does help with flair and roots for BC.

 

[Danilo]

Nice base you have started. Do you plan on keeping it in a pool of water for developing it further? I find that it does help with flair and roots for BC.

I'm kind of afraid to do that because it gets a lot morning/early afternoon sun, so it would be in very warm water for most of the time... Other than that, I did think about it, and am still considering it if I can get it out of direct sunlight for part of the day.

 

[johng]

hmmm...

I'm kind of afraid to do that because it gets a lot morning/early afternoon sun, so it would be in very warm water for most of the time... Other than that, I did think about it, and am still considering it if I can get it out of direct sunlight for part of the day.

I have read what others here say about this and it seems logical but my results have proven different, at least in my garden. I really need to do a better job of tracking and charting the data, but if you actually get out and do some testing with a thermometer there is not as much difference in temp as one might think. In the sun, the outside of ceramic pots actually gets significantly hotter than the water in a plastic container sitting directly next to it...10-20 degrees warmer by late afternoon. When testing the soil the temps at the outside of the pot...nearest the container were as much as 10+degrees warmer than soil in the middle of the container. Temps inside the submerged pot were more consistent...only 1 or 2 degrees difference between edge and middle... Overall temps were only a few degrees warmer (still <90) in the water but still significantly cooler than the soil on the outside edge of a ceramic container in the sun.

Other things to consider...of major importance is how much water is there? Is the water isolated or part of a flowing system (trees planted in the bog portion of my koi pond still outperform all other situations hands down). With a small amount of water does the cooling effect of evaporation help the water from becoming overheated?? In my experience, trees grown in water do not develop branches as fast as those not in water when looking at growth across a full growing season (purely anecdotal at this point). And for me at least the jury is still out on whether or not they actually add more flair to the base when grown in water...I might concede that "some" trees will develop knees or knee-like growths from growing in water over a several year period but I have yet to see repeatable evidence of increased flair of the base of the trunk...in my experience far more do not increase in flair than do!

In conclusion, I am still growing some trees in water for now but most are grown without. Ultimately I want to build a recirculating water table system that uses water from my Koi pond to grow my developing BC in during the growing season. I am not concerned at all about water temperatures but I am concerned about about temps of ceramic pots in direct SC sun...especially those with trees that prefer a cooler climate..namely my white pines.

Of course I am not growing in Fla or Oh so you may have to do your own experiments and come to your own conclusions

John

 

[Don Blackmond]

I'd carve/hollow out the cuts you made unless you want protruding/bumpy scars. Make your cuts big enough so the trunk silhouette looks good, then make the wound slightly concave with a step at the lip of the cut. Cover with cut paste. The bark will roll and fill in the wound. The key being making the lip and concave cut equal to the roll of healing bark.