New Baldy, I love these trees!!

StoneCloud

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Yes, this one too didn't get enough water at the nursery, the leaves show it. It got lucky and it poured rain last night for a few hours :)

This one will take years to develop but I'm ok with that. I love the movement in yours though.

After a chop it'll have decent branches in as quick as 3 months. The apex and chop however will definitely take longer. In the meantime I'm still looking for a more finished BC :D
 

Cadillactaste

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Bald cypress are fast growers...this one may surprise you at how quickly it grows out.

I didn't plan on a bald cypress...but found this one sale on Bonsai Auctions...and couldn't let it go.

You just don't know what may fall into your lap one day...as to one more finished. Never give up...
 

Anthony

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Well after growing one from 1980, Nic just did three airlayers, let us see if they take.
There was a bad scar / wound, but it is healed.
Hopefully 10 plants to work on by the end of the air.

3 feet according to the experts is supposed to be the optimum, though we will try
a mame' or other sizes.
Good Day
Anthony
 

BillsBayou

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Remove that tape right now! If you're at work, excuse yourself, go home, remove tape, go back to work. It's digging into the trunk and will take years to repair. The second immediate thing is to get that pot off the ground. The tree will grow into your lawn and all the interesting roots will be outside the pot, not in it.

Your tree appears to be only a few years old. As such, it's boring. Bald cypress trees are known for their girth at the soil line. Unless you're sticking this tree into a larger planting, it needs a little fattening up. Also, I have a hunch that if you uncovered the first 4-inches of the pot, you'd see a fist of roots. That's the side-effect of nurseries growing these trees for landscapes; ugly roots. But we can fix this tree and make it beautiful!

Your best bet is to invest 5-10 years in doing nothing. Here's what I do with saplings like yours:

Buy a restaurant bus tub. They're tough, they last, and they're deep. My local restaurant supply has them in 7-inch depths, but I found something there that are 9-inches deep.
Repot the tree. Wash out the roots and mix 50% inorganic (I use haydite) and 50% Miracle Gro potting soil. Your inorganic should be durable, like haydite or lavarock. Do not use crushed granite or any other non-absorbant material. Never use Akadama or any other material that is going to turn to mush when soaked in water for 5 years.
(Here in NOLA, I would repot it in January. Your mileage may vary, but I'm assuming it's too hot to do it now in "North Cuba.")
When you wash out the roots, look for the tap root. Cut an inch off the tap root or it will just grow and whip around the pot. You want more lateral roots off the main root. Don't have a tap root? Great!
Pot the tree so that the new soil line is at the current soil line.
Depth of your soil is your choice, but don't mound it higher than the top of the pot. You won't need more than an inch or two of water above the soil line at any time.
This is a top-heavy potting, so I put 12-inch concrete stepping stones on either side of the tree. What I SHOULD do is anchor the tree high on the trunk and wider than the pot; as if the tree was freshly planted in your yard. You could get away with anchoring the tree to your fence. If you're married, you might not get away with that.
Keep the pot filled with water.
Get insecticidal oil and dribble a few drops on the surface to kill mosquito larvae. You'll need to repeat this often. I keep several small bottles on my benches.
Feed it with weak mixtures of liquid fertilizer.
Leave it alone until you get the girth you desire. Should take 5-years or so to get a very impressive trunk.
The tree may end up root bound in the pot. This is not a bad thing.

Periodically, use Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed. It has a systemic insecticide called Merit.

During these years of flooding, NEVER CUT ON THE TREE. Not on the tips of branches and especially not on the trunk itself. This is a trunk-building technique. You might also get knees to appear.

What's happening:
Lenticels are responsible for gas-exchange within plants. Flooded bald cypress roots will utilize these to a greater extent. Even more so once the oxygen in the water is depleted. This utilization results in fatter roots and a fatter trunk base. If you can contact Bonsai Nut user markyscott, he might email you a copy of an article that supports this approach. The article is from BCI Magazine, Sept/Oct 1990. That fat trunk base is going to be gorgeous.

The BCI article only confirmed what I had already been taught and experienced.

An alternative to the restaurant tub is to take the tree you have, as is, and drop it in a 5-gallon bucked and leave it alone for a few years. Feed it weakly and use a few drops of insecticidal oil on the surface.

I have knees growing on a few of my bald cypress that did not have knees when I dug the trees. The trees were submerged year round and no work was being done on them. I'm currently doing an experiment on some other knee-generating techniques. One technique is to put holes in the bottom of the bus tub and set the tubs into a larger basin of water. Then in October, remove the tubs from the larger basin and keep them out until the end of February when I put them back under water.

You may notice roots looping out of the soil and diving back down. Some of your bonsai friends may try to convince you to pinch these roots into bobbypin-shaped "knees". These are not knees. They're ugly as sin. Any time I see these, I cringe. It's a cheat and it looks like a cheat.

Actual knees will start as a lump pushing its way up through the soil. If you pull away the soil, you notice that it is a thickening of one portion of the root (put the soil back). Knees can form close to the tree or out near the edge of the tub. A friend of mine counts 23 knees in his bonsai pot. He kept the tree flooded, root bound, and did no cutting on the tree.

But then, you might not get knees. It's a gamble to only have one bald cypress and hope for knees.

How much did you pay for the tree? I have no idea how much bald cypress saplings cost. I go in the swamps and tear them out by hand. You might want to go back and get a few more. More trees is a greater chance that one will grow knees.
 

StoneCloud

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Remove that tape right now! If you're at work, excuse yourself, go home, remove tape, go back to work. It's digging into the trunk and will take years to repair. The second immediate thing is to get that pot off the ground. The tree will grow into your lawn and all the interesting roots will be outside the pot, not in it.

Your tree appears to be only a few years old. As such, it's boring. Bald cypress trees are known for their girth at the soil line. Unless you're sticking this tree into a larger planting, it needs a little fattening up. Also, I have a hunch that if you uncovered the first 4-inches of the pot, you'd see a fist of roots. That's the side-effect of nurseries growing these trees for landscapes; ugly roots. But we can fix this tree and make it beautiful!

Your best bet is to invest 5-10 years in doing nothing. Here's what I do with saplings like yours:

Buy a restaurant bus tub. They're tough, they last, and they're deep. My local restaurant supply has them in 7-inch depths, but I found something there that are 9-inches deep.
Repot the tree. Wash out the roots and mix 50% inorganic (I use haydite) and 50% Miracle Gro potting soil. Your inorganic should be durable, like haydite or lavarock. Do not use crushed granite or any other non-absorbant material. Never use Akadama or any other material that is going to turn to mush when soaked in water for 5 years.
(Here in NOLA, I would repot it in January. Your mileage may vary, but I'm assuming it's too hot to do it now in "North Cuba.")
When you wash out the roots, look for the tap root. Cut an inch off the tap root or it will just grow and whip around the pot. You want more lateral roots off the main root. Don't have a tap root? Great!
Pot the tree so that the new soil line is at the current soil line.
Depth of your soil is your choice, but don't mound it higher than the top of the pot. You won't need more than an inch or two of water above the soil line at any time.
This is a top-heavy potting, so I put 12-inch concrete stepping stones on either side of the tree. What I SHOULD do is anchor the tree high on the trunk and wider than the pot; as if the tree was freshly planted in your yard. You could get away with anchoring the tree to your fence. If you're married, you might not get away with that.
Keep the pot filled with water.
Get insecticidal oil and dribble a few drops on the surface to kill mosquito larvae. You'll need to repeat this often. I keep several small bottles on my benches.
Feed it with weak mixtures of liquid fertilizer.
Leave it alone until you get the girth you desire. Should take 5-years or so to get a very impressive trunk.
The tree may end up root bound in the pot. This is not a bad thing.

Periodically, use Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed. It has a systemic insecticide called Merit.

During these years of flooding, NEVER CUT ON THE TREE. Not on the tips of branches and especially not on the trunk itself. This is a trunk-building technique. You might also get knees to appear.

What's happening:
Lenticels are responsible for gas-exchange within plants. Flooded bald cypress roots will utilize these to a greater extent. Even more so once the oxygen in the water is depleted. This utilization results in fatter roots and a fatter trunk base. If you can contact Bonsai Nut user markyscott, he might email you a copy of an article that supports this approach. The article is from BCI Magazine, Sept/Oct 1990. That fat trunk base is going to be gorgeous.

The BCI article only confirmed what I had already been taught and experienced.

An alternative to the restaurant tub is to take the tree you have, as is, and drop it in a 5-gallon bucked and leave it alone for a few years. Feed it weakly and use a few drops of insecticidal oil on the surface.

I have knees growing on a few of my bald cypress that did not have knees when I dug the trees. The trees were submerged year round and no work was being done on them. I'm currently doing an experiment on some other knee-generating techniques. One technique is to put holes in the bottom of the bus tub and set the tubs into a larger basin of water. Then in October, remove the tubs from the larger basin and keep them out until the end of February when I put them back under water.

You may notice roots looping out of the soil and diving back down. Some of your bonsai friends may try to convince you to pinch these roots into bobbypin-shaped "knees". These are not knees. They're ugly as sin. Any time I see these, I cringe. It's a cheat and it looks like a cheat.

Actual knees will start as a lump pushing its way up through the soil. If you pull away the soil, you notice that it is a thickening of one portion of the root (put the soil back). Knees can form close to the tree or out near the edge of the tub. A friend of mine counts 23 knees in his bonsai pot. He kept the tree flooded, root bound, and did no cutting on the tree.

But then, you might not get knees. It's a gamble to only have one bald cypress and hope for knees.

How much did you pay for the tree? I have no idea how much bald cypress saplings cost. I go in the swamps and tear them out by hand. You might want to go back and get a few more. More trees is a greater chance that one will grow knees.

Hey Bill! Thanks for the response.

The tape was gone the night it got home. Also those stakes are the worst for root development. More detrimental than the tape IMO. Luckily on this one the tape didn't even break the bark. Left barely an indent.

I moved the stake out of the pot and put it in the yard. Added another stake to the other side.

I'm married but luckily she loves these trees too so whatever I need to do she is ok with. :p:cool:

I am familiar with relationship between oxygen exchange and the knees growing. I also agree with what you said here:

You may notice roots looping out of the soil and diving back down. Some of your bonsai friends may try to convince you to pinch these roots into bobbypin-shaped "knees". These are not knees. They're ugly as sin. Any time I see these, I cringe. It's a cheat and it looks like a cheat.

As you said I want this one to just grow for now I'm no rush b/c I feel like it has a lot of potential and it's already there, just need to be patient and I can do that!

If it grows wonderful knees I'll be super happy but if it doesn't I won't be disappointed. My favorite part of these trees is the fat bases they develop, so if I don't get the knees it's all good.

I'm only 33 and have 10's of thousands of trees to buy yet LOL :D:D:D:D The others they had were just not good material and I didn't want to buy more just to have more BC. But I'm definitely planning on getting a few more....some more developed than others once I find the trees I want...I'm sure you know how that goes!

I can't wait for winter to go and collect a few. This one was$30.

Thank you by the way for your input and advice!! Especially the techniques the dual tub and removing it in fall.

Should I do that with this one you think this fall or just leave it fully submerged for a year or two and just let it rip?
 

gallina1594

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Remove that tape right now! If you're at work, excuse yourself, go home, remove tape, go back to work. It's digging into the trunk and will take years to repair. The second immediate thing is to get that pot off the ground. The tree will grow into your lawn and all the interesting roots will be outside the pot, not in it.

Your tree appears to be only a few years old. As such, it's boring. Bald cypress trees are known for their girth at the soil line. Unless you're sticking this tree into a larger planting, it needs a little fattening up. Also, I have a hunch that if you uncovered the first 4-inches of the pot, you'd see a fist of roots. That's the side-effect of nurseries growing these trees for landscapes; ugly roots. But we can fix this tree and make it beautiful!

Your best bet is to invest 5-10 years in doing nothing. Here's what I do with saplings like yours:

Buy a restaurant bus tub. They're tough, they last, and they're deep. My local restaurant supply has them in 7-inch depths, but I found something there that are 9-inches deep.
Repot the tree. Wash out the roots and mix 50% inorganic (I use haydite) and 50% Miracle Gro potting soil. Your inorganic should be durable, like haydite or lavarock. Do not use crushed granite or any other non-absorbant material. Never use Akadama or any other material that is going to turn to mush when soaked in water for 5 years.
(Here in NOLA, I would repot it in January. Your mileage may vary, but I'm assuming it's too hot to do it now in "North Cuba.")
When you wash out the roots, look for the tap root. Cut an inch off the tap root or it will just grow and whip around the pot. You want more lateral roots off the main root. Don't have a tap root? Great!
Pot the tree so that the new soil line is at the current soil line.
Depth of your soil is your choice, but don't mound it higher than the top of the pot. You won't need more than an inch or two of water above the soil line at any time.
This is a top-heavy potting, so I put 12-inch concrete stepping stones on either side of the tree. What I SHOULD do is anchor the tree high on the trunk and wider than the pot; as if the tree was freshly planted in your yard. You could get away with anchoring the tree to your fence. If you're married, you might not get away with that.
Keep the pot filled with water.
Get insecticidal oil and dribble a few drops on the surface to kill mosquito larvae. You'll need to repeat this often. I keep several small bottles on my benches.
Feed it with weak mixtures of liquid fertilizer.
Leave it alone until you get the girth you desire. Should take 5-years or so to get a very impressive trunk.
The tree may end up root bound in the pot. This is not a bad thing.

Periodically, use Bayer Tree and Shrub Protect and Feed. It has a systemic insecticide called Merit.

During these years of flooding, NEVER CUT ON THE TREE. Not on the tips of branches and especially not on the trunk itself. This is a trunk-building technique. You might also get knees to appear.

What's happening:
Lenticels are responsible for gas-exchange within plants. Flooded bald cypress roots will utilize these to a greater extent. Even more so once the oxygen in the water is depleted. This utilization results in fatter roots and a fatter trunk base. If you can contact Bonsai Nut user markyscott, he might email you a copy of an article that supports this approach. The article is from BCI Magazine, Sept/Oct 1990. That fat trunk base is going to be gorgeous.

The BCI article only confirmed what I had already been taught and experienced.

An alternative to the restaurant tub is to take the tree you have, as is, and drop it in a 5-gallon bucked and leave it alone for a few years. Feed it weakly and use a few drops of insecticidal oil on the surface.

I have knees growing on a few of my bald cypress that did not have knees when I dug the trees. The trees were submerged year round and no work was being done on them. I'm currently doing an experiment on some other knee-generating techniques. One technique is to put holes in the bottom of the bus tub and set the tubs into a larger basin of water. Then in October, remove the tubs from the larger basin and keep them out until the end of February when I put them back under water.

You may notice roots looping out of the soil and diving back down. Some of your bonsai friends may try to convince you to pinch these roots into bobbypin-shaped "knees". These are not knees. They're ugly as sin. Any time I see these, I cringe. It's a cheat and it looks like a cheat.

Actual knees will start as a lump pushing its way up through the soil. If you pull away the soil, you notice that it is a thickening of one portion of the root (put the soil back). Knees can form close to the tree or out near the edge of the tub. A friend of mine counts 23 knees in his bonsai pot. He kept the tree flooded, root bound, and did no cutting on the tree.

But then, you might not get knees. It's a gamble to only have one bald cypress and hope for knees.

How much did you pay for the tree? I have no idea how much bald cypress saplings cost. I go in the swamps and tear them out by hand. You might want to go back and get a few more. More trees is a greater chance that one will grow knees.
I planted my BC in the ground this spring after bringing it home from a nursery. It has about a 4 inch flare on it. But no knees... Thanks for all of this info!! I actually have a restaurant tub and will try your method come spring
 

BillsBayou

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I planted my BC in the ground this spring after bringing it home from a nursery. It has about a 4 inch flare on it. But no knees... Thanks for all of this info!! I actually have a restaurant tub and will try your method come spring
Not every tree in a tub will produce knees using this method. I have several that have not. But I do have a few that did. Of the trees where I'm working on them year after year? ZERO have produced knees.

It's all anecdotal. I could be moving right along with something we've known in NOLA for some time now, or I'm doing something only partly right and my knee production levels are low.
 

Mellow Mullet

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Not every tree in a tub will produce knees using this method. I have several that have not. But I do have a few that did. Of the trees where I'm working on them year after year? ZERO have produced knees.

It's all anecdotal. I could be moving right along with something we've known in NOLA for some time now, or I'm doing something only partly right and my knee production levels are low.

Do you have pictures?
 

sorce

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I put mine on submerge the other day....

@anyone...

My B.C. has a "dust" on it..
For lack of a better description.

I had it by my "much sand releasing" brick wall, and thought it was that...
But it doesn't rinse off..

Doesn't walk...slither or sleuth..lol!

Any ideas?

Crazy the way these seem to grow..as I can't really figure it out yet!
Any explanation there would be useful.

Thanks!

Sorce
 

sorce

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Got a pic?
Is it white/greyish ?
Description sounds like milldew but dont know if bc does often have that?

It is not as continuous or spreading as powdery mildew,
Just spots of dust...
I'd swear they were mites if they moved...

White grey...no fish scales!

Sorce
 

defra

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Bad joke still maybe a pic helps tough ive got a hawthorn raft in the makeing in full ground wich has the mildew but it grows strong so i will just let it go !
Remembers me when the rain stops to check on my ground growing projects !
 

Mellow Mullet

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Sorce,

Could be rust mites, they are not mobile. I have problems with them all summer on one BC and serissa. They will kill branches on the serissa, but on the BC it gives the bright green leaves a dull, greyish appearance, they will eventually turn brown in places. I use Avid to nuke them.

It could be just that the leaves are just starting to look ratty. Some of mine that get full all day sun start looking ratty this time of year.

John
 

StoneCloud

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So something odd that I can't figure out.

Since getting it, I have placed it in a tub still in the nursery pot. And gave it some granular fert. Just sprinkled some. Maybe too much information but hey.....

The lower new buds on the trunk are yellowing...they are still growing though. Rest of tree has started growing like mad and has beautiful color......

Why? I'm at a loss here

Here are the buds now:
20170815_113344.jpg


And here is other new growth on same side of tree, same light but higher up:

20170815_113421.jpg

Thanks!
 
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