New to Bonsai Bald Cypress Chop

[Maiden69]

I see your point about longer growth. Maybe repot in 5 gallon this spring and let it grow some more?

Here is my take... don't get a 5 gal container. Get something like what Bill is using on the below picture in the middle trees. This is what I am using this spring for my biggest BC, which will be on it's 4th year this coming spring. I set my trees on a tile and inside a Rootpouch, but with this years experience I can tell you that if you use a pouch, you need to oversize it as BC's push roots like no other tree I own.





I would repot your tree this spring, as soon buds start to swell. You don't need to use any organic media, I use monto clay and bonsai block from Bonsai Jack inside my bag, I then place the bag inside the tub and fill the void with water. My tree stays in water all year round, including winter, but we only experience a week of very cold weather, and as Brent Watson said, the roots and trees do better frozen in water than dry in freezing wind.

Depending on how the roots on your tree look, I wouldn't root prune too much, just tease as much of the old soil you can and spread them out as best as you can. Use the ramification you have now to help the tree recover as fast as possible this year, then trunk chop next spring.

If you place it in a bigger container without managing the roots you will end up with a pretzel of roots that are good for nothing... ask me how I know

Here is a link to my BC progression... I should be updating it again soon. I am waiting on a shipment with a few more seedlings to experiment this year, should be fun to put in practice a few theories I have come up with growing this first batch for 2 years.

Bald Cypress group progression

I have 4 BC seedlings that I bought in March. They are all planted in inorganic soil, they do have 1/3" akadama, but that was not enough to keep them growing so I submerged the pots in water. I lost 2 to a hail storm. The other 3 are pictured here in order of time. The last one is a 1 gal tree I...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[rockm]

Yup, a flat or flattish container/tub is best to develop a flat root system for most ANY tree destined for a bonsai container, BC included. repotting into a deep nursery pot will make a root mass LESS adapted for bonsai because they encourage vertical roots. Flattish to flat containers force roots horizontally.

 

[Salvarez]

Here is my take... don't get a 5 gal container. Get something like what Bill is using on the below picture in the middle trees. This is what I am using this spring for my biggest BC, which will be on it's 4th year this coming spring. I set my trees on a tile and inside a Rootpouch, but with this years experience I can tell you that if you use a pouch, you need to oversize it as BC's push roots like no other tree I own.


View attachment 464397


I would repot your tree this spring, as soon buds start to swell. You don't need to use any organic media, I use monto clay and bonsai block from Bonsai Jack inside my bag, I then place the bag inside the tub and fill the void with water. My tree stays in water all year round, including winter, but we only experience a week of very cold weather, and as Brent Watson said, the roots and trees do better frozen in water than dry in freezing wind.

Depending on how the roots on your tree look, I wouldn't root prune too much, just tease as much of the old soil you can and spread them out as best as you can. Use the ramification you have now to help the tree recover as fast as possible this year, then trunk chop next spring.

If you place it in a bigger container without managing the roots you will end up with a pretzel of roots that are good for nothing... ask me how I know

Here is a link to my BC progression... I should be updating it again soon. I am waiting on a shipment with a few more seedlings to experiment this year, should be fun to put in practice a few theories I have come up with growing this first batch for 2 years.

Bald Cypress group progression

I have 4 BC seedlings that I bought in March. They are all planted in inorganic soil, they do have 1/3" akadama, but that was not enough to keep them growing so I submerged the pots in water. I lost 2 to a hail storm. The other 3 are pictured here in order of time. The last one is a 1 gal tree I...

www.bonsainut.com

@Maiden69 shallow tub, flatten roots and not cut, large root bag noted! All in the starting in spring. Question: Should I leave alone now or should I go ahead and plug container holes and start letting it sit in water now?

 

[Maiden69]

You could plug the holes now, or if you have a tub big enough to fit that container in, place it inside of it and flood it with water, filling it up "from" inside the pot. Doesn't have to be taller, 1/2 or slightly higher will be just fine. You will be able to maintain the soil soaked through capillary action. Something similar to this.

 

[Salvarez]

All good info! Worst time of the year to get into bonsai is the winter! LOL. At least I can do this now.

 

[Maiden69]

I think this is the perfect time. Trees are going dormant or at least slowing down, not much to do for development trees, since most cut back is done either mid spring/summer/mid-late fall depending on the trees. You can "learn" how your trees behave and use water during spring. I started in summer, almost lost 3 trees, they were severely wilted because they dried out too fast.

 

[Salvarez]

I think this is the perfect time. Trees are going dormant or at least slowing down, not much to do for development trees, since most cut back is done either mid spring/summer/mid-late fall depending on the trees. You can "learn" how your trees behave and use water during spring. I started in summer, almost lost 3 trees, they were severely wilted because they dried out too fast.

For sure I am in the deep dive of learning. Already completed the Empire Bonsai Courses. Stock of plants are picked out and hanging tight. I will share them with you guys soon! I have a degree in Landscape Architecture and spent 5 months in Japan working at a firm in 2004. So hopefully not a big learning curve for me. My love for plants is back tho... thankful for that.

 

[Salvarez]

@Maiden69 did your pond liner spec. I also bought the same grow bag you seem to have success with. I will be swapping it out from the container in the spring.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Salvarez, hope to see you at future LBS meetings. I'll probably be at the Mid-Winter Workshop, too.

Just keep one thing in mind. You can NEVER make a tree grow faster by chopping or pruning it heavily. You can make certain PARTS grow faster than others, but the overall growth rate is reduced. Sometimes you do have to give up a little to get something better later on. So, keep the tree as big as you can for as long as you can stand it if you want a bigger trunk. Also, I've found a BC slows WAY down when taken out of rich, organic soil and put in normal bonsai soil. Just my experience ( 35-40 collected BC from the wild).

 

[Salvarez]

Salvarez, hope to see you at future LBS meetings. I'll probably be at the Mid-Winter Workshop, too.

Just keep one thing in mind. You can NEVER make a tree grow faster by chopping or pruning it heavily. You can make certain PARTS grow faster than others, but the overall growth rate is reduced. Sometimes you do have to give up a little to get something better later on. So, keep the tree as big as you can for as long as you can stand it if you want a bigger trunk. Also, I've found a BC slows WAY down when taken out of rich, organic soil and put in normal bonsai soil. Just my experience ( 35-40 collected BC from the wild).

 

[Salvarez]

Thank you! I’ll be there next week!

 

[Salvarez]

General question:

As spring is approaching, I’m getting ready to do a few chops.

Once the chop is done and new shoots start to emerge, do I let all the shoots grow freely throughout the entire growing season?

At what point in time do you choose the new leader, and start trimming all the other branches I would not like to use.

So the question is, do you let the tree grow freely for one entire growing season? The trees in question would be a Crabapple and a Jap maple.

 

[Maiden69]

It all depends on your goal right now and how the tree responds to the shop. I let them all grow last year as I wanted to induce as much growth as possible on the base of the trunk and I didn't want to deal with a 15 feet pole. Got double the branching in less than 5 feet tall.

If you are fine with the trunk flare, once the tree flushes out, around April, do shoot selection for your next trunk section and below branches and apply wire. Check @Mellow Mullet threads, he have quite a lot more experience and material here than I do.

If you are planning on chopping the JM, I think the "preferred" time would be April after post flush. I think a few people recommend to do it now, but most of the time accompanied by root reduction. I have no experience with crabapples as they don't fare well in my parts.

 

[Joe Dupre']

I usually let a first year tree grow "almost" unchecked. Anything below what you would think is going to be the first branch gets pruned. Any branches too close together gets the un-needed one pruned back. My MO is to let as much foliage as possible grow to strengthen the tree. Any extraneous branches help the strength of the tree and can be pruned back in years to come. It's definitely an inexact science. My thinking is "Grow THIS tree........not some similar tree on the internet."

 

[Salvarez]

Thanks for the feedback @Joe Dupre' and @Maiden69. For a beginner I have patience on my side. I figured I need to let it grow as much as I could to fatten it up and get some good growth. I the ideas of in April-ish do some preliminary funky branches trimming. I am going to enjoy the growing process.

 

[Joe Dupre']

Thanks for the feedback @Joe Dupre' and @Maiden69. For a beginner I have patience on my side. I figured I need to let it grow as much as I could to fatten it up and get some good growth. I the ideas of in April-ish do some preliminary funky branches trimming. I am going to enjoy the growing process.

One of the main things is to delay putting the tree into a normal bonsai-sized pot. Put it into a slightly oversized grow pot until it gets further along. Once in a bonsai pot, the trunk growth really slows down.

 

[Salvarez]

For sure. I’m leaving both trees in the 15 gallon nursery container. Both trees will have osmocote for the first year before I even make a decision on next steps.