Once again, and I'm going to leave the thread because we are polluting it. This is why I say you keep missing the point. The bags I use DON'T AIR PRUNE, so they don't need to be dry. They are build for IN GROUND growing. If you use an air pruning bag, you can not do what I am doing, or grow trees with them in the ground.
I did the Ebihara method on a couple BCs. Compared to the rest of the same batch, I couldn't see much difference. I think keeping the roots to only one tier and planting the trees in loose, moist soil would do the trick for getting the flare I want. The forest right now is only in 2.5" of soil at the edge and 3" at the center. I think I pretty much can put them in any forest pot if they are kept growing this way.CJR, ok just read this thread, sounds like a cool project. I was thinking about your desire for flare and I was wondering if you had thought about screwing the trees to a board? It keeps the big roots growing out instead of down and by doing that you get some butressing and flare. Like this one:
Fun With Bald Cypress
Well, I had a few seedlings, so I wanted to create something that you don't see all the time out of a BC. You know, the usual informal upright or the telephone pole with an osprey nest at the top standing in for a flat top. So, I bent a little movement into the seedling and I also screwed it...www.bonsainut.com
You could lay out the whole forest on the board, screw it down, and let the trees fuse. This also keeps the roots shallow so you can get it into a thinner pot.
I was looking at the second swamp picture that you posted. I think the lack of knees is because they appear to be pond cypress instead bald cypress. Pond cypress don't tend to make knees as often as bald cypress.
Whatever we want to call it is fine. I just like screwing.
Maybe do some branch selection, wire, and thin out.
I was planning to do wiring late summer early fall. Right now probably some cutting back on the more vigorous ones.
