Sapling Division: Dingus' bald cypress forest

LittleDingus

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I don't know that this forest planting will survive intact until the end of the competition...but here goes!

I have 5 bald cypress yearlings that I started from seed spring of 2020. The seed was harvested fall of 2019 and cold stratified in my refrigerator.

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I should be planting them into larger grow out bags this year but, due to certain situations, growing out these guys is not a priority for me right now. These guys were grown from seed from a tree on my office's campus so they do have some meaning to me. I just have other projects I'd rather be working growing out consuming too much of my space just now :( I've been thinking about planting them into one container anyway to conserve space...I can get all 5 into the space that I'd normally use for just one tree that way. While wandering the local nurseries this weekend, I found a pot I kinda liked that could store all 5 of them for me for a couple of years without being an eye sore. So, since I'm moving them into a single pot for the time being anyway, I may as well enter them as a forest! Maybe these guys stay a small forest and I pick up more seed to start some bigger trees in the fall...maybe not...

It's a little early yet to be repotting these guys here but I had the pot and I can keep them above freezing from here on out and I currently have a need for some presentable 4" plastic pots which these guys just happen to be in and I don't want to have to buy more plastic pots! So, I pulled the trigger and repotted them today! That frees me 3 4" plastic houseplant pots that I can use for non-bonsai purposes without having to drive out to Walmart for more :)

Anyway, here's what I have today:

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This pot is about 1" shorter than the depth they were previously potted. I did need to trim the tap roots to get them to fit but otherwise did no root work. The tap root on the tallest tree was winding around the base of the pot. Removing it removed more root than I would have liked given they are fully dormant and only a year old but I did leave over 50% of the root mass. Trimming the tap root on the other 4 was just that...a trim.
 

LittleDingus

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I'm not complaining because I, personally, LOVE the weather we've been having :D But it has been a cool, rainy spring that has slowed down the growth of most of my trees :( I'd expect these guys to have filled in quite a bit more by now...it's just not been warm enough for long enough stretches. We dipped down into the 40F last night! My poor rain trees are having trouble leafing out properly.

But, they are growing...mostly up...but growing all the same!

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In most years, they'd be vigorous enough I'd have pinched back the tops by now to help fill in down lower. I'd like to flat top the two tallest and let the 3 shorter ones bush out to look like younger trees. I am aiming for "abnormally elongated"...that is, these will definitely be out of normal proportions...but I haven't settled on a final height yet. Something less than 24"...but probably not by much. The pot is 10" for reference.

Since it is almost June and we WILL be getting warmer temps at some point, I plugged the drain hole with clay. I don't know the trees will fatten/flare much because of it...especially being in an inorganic soil. Maybe I'll toss some compost in there to richen it up?? The main reason for flooding is that I want to scrap off about 1/2" of soil over time and fill water to the brim to get a true swampy feel. I might even grab a jar of duckweed if I find some on a hike to add to the swampy feel :)

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LittleDingus

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Well, gosh darn...

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Midges :(

Looks like they got a large number of growth tips :( I've cut off all the galls I could find.

I've never seen them in my immediate area before. Nor have I ever seen them on my office campus where the seeds for these were harvested. I have seen them in the wider area though. There's a pond with several larger cypress and a ton of volunteers along the shore that I used to walk at. Last year, the volunteers were just lousy with midges! The trees were darn near one giant purple gall :(

I should have caught these sooner, but I was out of town for a while. I'll keep an eye out and prune them early from now on.

Otherwise, the trees are doing well enough. This season has been weird growth wise for most of my trees. We had a cool damp spring. Temps are high now, and so is the humidity! But many of my trees aren't bushing out as they normally would be by this time of year. Two of my dawn redwoods haven't really begun growing beyond the initial flush yet. The third one is pretty bushy, but the other two are looking very sparse :( I was hoping for more branching from these guys this year too...but so far not much.

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They are much more established in the pot now, though. I did plug the drain hole so the pot does fill with water. There's nothing organic in the soil though. They have lots of water, but, perhaps could use ore nutrients.

I'm leaning towards flat topping 2 of the 5 and cutting the other 3 shorter and trying to bush them up some. If I go that route, I'll be chopping the 3 shorter ones soon and letting the 2 for flat topping extend more to thicken up.

Yes, it will be difficult/impossible to get the proportions right growing everything in one small pot like this...but remember...these guys are sharing a pot to avoid the rubbish heap! I've got a potential move coming up in the coming year. These trees mean something to me because they came from my office campus but I don't have the resources to grow them individually right now :( So, instead, let's see what we can manage in a tiny pot ;)
 

LittleDingus

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A couple of these guys got a little crispy while I was out of town for a bit :(

The person I have water is good people and I'm very grateful to them for taking time out of their day every day while we're out of town to take care of the house. What gets me though is the belief that because it "rained 5 inches yesterday" that the plants definitely do not need watered today :( Especially when today is 95F and sunny. And I think they actually skipped 2 days of watering because this one has the drain holes plugged to keep it swampy.

Anyway, I love the person who waters my plants for me...I need to be a little more clear that bonsai soil is not houseplant soil. Most of my trees are virtually impossible to overwater but can be underwatered very easily.

Regardless, these guys are doing damn well given the cramped growing conditions :)

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It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the trunks cave noticeably thickened up too :)

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I won't be able to get much/any flare in this pot...but I'm OK with that. My goal for this forest is to accentuate the height and provide an exaggerated far view stretched vertically. This winter I intend to scrape away enough soil to be able to fill the pot and have a water "soil line". I'll also chop back the trunks I intend to use for younger trees: the two thinnest trunks and possibly the trunk on the far right. I need to start trying to keep those trunks thinner and younger looking I intend to keep 2 trunks thickening up as much as they can in the tiny pot for another year...maybe 2. They will become tall flat tops in the final image.

This year was about getting them fixed into position and hopefully start getting some root entanglement. Next year I'll need to start being more deliberate and on top of pruning to start differentiating more between the "young" and "old" trunks.

But, next stop: fall color!
 

LittleDingus

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My dawn redwoods are waking up...but these are usually well behind the redwoods. I don't see any positive bud formation yet...but the trunks are still pliable and don't look desiccated so I'm pretty sure they are still alive...maybe ;)

As mentioned way back in post #1, these were sown from seed collected off the campus of my former employer. At the time I didn't have the room to grow them out larger so I decided to keep them on the small side and grow them out in a community for this challenge. Now that we've moved onto a couple of acres, I have a lot more room for outside trees.

Before we moved, I went back to the local nursery where I had gotten the original pot knowing that when I got the original pot they had larger ones in the same style. I picked up a slightly larger pot to move the planting into after the move.

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They had similar pots that were bigger yet...but I was worried that when filled with soil and larger trees that it might start to hit the limit of what I can manage comfortably alone when I need to move it around. Still, this pot allows for about twice the root volume and feels a more comfortable overall size for the forest to grow into.

Obligatory root ball picture:

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The roots were starting to tangle nicely but I was still able to separate the trees without a lot of cutting.

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I still like the general layout of the forest and mostly wanted to maintain that look...just with a little more space between the trunks so that they can bulk up a little more. I separated the forest into 3 individuals but I left the two close trunks as a clump.

Then I simple put them back into the larger pot in roughly the same relative locations they started in...just further apart.

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I left the soil below the lip this time. For now, the single drain hole is open. As long as it's cooler here, I'll let the pot drain. Once it warms up more, I'll plug the drain hole and fill the pot and try and keep it filled close to the rim. As the forest develops, I intend to scrape a little more soil off the top and build out something resembling a marsh. Hopefully I come across a source of duckweed in the marshy areas around here...

But, for now, back to waiting to see if these guys will wake up!
 
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