Species Study - Taxodium distichum

[Maiden69]

This seedlings are from last year. I bought them from Matt O late winter/early spring and planted them in Rootmaker trays, then placed them on water. I used orchiata mixed with perlite, as my usual soil was too small and fell through the holes of the rootmaker pods. I can say that I will not be using this pods again, they did serve their purpose of allowing the roots to run, but they are too small for what I wanted to accomplish.

Not the greatest of pictures, but you can see the thick roots flaring from the base of a second season seedling. In a Rootpouch the seedling would be much thicker than this, but it will not have the pronounced root division as a tree growing on a swamp or river. A much bigger and round pod would had done a much better job.






The roots lignified through winter. When I last looked at them early winter, they were all white water roots. I am going to attempt to cut the roots right at the openings of the pods and transfer to a root pouch after dipping them in clonex or dip and grow.

 

[Damart81]

This seedlings are from last year. I bought them from Matt O late winter/early spring and planted them in Rootmaker trays, then placed them on water. I used orchiata mixed with perlite, as my usual soil was too small and fell through the holes of the rootmaker pods. I can say that I will not be using this pods again, they did serve their purpose of allowing the roots to run, but they are too small for what I wanted to accomplish.

Not the greatest of pictures, but you can see the thick roots flaring from the base of a second season seedling. In a Rootpouch the seedling would be much thicker than this, but it will not have the pronounced root division as a tree growing on a swamp or river. A much bigger and round pod would had done a much better job.

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The roots lignified through winter. When I last looked at them early winter, they were all white water roots. I am going to attempt to cut the roots right at the openings of the pods and transfer to a root pouch after dipping them in clonex or dip and grow.

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Wow, makes me want to repot my BC seedlings from individual grow bags to something like your setup and let those roots run wild. If you were to do this again, what would you use instead of the rootmaker pods to separate all the seedlings, something like a small aquatic basket?

 

[Maiden69]

Wow, makes me want to repot my BC seedlings from individual grow bags to something like your setup and let those roots run wild. If you were to do this again, what would you use instead of the rootmaker pods to separate all the seedlings, something like a small aquatic basket?

Working on that idea right now, I want something that I can let selected roots to run out while maintaining fine feeders close to the trunk. For ultimate growth the bags are the way to go.

 

[Damart81]

Working on that idea right now, I want something that I can let selected roots to run out while maintaining fine feeders close to the trunk. For ultimate growth the bags are the way to go.

Let us know when you do! I do have something kind of similar to your method, I wonder if it will achieve similar results. It will be interesting to see the difference between pond basket growth and grow bag growth in six months.

 

[Maiden69]

Let us know when you do! I do have something kind of similar to your method, I wonder if it will achieve similar results. It will be interesting to see the difference between pond basket growth and grow bag growth in six months.

I keep the grow bag in water as the one I use pinch the root tips and don't rely on air pruning. Far superior to the air pruning bags, a regular bag would achieve the same development as a pond basket, only benefit is that it will maintain a little more moisture because there is not too much wind penetrating it. On mine only a few roots escape through the bottom seam.

 

[Cajunrider]

So I got this tree from the swamp, split it to 4, whittled each piece thin and tapered, taped them together, nailed the roots to a board. Then I attempted to twist the tree. Only got 1/3rd of a turn. I will let the tree recover and try more later.
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It's been 12 days, no sign of life yet. It appears I am approaching the limit of bald cypress. The tree seems to be drying out.

 

[Cajunrider]

I am experiencing phenomenal BC growth this mild spring. Some of the BC shoots are already 20” long 1/4” diameter. They are turning color and hardening already!!

 

[johng]

I found these pics while searching for trails to go hike near me... looks like I will be walking this one soon. Too bad I don't think they will let me collect any of those BC's.

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In my area trees that size would have knees every where... I also notice the bark appears a little thicker than the ones I am accustomed to seeing. Taxodium are truly an amazing species...if you can dream it, they can do it

 

[Cajunrider]

It's interesting how a change in the flare line of the trunk can lead your eye. I can now see the carving line for the tree in the future.
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Should be ready for carving in the summer. Once the roots are rebuilt and healthy. Never mind the old branches even when they are fully leafed out. The health is displayed in the new shoots.

 

[Cajunrider]

Conversation with my BCs
BC whines “ I don’t wanna be wired. I grow shoots some where else”


CJR
“Grow within your bends or else.”
Snip snip..

 

[Cajunrider]

Conversation with my BCs
BC whines “ I don’t wanna be wired. I grow shoots some where else”
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CJR
“Grow within your bends or else.”
Snip snip..
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Perhaps the hardest thing for me to realize and put to practice is the pruning of the top shoots. Bald cypress is so apical that the top grows exceedingly fast and will stunt the lower branches. To get a BC to develop good lower branches, we must prune off the top shoots constantly when the tree is healthy. It is hard to do when they look so good with all that growth. I am slowly adopting the thinking that the BC top shoots are just like water sprouts and clip them when I see them.

 

[Cajunrider]

Perhaps the hardest thing for me to realize and put to practice is the pruning of the top shoots. Bald cypress is so apical that the top grows exceedingly fast and will stunt the lower branches. To get a BC to develop good lower branches, we must prune off the top shoots constantly when the tree is healthy. It is hard to do when they look so good with all that growth. I am slowly adopting the thinking that the BC top shoots are just like water sprouts and clip them when I see them.

I received some PM regarding the pruning of the top branch. For me it depends on my vision of the tree. If I like it as a flat top, I keep an apex and bend it to one side, then allow a lower branch opposite that branch to shoot up as a slightly lower but on the same level. This is often seen on many flat top BCs. With flat top BCs, the branches lower on the trunk are naturally smaller so things will be OK. However, if I like it as an upright, the lower branches need to be bigger. With upright BCs, I will aggressively prune the apex and other high branches to force the growth down low. Taking away the tips up top result in lower branches growth. I also watch out for new shoots forming near the crotches of the low branches. BCs tend to form new shoots instead of growing on the current low branch. If that is the case, you may have to nip them as well.

 

[Cajunrider]

I received some PMs regarding how I fertilize my BCs.
I use Osmocotes Plus once every 4-6 weeks. If there are sign of chlorosis, usually due to excessive watering , I add a little bit of Ironite. If the soil pH is too high, I mix in some sphagnum peatmoss. That will lower the pH for the soil.

 

[Barbells and bonsai]

Thank you very much for the helpful information!

 

[Cajunrider]

I also received questions on my soil for BCs.
BCs tolerate just about any kind of soil so long as they are given enough nutrients and water. Since I keep a large number of BCs and travel often, I keep all my development BCs in the cheapest potting soil I find such as Gardenese potting soil at my local hardware store that sells for $2.98/cubic foot. The potting soil allow me to water the BC only once a day and get the BCs to grow very fast. Once a BC is through with the initial development, which for me means the trunk shape is set and the apex is also set, I move the BC into bonsai soil mix with pumice and pine bark as the main ingredients. With this mix, the BC growth slows down, allowing the development of ramification, which often is difficult if the tree is in explosive growth phase.

 

[Barbells and bonsai]

I received some PMs regarding how I fertilize my BCs.
I use Osmocotes Plus once every 4-6 weeks. If there are sign of chlorosis, usually due to excessive watering , I add a little bit of Ironite. If the soil pH is too high, I mix in some sphagnum peatmoss. That will lower the pH for the soil.

Word of advice, do not follow the instructions on the back. I was advised 1 tbsp per healthy BC, the instructions that I mistakenly followed call for double digits capfuls!

 

[Cajunrider]

Pruning BCs to give more sunlight to lower branches.
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After


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After

 

[Cajunrider]

Healthy budding. Note that the little tree now has a flare shape comparable to a much bigger collected tree next to it. Tree will be developed as a tiny flat top. Wedges will be driven in deeper early summer. As soon as I see the cuts showing lip rolls, I will do it.
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[Cajunrider]

According to @Dav4 the time for cutting my BCs back hard is drawing near.

Bald Cypress - getting ramification where you want it?

I’m relatively new to Bald Cypress, and have some trees that I’m starting to work on branch structure with (I'm creating the branches all from scratch). Last year I let branches grow out, wired them down and trimmed them short in the winter. I’m trying to keep the branches fairly tight in to...

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