Timing For Harvesting Bald Cypress on the Gulf Coast?

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Just back from Thanksgiving with my wife's family. She is from waaaayyyy down in Georgia. From Miss Rachel's front yard you can take a 15 min. ride and be in Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

I wandered around in a part of the county that I hadn't been before and found some cypress swamps. Parked and wandered into the swamps, fortunately it has been a dry summer and the cypress is on dry ground right now. I was able to locate several nice trees that would look very good in a bonsai pot. Two of them have knees on roots attached to the trees. That would even be more spectacular if the roots don't come off the main trunk too far down in the soil. I have never seen a bald cypress with a growing knee in a bonsai pot, seen some artificial ones one time.

At any rate my plan is to go back and harvest the trees in the early spring coming. What I don't have is the luxury of having someone wander off into the swamp in February, or what ever, and check the limbs for the condition of the buds opening. It's a 500 mile one way drive to get to her house. It's worth the trip for the good cooking and for my wife to visit with her mother and brother that lives in a nearby town. Not to mention capturing a few good bald cypress trees.

So the question is, when should I schedule the trip? End of February, middle March? I just don't know the prime harvesting time and can't rely on local info on the condition of the bud out. I just got to pick a date and go. Does anyone down along the Gulf Coast have any advice as to when to go?
 
Messages
421
Reaction score
136
Location
Piedmont NC
USDA Zone
7b
Paul, Great web site. Thank you for the link.

Looks like mid to late February is the ticket! Depends on which article you read. I suspect that hard Southwest Georgia would lag a week or two behind Louisiana. So I should be OK in mid February and not too late by 1March.

Many thanks.
Mac
 
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