Tsukumo cypress

larlamonde

Shohin
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Picked up this little guy. Don't have any experience with this species. Victrina I saw you had a beautiful one on your post. Any care or styling advice. Thanks, Larry.
 

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Congratulations on picking up this very rare species! :)

The trick with them is to thin them down. It's important to keep sunlight going to the inside. I've got one which I should have thinned down earlier this summer. It'll let the fine branching you actually want develop well. You may want to try veneer grafting to get some foliage down lower. There's a pretty good example of the techniquehere.

Hinoki is known for taking to this kind of grafting. I was lucky in the ones that I have though. I didn't have to do this to get what I needed. But I can't see why this wouldn't work on a Tsukumo. :)

The foliage is really fine, so they can dry out pretty quickly. My smaller one is much harder to keep watered properly than my large one.

So pretty much treat it like a hinoki and you'll be good... they just get crazy dense. Slow growers... but you'll blink and realize it's ridiculously dense. lol

Warmly,

Victrinia
 

Txhorticulture

Chumono
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Botanical name?

Do you know the proper species epithet? I am interested in conifers and that common name doesn't ring a bell?
 

Txhorticulture

Chumono
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Googled it.

Not a cypress (cupressus), it's a false cypress cultivar. Proper epithet is Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Tsukumo'.

Having said that, it's a nice looking little tree. Congrats and good luck. Only constructive advice i can offer is that i grew a 'Curly Tops' cultivar for several years in a container, it needed frequent watering in my hot climate, but cannot stay wet.
 

larlamonde

Shohin
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Congratulations on picking up this very rare species! :)

The trick with them is to thin them down. It's important to keep sunlight going to the inside. I've got one which I should have thinned down earlier this summer. It'll let the fine branching you actually want develop well. You may want to try veneer grafting to get some foliage down lower. There's a pretty good example of the techniquehere.

Hinoki is known for taking to this kind of grafting. I was lucky in the ones that I have though. I didn't have to do this to get what I needed. But I can't see why this wouldn't work on a Tsukumo. :)

The foliage is really fine, so they can dry out pretty quickly. My smaller one is much harder to keep watered properly than my large one.

So pretty much treat it like a hinoki and you'll be good... they just get crazy dense. Slow growers... but you'll blink and realize it's ridiculously dense. lol

Warmly,

Victrinia
Just wondering is a certain time better than another to trim. You say you "should have" eariler this year. When pruning cut the woddy stems like a juniper? Can I just pinch off the growing tips on the top?
 
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