What Is Happening To My Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum)

[SU2]

well, mine is in full sun and has been since I got it from a nursery, chopped and repotted it. I just did a repot as it was budding back out and chopped it down to the first branch and then put it back in full sun, in the nondraining pot that its been in for a year half soil and half some kind of local gravel. Had a mass of healthy white roots.

When did you get / chop / repot it? (I know roughly 1yr but curious about specific timing because of the dormancy thing )
I guess the root of my concern is that since they're being subjected to two things at once- coming out of dormancy and having been chopped&collected- that's got me worried our unusually hot&sunny spring may be a bit too-much (for instance, on the single BC of 6 that's developing vigorously, the buds on the west side that get sun from high-noon til sunset are losing color, like they're significantly grayer/duller than the bright-green ones on the east-facing side that stops getting sun right after high-noon. Just rotated it 90deg this morning actually)

If you happen to have pics you could easily attach I'd love seeing what you've got! It seems the submerged ones grow the fastest, next year - when I can approach the collecting season knowing what a BC is lol - I'll certainly be doing at least a portion as submerged (I'm unsure how many you've collected but, if it's a large enough #, have you noticed if there's any difference between collecting early in the dormancy period (say, Jan. 1st) versus right-before bud-break? With how almost all my other collected trees act, budding on my BC's is 'late' or probably not going to happen, it's hard to think a 3wk old specimen that hasn't budded yet is going to survive, not when I've got another one that was budding all over at day 7)

 

[JoeH]

got it a year ago, cut it down to fit in its dish, left it ALONE for a year, repotted it two weeks ago. I cannot stress enough leaving it alone. Been in full sun the entire time and in the same dish. Pics of it from last year in my gallery. I cut it down to the lowest branch to start getting some crazy taper

 

[SU2]

got it a year ago, cut it down to fit in its dish, left it ALONE for a year, repotted it two weeks ago. I cannot stress enough leaving it alone. Been in full sun the entire time and in the same dish. Pics of it from last year in my gallery. I cut it down to the lowest branch to start getting some crazy taper

I...didn't even know there was a gallery feature on this site! lol! That's fantastic am going to go check it out now

And yeah I've got no plans to lay a finger on my BC's until they're ready, this year I just want to get as much foliage & branch-girth as possible! (is this where I'd have asked about rubbing-off everything but my primary bud? It'd just re-direct all the energy there right? /jk ;D )

Thanks again for the info it's great seeing replies from you, you seem to have every species I do and are in the same climate but have much more experience & knowledge, really appreciate all the info!!

 

[JoeH]

been in this pot/dog bowl for a year, root reduced, chopped down to the lowest branch this year

 

[SU2]

been in this pot/dog bowl for a year, root reduced, chopped down to the lowest branch this year
View attachment 179834

That's awesome

Sadly I'm not expecting more than 1 of my BC's to make it, only 1 of them is vigorous, I've got 3 that are 3wks old (2 small and 1 large) that haven't budded at all, and then 1 that's 8 days old and I'm just praying makes it because it's the best one of them all (of my whole garden, really) but w/ the weather turning colder this week I'm getting worried! Patience, patience ;D

Just checked your gallery, the moss on that ilex is so lush I wish I could get it to grow I've given-up on growing moss, have done far too many experiments placing pieces in so many different conditions, making pastes w/ ground-up moss+sphagnum, every trick I could find or be told, and never get moss to grow (at best, I can keep it alive..)

[edit- What about rooting the chopped-top? Have yet to hear about how they handle hardwood propagation]