Thanks for the guidance johng. I very much appreciate and value your response as you are the reason I contemplated this tree when walking the property. I have watched all your videos on YouTube and because of your trees and because I grew up around cypress, they are the tree I want to work with the most.
looks like fun! I think currently the tree pictured is a little big at the top end...basically about 3' up from the base....all depends on how tall of a finished tree you want??....if you cut it at 3' it will probably end up about 4' tall once the taper has grown in. Certainly it is possible to deal with a cut that diameter but my general collecting rule is that my thumb and forefinger should touch when I reach around the trunk at the height I want to cut it.
Height is the part I'm most confused about with Cypress given that it's much taller in general than most Bonsai. Your trees seem to be about 4' which seems like a good height to me but feel free to explain in more detail what you feel the ideal is. There are dozens of trees in this spot so I'm interested in the broad rules as well as specific advice. For this situation a 4' final tree would mean chopping at 3' like you mentioned below? The person standing by the tree is 6'1" and slightly in front of the tree because of the low branches. At 3' that would be a good 3"-3.5" cut. Your thumb and forefinger rule would put the max cut just above 2"? Also this picture was taken in November 2012 so the tree has grown another season at this point.
I've posted another picture with height estimates based on my memory of how far he was standing in front of the tree and my estimation at the time that the fork at the top was around 7'. Am I correct that your rule is used to determine if the chop will heal into a tapered top? It seems like I would have a hard time meeting the criteria unless I chopped between 4'-5' on this tree for a final height of almost 6'. Should I try given that this tree has no other future or would my time be best spent elsewhere?
You say 5 years...if that is the case, I think I would go ahead and chop it and let it begin to grow a new top while its still in the ground. I would probably make a flat cut in the early Spring...Let it bud out and branches develop for one growing season. Then, the second Spring choose a leader for the apex and make a diagonal cut to begin the healing and tapering process on the trunk.
If I can understand at what height to chop, this will be easily done.
The third season or maybe the fourth depending on how vigorous the tree is, I would saw a circle around the base about 8" or so out....so, given the size of the tree maybe a 24-30" diameter circle...15-18" deep would be ideal. IF the tree doesn't wiggle pretty well in the ground at that point you will know you have a very large tap root and you are going to have fun getting out! If does wiggle, she will come out very easily...no heavy equipment needed...just a saw.
The 5 years I choose is pretty arbitrary at this point. It really depends on how my skills progress as well as how the tree does. Just so I know, is the recommendation to root chop in the 4rd or 4th year based on taking the tree the next year; in this case year 4 or 5 based on the growth of the tree? Also you say "season". Does this mean mean early spring the same as the trunk chop? Would more time help, I'm in no rush or would more time just make the eventual collection more difficult?
I think everybody has a different opinion about when to take trees out of the ground...I know in FLA they like late winter. I have had terrible luck at that time of year here in SC. I have much better success collecting in mid-summer. If you follow the course outlined above, yours will be a little different situation...I just collect stumps...you will want to preserve branches so I might consider a Spring time frame for collection...just as buds break and definitely after any late frosts.
I think if I were in your shoes and wanted to try what is suggested above...I would pick at least 3-5 trees to cut...you never know how they are going to respond and develop...it always surprise me! You wouldn't need to collect them all, if you didn't want to, but it will give you some choice.
Good point about having more logistics to deal with, I'll have to consider that and be prepared. Even with easy access to equipment that won't help me since I need to be careful of branches I want to save.
Now that I have a much better idea about what a reasonable candidate tree is I will probably chop all the ones that have thick bases and can be reasonably chopped at 5' or less. I just picked the tree that seemed the best one to me at the time when I knew very little. It's possible there are a dozen trees worth considering in this one spot and some of them are probably much better than this one.
Thanks for the help and any additional information about how to pick where to chop is appreciated.
