Bald Cypress Questions

[derkap10]

Hi Y'all,

I recently acquired a group of young Bald Cypresses (4 years old). The original group had 9 trees but I pulled the 2 largest ones when I repotted and put into individual pots to mature for a few years. The rest I arranged into a 7 tree grouping. Thus,

[img]https://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad43/derkap10_photo/Bonsai/Cypress001.jpg[/img]

And also,

[img]https://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad43/derkap10_photo/Bonsai/Cypresses2001.jpg[/img]

As you can see they're pretty tall so I'm wanting to chop down to about 6 or 8 inches or thereabouts. Does anybody know how well they'll resprout new growth? They're doing fine now so I find 'the chop' to be a bit spooky. Hate to do the chop and end up with a dead stick. But if anybody's had experience with these and had no problem with new growth I'll feel a bit better.
I'm also wondering about watering. If I understand correctly these need really (and I mean really) wet soil. When I repotted I actually added in a small amount of regular potting soil to my bonsai soil to hold more moisture. Although I haven't done it yet I'm also thinking that when the weather starts getting really hot around here (soon) I'll put the pot in a larger container with some water so that about the bottom third of the pot will be wet constantly. So much emphasis with bonsai about proper drainage that this kind of treatment seems almost blasphemous . But it seems to make sense when you see these trees growing right up out of the water in a swamp. Any thoughts on that?
The 2 that I put into standard pots,

[img]https://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad43/derkap10_photo/Bonsai/Cypresses2005.jpg[/img]

I've got about the top 4 inches of regular bonsai soil and the rest of the soil is standard potting mix. Kept very wet. Again, am I overemphasizing the need for moisture for these trees?
I really like these trees and this is my first experience with them so any thoughts, suggestions, advice, slap on the back of the head will be most welcome and appreciated. I value all of y'alls opinions and knowledge. Thanks much,

Allen

[tomfisher]

I'm pretty new to this but when you say you wanna chop them down a bit, so why don't you cut down a little on just one of them and see what happens because it should give you a good indicator on what the rest would do

[derkap10]

Hi Tom,

I was actually considering doing just that. Maybe first chopping one of the small ones on the outside. My main worry is that I cut back the tap roots on most of these and was a little concerned that they might need a chop back to balance out with the roots. Will be this weekend before I do anything though so I'm just kinda waiting and seeing what kind of advice I get one way or another before I proceed.
Which brings up another question that I forgot to post. The reason that I'm waiting till this weekend is that I need a cnance to run to the nursery and pick up some more potting soil for something I want to try. I'm thinking that after I do the chop I hate to just throw away the part that I cut off. So I was thinking that I might try to see if I could get the very tips to root. Anybody know if those kind of cuttings could work? I think it's pretty common for bonsaists to try to root off whatever they cut off a tree lol.

[Marsman]

Wow! Those are tall and thin. You may want to stick them in the ground to thicken them up a bit.

I did a quick Google and came up with these examples of Bald Cypress Forest Plantings. It's something to shoot for.

[url=https://s956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/?action=view&current=bald_cypress_1988-2007.jpg][img]https://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/th_bald_cypress_1988-2007.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://s956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/?action=view&current=na102_caxidonium_distichum.jpg][img]https://i956.photobucket.com/albums/ae50/marsman61/Bonsai/Various%20Hosting%20Pics/th_na102_caxidonium_distichum.jpg[/img][/url]

[tomfisher]

I tryed to grow from cuttings on my azalea and my chnease elm but they didnt make it XD but its woth a try I would say keep a ery close eye on them

[derkap10]

Hi again everybody,

Progress report on the Bald Cypress grove. Awesome!I chopped these bad boys to various heights. The little stubby one at the front I chopped really hard because something (raccoon, possum, armadillo, fox, take your pick) decided to dig that one out of the pot. Was probably a few hours before I found it laying lonely and destitute on the porch. So I chopped it really hard and worked it back into the grove (at an odd angle but what the hey, gonna get repotted next spring). After chopping I removed almost all of the fronds that were still on the trees except for the very top ones. Hasn't even been hardly three weeks and look at all the new growth!

[img]https://i920.photobucket.com/albums/ad43/derkap10_photo/Bonsai/ShrubBonsai010.jpg[/img]

So now I'm thinking I'll chop again on the tall ones. Try for a fairly uniform height. Too soon? I've got a really long growing season ahead still. These things seem to be able to take it. And I'm thinking...'You only live once, may as well chop on your Bald Cypresses'.

P.S. Yes, I know, now that the Pines and Oaks have stopped spewing pollen like crazy I should probably go ahead and clean off my grill. Again .[/b]

[TomM]

I like what you've done with your grove so far. Personally I wouldn't change to more uniform heights - but keep them varied, as they are now. I think that will add more realism as time goes by. Let's see how they develop as the seasons pass.

Glad you have also separated the other two out. Let them grow wild for a period of time. When reunited with their siblings they will have more heft and caliper. They will again make the grouping realistic.

Nice start - very nice !!!

The dust & grime on the barbie? Only adds to "regional flavor" - gotta love it. Can call it smoky tree essence.

[derkap10]

Thanks TomM. Glad you like how my grove be going. I mispoke a when I said chop back to 'unifom height'. I think I probably meant something more like 'proportional height'. Was thinking about chopping some of the skinnier ones a bit lower so as to be more in proportion with the height of the overall grove and to the height of the tree itself. Keep in mind that, although these are in a bonsai pot now, I'm still considering them to be pre-bonsai. When I bought these they were in a big, deep, pot. When I repotted I did some small cutting back on the tap-roots but that was about it. Still a lot of roots left. Can't really tell from the pics but there's about as much root as there is soil in the pot. I expect by the end of this 'growing year' there'll be roots coming all out of this pot. Next spring I want to do some fairly heavy root-pruning and move into a shallower pot. Would like to have smaller trees already for that. And will probably do some rearrangement of the trees themselves.

The 2 trees that I put into large pots won't be rejoining the grove. I've seen some awesome examples of 'single' Bald Cypresses that I'm working for with them.

Intersting thing about the 2 'biguns' I put into the big pots.... same size pots, same soil mixture, sitting side by side in the yard. One of them is doing extremly well. Lots of new growth and growing like crazy. The other one..... Fronds turning brown and dying. I gave it a big chop out of self-defense and it seems to be doing better. Wonder why one doing okay and the other seems to be struggling. I dunno. Mystery.....