How to develope/ encourage fluting in Bald Cypress?

[Horsefeathers]

I was able to pick up 3 Bald Cypress through a county native tree program. At the moment the trees are about 5' tall and about an inch or so in diameter.

My plan is to put them in pots and let them grow / thicken. Should I be reducing the top at all or just let it keep growing? From what I saw on another site, water is important for the fluting, so I was going to pot them up without drainage holes while they are growing. Is this an incorrect approach?

Any insight would be appreciated!

 

[johng]

Fluting and Buttressing are two different things in my mind. Fluting only occurs when roots are allowed to grow very long....will not ever happen in a container. Buttressing on the other hand is just the swelling of the base and can be accomplished by growing in some amount of water.

Deeper water can induce the growth of knees if maintained for several years and the tree is allowed to grow freely. Long term growth in deeper water (more than 2-3 years) is reported to reduce the health and vigor of the tree...

I suggest not chopping until the trunk has achieved the girth you desire. This species back buds and heals wounds easily.

I choose to use a container with holes and submerge that in a separate container with water. In the winter the tree can be removed from the water...a pot with no holes does not allow for that option.

Growing in the ground typically results in the most rapid trunk growth. Plant over a board or tile to cause horizontal growth of the roots...this will result in a much better root base and allow the eventual use of a shallower bonsai container...

That just about sums up what I have learned in 30 years of growing Taxodium.

 

[Mats Hagström]

My experience with BC has been that the are quite apically dominant. I don’t like the chopped look but think of where you want to go. Get a feel for how these tres grow. You don’t have to do anything at the moment since summer is coming to an end. The trees will soon turn golden red as the foliage begins to turn. I think fall colors on these is one of the best attributes. They want to grow up not to the sides. I usually trim the top growth to keep them from getting too tall.

I included some pics of mine. The first tree has been designed as a flat top with a few bends at the top. You can see how the foliage wants to grow up. I will wire primary branches in a more horizontal angle next year. I keep these in standing water year round. You can see how small the pot is. They don’t need much roots if standing in water. The base is about 2”+. This tree is five years old. I trim the roots in spring if indicated. These seem to bounce back from repotting and root trim without issues if you keep them wet.

The Forrest has pond and bald cypress. The last picture shows where I trimmed the top previously. They tend to show chop junctions so IMO it’s better to trim often than to do major chop.

The forest does not have drain holes either.

Some people say to not keep them in water but it has never been an issue for me. The one thing they don’t like is being dry. As long as it’s moist they do fine with or without soil.

Personally I like pond slightly more than the bald. I only have five years experience and they are not local here.

 

[Horsefeathers]

Fluting and Buttressing are two different things in my mind. Fluting only occurs when roots are allowed to grow very long....will not ever happen in a container. Buttressing on the other hand is just the swelling of the base and can be accomplished by growing in some amount of water.

Deeper water can induce the growth of knees if maintained for several years and the tree is allowed to grow freely. Long term growth in deeper water (more than 2-3 years) is reported to reduce the health and vigor of the tree...

I suggest not chopping until the trunk has achieved the girth you desire. This species back buds and heals wounds easily.

I choose to use a container with holes and submerge that in a separate container with water. In the winter the tree can be removed from the water...a pot with no holes does not allow for that option.

Growing in the ground typically results in the most rapid trunk growth. Plant over a board or tile to cause horizontal growth of the roots...this will result in a much better root base and allow the eventual use of a shallower bonsai container...

That just about sums up what I have learned in 30 years of growing Taxodium.

I appreciate all the info! I guess when I said fluting I was thinking of the deep grooves these get in the base of the trunk like in the photo below (stolen from Underhill Bonsai / Google). Is that what you mean by buttressing; and are those what you would call knees?

Something akin to what's in that photo is roughly what I had in mind when picking them up. I do have a spot that I could put them in the ground for a bit...

 

[Horsefeathers]

I included some pics of mine.

Appreciate the info. They're looking great! If I had a chance to see them before hand I would have bought 3 or 5 more to do a forest planting, but you had to commit sight unseen. I'll know for next year!

 

[Cajunrider]

I appreciate all the info! I guess when I said fluting I was thinking of the deep grooves these get in the base of the trunk like in the photo below (stolen from Underhill Bonsai / Google). Is that what you mean by buttressing; and are those what you would call knees?

Something akin to what's in that photo is roughly what I had in mind when picking them up. I do have a spot that I could put them in the ground for a bit...

While it appears to be just semantics, it is not. Those are not grooves in the trunk. Rather they are like splines that are continuation of big ole root running in the ground and right up the trunk. This is very much like what @johng said. The flutes are from the big strong roots in the ground. As such, they are difficult to develop in pots.

 

[johng]

I appreciate all the info! I guess when I said fluting I was thinking of the deep grooves these get in the base of the trunk like in the photo below (stolen from Underhill Bonsai / Google). Is that what you mean by buttressing; and are those what you would call knees?

Something akin to what's in that photo is roughly what I had in mind when picking them up. I do have a spot that I could put them in the ground for a bit...

The terms are confusing so lets leave them out...this is a swollen base... notice that the line of the roots doesn't extend up the trunk like a muscle or tendon. This tree is 30 years in a container...never been in the ground...great root base but no fluting extending up the trunk...for me one of several factors that make BC unique and desirable for bonsai.


These are formed by large and long roots growing unrestricted (fluting)...This is very unlikely to occur when growing in a container. This feature is best acquired through collected material.

 

[Horsefeathers]

The terms are confusing so lets leave them out...

I appreciate the examples. The 2nd and 3rd picture what I would ideally be shooting for, but would definitely be happy with the 1st as well; just lacking the feature I was hoping for.

I do have a spot to put them in the ground, so I think I'll go that route for a season or 3 and see what happens. The spot they would be going in would also happen to be the low corner of my hard for water runoff / drainage so in theory they'd get a bit more water than other spots of the yard. Do you think watering heavily would help or would that just be a waste of water?

As an aside, I didn't know that they were native to our area, but I've seen a couple now that I'm paying attention. Given that we're not really a swampy / wetland area, the ones I've seen while driving around are all lacking the "signature" base that I'd have identified them with. Maybe I'll find one on a collecting excursion one day!

 

[johng]

if you want flutes...learn to care for these in your climate and when you are confident buy yourself a collected tree.