MTM Bald Cypress progression thread

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

@Cajunrider I nicked the scar today. What do you think?

This side has a scar all the way around the cut so I was able to nick that side easily.


However this side doesn't have a scar all the way around the cut to "nick" circled in blue, it does have the branch in the back


Another pic of the side with no scar all the way around like the other side (the right side in this pic).


You can see my attempt and nicking the branch on the non-scar top, not sure if I got it good enough.



So, I'm not sure how to get the non-fully scarred side to heal properly.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Looking great.
I would wire the top branches up to 6” from the trunk to get some movement. As they grow bigger, the movement will be subtle but I think it will be pleasing. Just don’t let the wire bite.

Only wired 12 days ago and some of the wire looks like it's biting in, that was fast. Are you saying no bite at all, or maybe a slight bite would be alright & not cause fright?

This sucker is growing crazy fast.

 

[Cajunrider]

Only wired 12 days ago and some of the wire looks like it's biting in, that was fast. Are you saying no bite at all, or maybe a slight bite would be alright & not cause fright?

This sucker is growing crazy fast.

@Cajunrider I nicked the scar today. What do you think?

This side has a scar all the way around the cut so I was able to nick that side easily.
View attachment 560113

However this side doesn't have a scar all the way around the cut to "nick" circled in blue, it does have the branch in the back
View attachment 560105

Another pic of the side with no scar all the way around like the other side (the right side in this pic).
View attachment 560106

You can see my attempt and nicking the branch on the non-scar top, not sure if I got it good enough.

View attachment 560107

So, I'm not sure how to get the non-fully scarred side to heal properly.

Very nice work. Better than my sloppy hands.
Give it time, the lip will form.
About the wire bite, don’t sweat the bites that don’t bury the wire. BC can grow crazy fast and bury the wire in one growth season.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Very nice work. Better than my sloppy hands.
Give it time, the lip will form.
About the wire bite, don’t sweat the bites that don’t bury the wire. BC can grow crazy fast and bury the wire in one growth season.

You the Man CR. Thank you.

 

[Millard B.]

I don't understand your long term plan for this BC? It appears to me that this tree is a single trunk tree with what will become a twin apex or am I missing something? In Jan 2023 I lost my entire 6 years of BC that were in various stages of development with the exception of about 2 dozen "yearling" trees that I keep flooded in two 2"x8'x14' ground contact pressure treated frames lined with 2 layers of heavy black plastic sheeting. Roots develop 5x faster when grown in water. The one year trees are kept there for 1 or 2 years until roots emerge into the water 6" to 12", then I overpot them and put them on ground cloth in my nursery. I heard my irrigation pump running daily but didn't realize my well had collapsed, I had about 30 BC almost finished stone dead. All my "yearling" trees sitting in water were fine including a One in A Million 90 degree windswept BC. Currently I'm working on a similar size tree but reducing the apex to a single leader growing from the back side of the tree that will in time have a shari from the base of the apex to near ground level. It is my humble opinion that one or the other sides of the V should be eliminated as it is to my eye confusing. I've dug and processed approx 130 BC so far this year mostly in 7gal, 15g, and 25g with an average survival rate of 80% to 90%. Might do one more dig before rainy season floods the Cypress stands and my 18 volt sawzall can not be used, also new growth needs several months to recover before Fall comes again,

 

[Cajunrider]

I don't understand your long term plan for this BC? It appears to me that this tree is a single trunk tree with what will become a twin apex or am I missing something? In Jan 2023 I lost my entire 6 years of BC that were in various stages of development with the exception of about 2 dozen "yearling" trees that I keep flooded in two 2"x8'x14' ground contact pressure treated frames lined with 2 layers of heavy black plastic sheeting. Roots develop 5x faster when grown in water. The one year trees are kept there for 1 or 2 years until roots emerge into the water 6" to 12", then I overpot them and put them on ground cloth in my nursery. I heard my irrigation pump running daily but didn't realize my well had collapsed, I had about 30 BC almost finished stone dead. All my "yearling" trees sitting in water were fine including a One in A Million 90 degree windswept BC. Currently I'm working on a similar size tree but reducing the apex to a single leader growing from the back side of the tree that will in time have a shari from the base of the apex to near ground level. It is my humble opinion that one or the other sides of the V should be eliminated as it is to my eye confusing. I've dug and processed approx 130 BC so far this year mostly in 7gal, 15g, and 25g with an average survival rate of 80% to 90%. Might do one more dig before rainy season floods the Cypress stands and my 18 volt sawzall can not be used, also new growth needs several months to recover before Fall comes again,

I cannot speak for MTM but I envision something like this photo found on internet.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I don't understand your long term plan for this BC? It appears to me that this tree is a single trunk tree with what will become a twin apex or am I missing something? In Jan 2023 I lost my entire 6 years of BC that were in various stages of development with the exception of about 2 dozen "yearling" trees that I keep flooded in two 2"x8'x14' ground contact pressure treated frames lined with 2 layers of heavy black plastic sheeting. Roots develop 5x faster when grown in water. The one year trees are kept there for 1 or 2 years until roots emerge into the water 6" to 12", then I overpot them and put them on ground cloth in my nursery. I heard my irrigation pump running daily but didn't realize my well had collapsed, I had about 30 BC almost finished stone dead. All my "yearling" trees sitting in water were fine including a One in A Million 90 degree windswept BC. Currently I'm working on a similar size tree but reducing the apex to a single leader growing from the back side of the tree that will in time have a shari from the base of the apex to near ground level. It is my humble opinion that one or the other sides of the V should be eliminated as it is to my eye confusing. I've dug and processed approx 130 BC so far this year mostly in 7gal, 15g, and 25g with an average survival rate of 80% to 90%. Might do one more dig before rainy season floods the Cypress stands and my 18 volt sawzall can not be used, also new growth needs several months to recover before Fall comes again,

Well, I’m no Vaughn Banting, but I’m going for a mature flat top design, an old tree that had the top damaged in high hurricane winds, then one or more new leaders emerged from the damaged apex area. It’s a work in progress but when complete, there will, in fact, be several apexes which create a relatively flat canopy. I’ve considered the slant cut style, which sounds like you’re suggesting & posted pictures of the two styles in post #3 of this thread. I choose the second photo, and the top could end up looking something like this



I’m new to this species and get most of my info from this website & https://gnobs.org/resources/articles/

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

I cannot speak for MTM but I envision something like this photo found on internet.
View attachment 560201

I'm sure you've read this article before but I find this one very interesting. The creation of knees on BC have you tried this knee development CR?

Also how old do you think the BC I have is?

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Zip tie is a good idea, I broke a branch I was trying to wire a week ago, and I just put some wire on it. Wasn't a bad break, but enough for me to quit wiring that branch until next year. I took a class in May of this year and the instructor mentioned he uses electrical tape wrapped sticky side up instead of raffia, so all kinds of methods to help with a branch break. Love it!

The branch I broke, is somewhat important to the design.

Well I guess I should have put some more protection on this branch break when I took the wire off about 4-5 days ago when it looked like the wire was biting in. I checked the tree tonight and the wind snapped it back, & it looks worse than before.


I used electrical tape (sticky side up) and zip ties to repair the above break.



The branch has new growth on it above the break, so it was doing well before today. I hope it lives. @Cajunrider Do you think this branch can survive ?

 

[Cajunrider]

Well I guess I should have put some more protection on this branch break when I took the wire off about 4-5 days ago when it looked like the wire was biting in. I checked the tree tonight and the wind snapped it back, & it looks worse than before.
View attachment 561657

I used electrical tape (sticky side up) and zip ties to repair the above break.

View attachment 561658

The branch has new growth on it above the break, so it was doing well before today. I hope it lives. @Cajunrider Do you think this branch can survive ?

It will survive but you will have to baby it a bit. Once it is all healed up, you may actually open it up and hollow out a channel, out a rod in it and seal back with epoxy.

That is the technical answer. It it were my tree I might just promote the branch below to be the opposite branch for the flat top.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

It will survive but you will have to baby it a bit. Once it is all healed up, you may actually open it up and hollow out a channel, out a rod in it and seal back with epoxy.

That is the technical answer. It it were my tree I might just promote the branch below to be the opposite branch for the flat top.

Thanks. I do hope it makes it. I did think to glue back it together, but wasn't sure which glue/epoxy to use & if that would be beneficial or harmful. I'll baby the branch till next year and determine if it needs the hollow out procedure you described. I appreciate your knowledge.

 

[Mikea454]

appreciating you documenting your BC experience, looking forward to trying to replicate this next spring. Thanks MTM (and CR for all the input)

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

appreciating you documenting your BC experience, looking forward to trying to replicate this next spring. Thanks MTM (and CR for all the input)

Thanks. What's the old saying "Your best teacher is your last mistake." If that's true, I should be a Professor by now.

 

[Cajunrider]

Thanks. What's the old saying "Your best teacher is your last mistake." If that's true, I should be a Professor by now.

Heck!
I would be Yoda!
I had better be careful though. My lady said: "You had nine lives and you already spent 8!"

 

[Dabbler]

That branch should be fine - I have a branch almost completely break off, I did what you did and it survived and mended itself together

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

It will survive but you will have to baby it a bit. Once it is all healed up, you may actually open it up and hollow out a channel, out a rod in it and seal back with epoxy.

That is the technical answer. It it were my tree I might just promote the branch below to be the opposite branch for the flat top.

I've been thinking about this. and I'm thinking that's a really good design decision. Still pondering what it could look like, but it could work out nicely.

 

[Cajunrider]

I've been thinking about this. and I'm thinking that's a really good design decision. Still pondering what it could look like, but it could work out nicely.

The inferior side (slightly lower and smaller) coming from a lower position occurs very often in nature. To me, it is a better look for flat top, introducing a bit more asymmetry.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

The inferior side (slightly lower and smaller) coming from a lower position occurs very often in nature. To me, it is a better look for flat top, introducing a bit more asymmetry.

Agreed. With both the branches in the same location one of them should go at some point, and the lower bigger branch would work well. TY for helping me see that.

Do you think I should remove the broken branch soon, or wait till the scar has healed more?

And another old saying came to me. "There is nothing permanent except change." In about 30 years that could mean diapers for me.

 

[Cajunrider]

Agreed. With both the branches in the same location one of them should go at some point, and the lower bigger branch would work well. TY for helping me see that.

Do you think I should remove the broken branch soon, or wait till the scar has healed more?

And another old saying came to me. "There is nothing permanent except change." In about 30 years that could mean diapers for me.

You still have a good 6 weeks of growth.
1. Chop the broken branch.
2. Move the wired lower branch to the up position. Give it a week to settle there.
3. Carve the trunk down carefully to create the roll lip for the lower branch.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

That tree is in the collection of the arboretum in Asheville and I am pretty sure it was created by JohnG. I suggest you take a look at the multi-year flat top progression on his YouTube channel

I cannot speak for MTM but I envision something like this photo found on internet.
View attachment 560201