Solemn beginnings

[Jacob Jaimes]

over the past few weeks I've been prepping for the season.
Compiling soil components, new material, & researching everything n a half. ;P
To share today, I've a lemon Cypress.
Repotted into a basic soil comprised of (cheap) potting soil & pea gravel for drainage-aeration.
Is perlite necessary?

 

[Aiki_Joker]

Perlite might drain better than pea gravel with compost and has the added benefit of tieing some water up that slowly disperses into the intragranular spaces in the soil. It doesn't fill these spaces up until the humidity gets to a certain lower level. This leaves these spaces free for gas that encourages better root development. This means smoother humidity transition curve in the soil.

It is also a significantly lighter weight soil ammendment if that makes a difference (sometimes people are not willing or able to lift and the weight also affects the pot life in plastics when improperly lifting them). Think about how many parts of each component you have and figure out a good mix for your schedule/climate. If your tree dries out fast for example add more stuff that holds water like fired clays, pummice, fir bark, lava rock, aqua balls etc...

 

[Jacob Jaimes]

Perlite might drain better than pea gravel with compost and has the added benefit of tieing some water up that slowly disperses into the intragranular spaces in the soil. It doesn't fill these spaces up until the humidity gets to a certain lower level. This leaves these spaces free for gas that encourages better root development. This means smoother humidity transition curve in the soil.

It is also a significantly lighter weight soil ammendment if that makes a difference (sometimes people are not willing or able to lift and the weight also affects the pot life in plastics when improperly lifting them). Think about how many parts of each component you have and figure out a good mix for your schedule/climate. If your tree dries out fast for example add more stuff that holds water like fired clays, pummice, fir bark, lava rock, aqua balls etc...

Very helpful! I've always wondered how perlite worked.
I'll have to try some kind of bark.

 

[Aiki_Joker]

Lemon cypress (goldcrest) will shoot up in right conditions. They are apically dominant so keep pinching the top to slow it down if needed. Here is a thread from a tree I had. It survived but I left it in Oman. If you have good weather they grow great outside. The screens on the windows at my old place weakened it significantly. I couldnt repot it before I left for fear of it being too weak.

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/ideas-on-this-lemon-cypress.26677/

 

[Aiki_Joker]

If you slow the top down the bottom will grow and the top branches won't get too thick. They are bendy too so wiring is easy. Yes organics like bark are important. I also used osmocote slow release fertiliser.

 

[Jacob Jaimes]

I've picked it back up, added perlite, & placed in a strainer that will be placed in the ground for the season.
I'd change up the soil comp again but I don't want to disturb the roots anymore.
Mind you, it has been slip-potted each time, "better safe than sorry" is what I hear the tree telling me.

 

[Jacob Jaimes]

After an excessive amount of thought, I've slip potted the Cypress into a strainer & placed it in the ground.

It's growing great & so I've wired these 2 strong leaders to allow more light in as well as for future cuttings.

 

[Jacob Jaimes]

To anyone curious, the lower branches have hardened off & have now become cuttings.

 

[my nellie]

Good luck with them!
However, I would say that you should cut them shorter and keep a lot more less foliage... I am not so very experienced with cuttings, though.
I hope that others who are pro into propagation using "cuttings" will give you exact information but you can also make a search on BNut libraries yourself.

 

[Jacob Jaimes]

Good luck with them!
However, I would say that you should cut them shorter and keep a lot more less foliage... I am not so very experienced with cuttings, though.
I hope that others who are pro into propagation using "cuttings" will give you exact information but you can also make a search on BNut libraries yourself.

I would have attempted an air layer although I'm not sure it'd work on such thin branches