Species Study - Taxodium distichum

[Cajunrider]

Here's another thing I haven't tried yet - A cascade BC. I have seen a few examples out there. I know it will be a perpetual fight, but I think I can make a cool one.

 

[johng]

Mirai: "The only time you can wire a bald cypress, without damaging the species, is when the buds swell in the spring season. The young branches are the easiest to wire and shape as older ones may become brittle and easily break."

I am sorry but he is not comparing apples to apples... He (Ryan) is mostly growing pond Cypress on the side of a mountain 3000 miles from where they were collected...its no wonder he seems to believe they are a weak species that needs special attention and care... That said...he designs a fabulous Flat-top!!!

 

[Cajunrider]

I am sorry but he is not comparing apples to apples... He (Ryan) is mostly growing pond Cypress on the side of a mountain 3000 miles from where they were collected...its no wonder he seems to believe they are a weak species that needs special attention and care... That said...he designs a fabulous Flat-top!!!

Thanks for gracing this thread, John. Agree with everything you said.

 

[Maiden69]

Here's another thing I haven't tried yet - A cascade BC. I have seen a few examples out there. I know it will be a perpetual fight, but I think I can make a cool one.

The thing with cascades is that there needs to be a sharp bend to make it "traditional". Granted there are a lot of "gradual" bend cascading trees, but to me they don't look right.



Maybe a younger BC could be made a cascade, or chopping a mature tree low and using one of the new branches to develop the cascade from? I know some trees hate having branches lower than the root ball, ficus is one of them. David Cortizas from Spain is one of the artists I have seen working mostly on ficus trees and he states that his trees health start to decline a few years after initiating training as a cascade. He's been able to maintain semi-cascade ones... hence his conclusion that the problem exist while trying to have the majority of the foliage below the root mass horizon line.

I think it could be "doable" given enough time, and using the technique Jonas used here with Daisaku Nomoto, and hoping that BC's react well to the positioning.

How to use a bonsai jack - Bonsai Tonight

Step-by-step instructions for using a bonsai jack. Daisaku Nomoto continues work started in a 2016 convention demo on a cascade black pine bonsai.

bonsaitonight.com

 

[Cajunrider]

The thing with cascades is that there needs to be a sharp bend to make it "traditional". Granted there are a lot of "gradual" bend cascading trees, but to me they don't look right.

View attachment 515866

Maybe a younger BC could be made a cascade, or chopping a mature tree low and using one of the new branches to develop the cascade from? I know some trees hate having branches lower than the root ball, ficus is one of them. David Cortizas from Spain is one of the artists I have seen working mostly on ficus trees and he states that his trees health start to decline a few years after initiating training as a cascade. He's been able to maintain semi-cascade ones... hence his conclusion that the problem exist while trying to have the majority of the foliage below the root mass horizon line.

I think it could be "doable" given enough time, and using the technique Jonas used here with Daisaku Nomoto, and hoping that BC's react well to the positioning.

How to use a bonsai jack - Bonsai Tonight

Step-by-step instructions for using a bonsai jack. Daisaku Nomoto continues work started in a 2016 convention demo on a cascade black pine bonsai.

bonsaitonight.com

You hit my plan right on the head. I am starting with a couple big wedge cuts for that sharp bend. I also have a ton of wood working clamps that can help me.
Furthermore, I am a cracker jack with using paracord for sharp bends on trees hahaha.

 

[Maiden69]

I am sorry but he is not comparing apples to apples... He (Ryan) is mostly growing pond Cypress on the side of a mountain 3000 miles from where they were collected...its no wonder he seems to believe they are a weak species that needs special attention and care... That said...he designs a fabulous Flat-top!!!

100%%%

In our climate we can do a lot to BC's that up north would be suicidal for a tree. One thing that Ryan also says is that he don't recommend keeping them on water, and even said that he once killed a BC by overwatering, which was probably a result of his environment.

 

[johng]

Thanks for gracing this thread, John. Agree with everything you said.

I had a little time this morning and spent it reading through this thread. You done some really cool stuff and thought a lot about this species!! The hollowed twin trunk was developed by a good friend and it was the first BC I ever helped collect. It was beast of a telephone pole. And to be perfectly honest I was stumped as to what Ken would ever do with it. When I saw how he carved it I was still shaking my head. He no longer owns the tree but I saw at another friends house this past weekend...nearly 30 years and still going strong. Which is another thing Ryan is confused about...he says there aren't any old collected BC around in support of his sensitive species theory

 

[rockm]

I had a little time this morning and spent it reading through this thread. You done some really cool stuff and thought a lot about this species!! The hollowed twin trunk was developed by a good friend and it was the first BC I ever helped collect. It was beast of a telephone pole. And to be perfectly honest I was stumped as to what Ken would ever do with it. When I saw how he carved it I was still shaking my head. He no longer owns the tree but I saw at another friends house this past weekend...nearly 30 years and still going strong. Which is another thing Ryan is confused about...he says there aren't any old collected BC around in support of his sensitive species theory

I have found Ryan to be a little shaky on advice on trees East of the Mississippi. Funny that he says there are no old collected BC to work with, since that's what he works with. If you look at the BC on his site, they have been sourced from Mary Madison in Fla.

 

[Maiden69]

You hit my plan right on the head. I am starting with a couple big wedge cuts for that sharp bend.

Yes, but that will give you a rounder profile. I know the illustration looks like crap, all I have here at work is paint and I am terrible at using the mouse for drawing... but you could use a BC chop the red line as a notch and rip down at a slight angle, then raffia the crap out of the trunk and wire with heavy gauge. Then bend as much as possible, increasing the bend through a few years until you achieve the degree you want. IDK... seems like a lot of work, but the end result should be better than a series of wedges in the inside of the curve.

 

[Cajunrider]

Yes, but that will give you a rounder profile. I know the illustration looks like crap, all I have here at work is paint and I am terrible at using the mouse for drawing... but you could use a BC chop the red line as a notch and rip down at a slight angle, then raffia the crap out of the trunk and wire with heavy gauge. Then bend as much as possible, increasing the bend through a few years until you achieve the degree you want. IDK... seems like a lot of work, but the end result should be better than a series of wedges in the inside of the curve.

View attachment 515869

Good thought!
How about splitting the trunk to taper the hell out of it then wrap and twist the trunk to shape. Then make enough of a cut to bend down like you show. Then seal the cut and wrap it tight.

 

[Cajunrider]

I have found Ryan to be a little shaky on advice on trees East of the Mississippi. Funny that he says there are no old collected BC to work with, since that's what he works with. If you look at the BC on his site, they have been sourced from Mary Madison in Fla.

Absolutely agree. The BC he got from Mary Madison is an ancient one. I wish I could get something like that. May be some day.

 

[rockm]

The BC Ryan has are Florida-sourced. I have always thought Fla. collected BC are hybridized with pond cypress given their awl-shaped (as opposed to the feather shaped) leaves on trees from Louisiana, etc. I have found Fla. collected trees to be less durable and not particularly as vigorous as BC collected in more Northern locations like Louisiana.

I had a Fla. collected BC that overwintered alongside Louisiana collected BC. The Fla. tree faded away over five years or so. I have a feeling they're not as winter hardy as trees collected elsewhere.

As for no 'ancient' BC bonsai, the BC he has on his web site list ages between 100-250 years. Not ancient by western conifer standards, but not young. Vaughn Banting's BC at the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum (and its sister bonsai at the Pacific Bonsai Museum) have been in bonsai culture since the 1970's, which may be longer than he has been alive.

 

[Cajunrider]

trunk splitting - lets give it a go...

Do it! I guess we'll never know unless somebody tries. Too bad we have to wait till next spring... I still have one month of growth :D

www.bonsainut.com

BC trunk split for taper

 

[Cajunrider]

I think it is time to add a post on BC wiring. We have had multiple threads on this subject but there are lots of information out there. Some of them are good, others are from people with less experience on BC than we think.

This thread has good discussions on BC wiring. Many experienced BNutters gave us good info there.

Bald Cypress Wiring

I'm new to bald cypress bonsai and doing a lot of research. I have read that wiring bald cypress is useless because the branches will return to their original position once the wires are removed. Yet I have seen stunning examples of BC bonsai wired. What is the consensus of the experienced BC...

www.bonsainut.com

Mirai: "The only time you can wire a bald cypress, without damaging the species, is when the buds swell in the spring season. The young branches are the easiest to wire and shape as older ones may become brittle and easily break."

For me I found the Mirai statement not necessarily true. Following is my experience:

1. I can work older branches in the summer but not at one go. If I bend a branch by hand and rock back and for 15 minutes every day for 3-4 days the older branches become much easier to wire. The only time where I see a bald cypress branch become brittle and easily break is when the branch is extremely old, weak, and is in the process of being shed by the tree. I have applied this rocking method to branches and even trunk up to 1.5" in diameter. Bigger than that I don't know because I am not strong enough to bend branches that big by hand. The only reason why I haven't wired big branches much is because I actually want to chop the branches to create taper on them. Chopping the low branches take more care because BCs like to grow the branches up top much more. I have to be careful and prune some of the top branches so the low branches get sunlight.
2. Unless I am doing extreme bending, I feel comfortable enough to wire BC in the fall all the way to early spring before bud break. I don't like wiring near bud break time so much because I am not very experienced at wiring. I know my limitation. I don't want to damage the bud.
3. If you are in the warm areas where you have two growing seasons for BC. Wiring can be done in early summer. By the time Fall comes around, the summer wiring can be removed. BC should hold shape by then. Earlier this summer I wired a bunch of BCs. Fall is coming around and I can see that the bends now hold. In fast growing BCs some of the wiring already show a bit of bite in. I will remove those wire after the leaves have shed.

I wired some of the BCs in midsummer. Young growing branches will take shape in as little as 6-7 weeks with the wire starting to bite in after two months. Old branches with slow growth will take a full year to hold the shape dictated by the wire.

 

[Cajunrider]

Yes, but that will give you a rounder profile. I know the illustration looks like crap, all I have here at work is paint and I am terrible at using the mouse for drawing... but you could use a BC chop the red line as a notch and rip down at a slight angle, then raffia the crap out of the trunk and wire with heavy gauge. Then bend as much as possible, increasing the bend through a few years until you achieve the degree you want. IDK... seems like a lot of work, but the end result should be better than a series of wedges in the inside of the curve.

View attachment 515869

I wasn't planning on a series of wedges. It would be one or at most two big wedges that makes the tree looked like it was broken by a hurricane
I think I am going to do two BCs one with the wedge and one with your method.

 

[Cajunrider]

I wasn't planning on a series of wedges. It would be one or at most two big wedges that makes the tree looked like it was broken by a hurricane
I think I am going to do two BCs one with the wedge and one with your method.

Potential victim 1

 

[John P.]

Here’s how I’ve pulled down young BC branches:

 

[John P.]

And the above BC is due for some heavy rootwork in a few months. Thinking about mounting it to a HDPE Ikea cutting board and positioning the roots that I want to keep with screws, if any.

 

[Cajunrider]

Here’s how I’ve pulled down young BC branches:
View attachment 516550

Are there any reasons why you keep that bare top? What is your plan for its design?

 

[Cajunrider]

And the above BC is due for some heavy rootwork in a few months. Thinking about mounting it to a HDPE Ikea cutting board and positioning the roots that I want to keep with screws, if any.

For me I would use something far cheaper such as a cut off OSB board that you can find at just about any construction site.