I've been fascinated with this particular species. If you do a search on BonsaiNut, there are so many threads and posts on this species.
I found so much information on this thread:
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/2019-season-bc-yamadori-mega-thread-d.36707/
And much inspiration from this thread:
https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/bald-cypress.30848/
After playing with this species for a few years I have learned some lessons.
- Forget about trying to grow BC from cuttings. Growing them from seeds is actually much much faster for most of us.
- BC from the big box stores (Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart) and most nurseries have poor taper comparing to those grown from seeds myself. From seeds I can get to the size usually sold at the big box in less than 2 years (18 month average) and mine have much better taper and root spreads.
- Jury is still out on the dunking or not dunking. My sample experience of growing about 100 BCs so far (20 dunked, 20 not dunked, and 60 in ground) is inconclusive between the dunked and not dunked. However, the 40 in pots have more of my care and fertilization grew much faster than the plant it and forget it 60 in the ground. I suppose if I fertilize the ones in the ground they would grow fast too but I never did it.
- Don't be afraid of bare rooting BCs. I recommend checking and sorting out the roots of the seedling after the first year to make sure you have even root spread.
- Keep your soil shallow. If you transplant your BC and bury it too deep, it will readily form roots higher up the tree. You wind up with multi-tier roots that look wonky. Unless you desire wonky roots for your own design, don't do it.
- It is hard to develop the swamp buttress growing BCs in pot. If you really really want that buttress, get a collected BC.
- Don't be afraid to reach out to the members of BonsaiNut . The names of the distinguished members who know a lot about BCs are in the thread I list above.
Let me know what you have learned. I just collected some hulking stumps and will be documenting my finding in the future.
Thank you for a solid summary of growing bald cypress.
Personally, I grow mine standing in water all year around and I don’t have to worry about the trees drying out.
One thing I’ve not done, but your post reminded me of it was to screw a board to the base of the tree the way we sometimes due to
Maples. The technique is basically to shave all the roots as flat as possible. Take approximately an eight or 10 inch round piece of plywood. Drill a hole in the center and put a large cap screw through the hole and screwed into the base of the trunk, forcing The roots to grow horizontally along the wood. The piece of wood entry is that buried in soil, or in my case would just be placed in the water
The trees are very forgiving for root pruning just like you showed in the pictures.
You seem to know more about these streets than I do but the one thing I would add is don’t forget the other species in this genius
Esp Taxodium mucronatum. There are some distinct differences, and I personally like the Montezuma or Mexican bald Cyprus slightly better.
I think the Bonsai community still has a lot to learn about these trees.
Initially the flat top style seem to dominate and preferred Bonsai style, but there are now many different bonsai forms Of the tree.
I was particularly fascinated by what Andrew Robinson did with history.
I believe there is a YouTube video where he shows the tree.
Thinking outside the box is good and I think andrew has that skill. Though that tree will need a decade to develop appropriate branches.
Finally I included a picture of what looks like a small BC “knee”. I think in reality it formed because of being grown in a constricted pot which forced the root to create a bump. I know having knees on bonsai BC is pretty uncommon so I’ll take it. The tree is in a forest composition I built this spring. My first forest so it is what it is. Next time I will ask my teacher to help when I make a forest composition.
Thank you again for your post,
Mats
. Should be interesting to see how this one recovers!
