Texas Shohin Bald Cypress
- Thread starter markyscott
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- bald cypress
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Memorial Day weekend begins the dog days of summer here in Houston. But the BC love it.
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markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Without the foliage backdrop
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Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
The pot looks very shallow compared to the girth of that trunk! I notice you don't submerge either. Heck of a specimen!
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Normal APL mix with extra akadama and one part kanuma. 1/4” sphagnum on top. The shallow pot makes for higher water saturation. Right now it’s watered 2x per day. In terms of trunk diameter, there’s good evidence that submerging helps build girth faster, but I’m way past that stage with this tree.
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Cadillactaste
Neagari Gal
Extra akadama and One part Kanuma...interesting! Never heard of that. 1/4 sphagnum on top. I can understand that.
Ahhh so the water adds to the girth. Wasn't aware of that. Just assumed they were water loving swamp trees for the most part. So once I am done with ramification I can go to a much shallower pot then. Just assumed not possible. I have a Kifu size one.
Mellow Mullet
Masterpiece
Every time I see that tree, I am speechless. It is awesome! How much do you think it weighs? My back hurts just thinking about it.
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Hi MM. It’s not that much, actually. I can handle it alone on my hydraulic cart, but if I need to lift it, it’s a two-man tree.
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onlyrey
Mame
It most have been pretty difficult to get all those little men to pose next to your Bonsai. Where did you get them ?
MACH5
Imperial Masterpiece
LOL I'm glad to see I'm not the only lunatic!! 
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
LOL I'm glad to see I'm not the only lunatic!!
It’s a disease, no doubt. Just ask my wife.
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markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Hmmm. Maybe I need taller teacher....
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markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Light thinning and a little bit of wiring.
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cmeg1
Imperial Masterpiece
Awesome Bald Cypress.Nice to see them with developed branching such as this.
My teacher is taller than your teacher!
SU2
Omono
That was the first thing I'd thought upon watching it!! I've always taken Adam's word as gospel since starting-out, I'd imagine this was a situation where it's less than optimal but OK, doing the transplant then would certainly 'shock' the foliage but if it's about to drop anyways would it matter? Am genuinely curious as I got mine this past winter, the only thing I've done to them is remove excessive branches (no re-pots, no pruning, etc) and, well, my plan was to let them drop leaves / go-dormant through the winter and, sometime around ~early Feb., was planning to take the dormant BC's and prune + re-pot both....it's no matter to me when the best time is, I just want to figure that out so I can do it then!
That's the site that got me into bonsai!!! I've met him once IRL, he was doing a demo near my area and was cool enough to let me come (I wasn't able to afford the membership fees of the club), awesome site & great guy!!
Re-potting a BC in summer? Would you do this on a BC that was collected that same year while dormant? I have two that I collected in Jan this year, they're both growing like crazy but one was initially planted in an oil-pan and, when growth slowed and I knew it needed more room for its roots, I simply got another oil-pan, filled it a few inches with a rich substrate, and laid the first pan on top of it so the escaped-roots would fill it up- now they have, and the growth has slowed again, and I'm really unsure WTH to do....being that the roots are *escaped* roots through ~1/4" holes, it's a safe bet I'll sever *something* no matter how careful I am in carefully cutting-off the oil-pans to keep the roots intact, in this case would you still go for it or just deal with it and wait til dormancy to prune+re-pot? I notice you make clear you're defoliating (completely?) when you do this, although I was told not to touch my BC's foliage in the first year (I've wired branches and removed extra/unnecessary branches, but no pruning at all! Growth has been insane, both BC's are on-track to give me my two thickest first-year, from-scratch primaries!)Nice Scott! Your tree is almost in my leagueI have a few in bonsai containers a little larger than yours (not much though)and two others only collected in the last two seasons that will be larger as well. In my experience, the larger the tree the easier it is to develop!!
BTW...I repot nearly all of my BC in midsummer...combined with defoliation.
TooCoys
Shohin
I’d like to ask a question, but I don’t want to be offensive, so I’m going to preface this with the statement that I do not intend to be offensive. I’m truly curious because I’d like to learn.
With that said, I’d like to know what your plan is for this tree? The reason I ask is because the trunk doesn’t look like a trunk TO ME. It looks like a big triangle, or a cypress knee with branches on it. How are you going to make it look more natural?
With that said, I’d like to know what your plan is for this tree? The reason I ask is because the trunk doesn’t look like a trunk TO ME. It looks like a big triangle, or a cypress knee with branches on it. How are you going to make it look more natural?
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
View attachment 203557
It’s just an imperial sized sumo. I’m afraid it will stay a formal upright. I’m just building branches at this point.
Scott
It’s just an imperial sized sumo. I’m afraid it will stay a formal upright. I’m just building branches at this point.
Scott
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
markyscott
Imperial Masterpiece
Big guy looks funny without his clothes on.
