Working on another Bald Cypress

I took a day this weekend to work on a collected Bald Cypress. This tree was collected during the drought we had in the summer of 2008. Since then I have only been establishing it in the container and pruning for ramification at the apex. This tree is about 54" in height from the soil level. The root base is a little unusual for a BC but I hope to be able to bring out something ancient looking from it in the future with a little carving. Enjoy!

Hi John.

Another smashing video - informative and interesting in equal measures. I'd love to get hold of one of these monsters to work with and you make it seem so easy. Will be good to see how your next stage goes - please do let us see any further work.

Only one question really:

What's a drought?

Thanks Fiona...I always appreciate your support:) You may have to do some traveling to learn about that drought stuff...although so far this year the rain seems to not be quite as far behind in this neck of the woods.
John

Man that i a very nice tree!!! you trimed it so well...i really don,t know if i would do a lot on the base,,it looks good to me...wish i could find them here,,i never had a bald cypress...very good job take care john

Thanks John!! The base is ok but it could be much better with a little time and a few tools. I just recently spent a day with Kathy Shaner and I'm amazed at how much difference a little attention to detail can make.
John

Hi John,

Thanks for the great videos. What improvements did you and Kathy make to this BC?

Best,
Kirk

Thanks Kirk!! none:) we actually worked on a juniper but it is easy to see how some detail carving especially around some of the knots and bumps of the root base could help this tree present much older.

Kirk wrote:Hi John,

Thanks for the great videos. What improvements did you and Kathy make to this BC?

Best,
Kirk

Looking good, John...

Everything i've read, learned, been told says that you only collect, root prune and repot bald cypress when they are dormant in the winter. would love to work on some of mine "below ground", but have been afraid to lose them. what has been your experience with this?????

cubbie wrote:Everything i've read, learned, been told says that you only collect, root prune and repot bald cypress when they are dormant in the winter. would love to work on some of mine "below ground", but have been afraid to lose them. what has been your experience with this?????

My experience has been very good with this...Gary Marchal was the first I heard to suggest that you could do this but my personal experience is what gives me confidence. You have to use a little common sense...if you are going to do any significant work on the roots, more than just slip potting, than you are going to have to defoliate. The other thing to consider is that you can't overwater a BC so err on the side of too much water if in doubt.

Is the ideal time to work on BC that have been established in a container already??? I don't know?? But, I do know, that as a teacher, I have time during the summer to work on my trees and for the last four years I have had NO problems whatsoever with collecting and repotting Bald Cypress during the early summer. If I have any concerns at all about taking too many roots the tree will get placed in bucket with water or my garden pond until it recovers.

I will tell you that I have tried several times and never once successfully collected a BC in the winter...I bring them home, they leaf out, another blast of cold comes along and they are dead...I don't have a greenhouse and the garage just doesn't seem to offer enough protection. However, in the last 4 years I have collected more than 40 large to extra large BC stumps with great success in the summer. I have found that the bigger they are the easier it is...at least to get them to survive that is:)...I have the most problems collecting and establishing cypress with trunks in the 2-5 inch diameter size and have just about given up collecting in that size range.

I hope that helps cubbie...I definitely think you can successfully do some "below ground" work to your trees during the summer.
John

Thanks Ironman!

That's a nice looking tree. Too bad we don't have much in the way of swamps 2 hours northeast of you. Having very little experience w/ BC, I wonder, what is the V carving supposed to do in the apex? I could reason it out, but I'm certain you've seen the results ...and I'd probably be wrong.

Hey Wayne...the v cut is simply my way of resolving the transition from the cut top of the stump to the branches. I personally have not seen this exact technique used by anyone else but it is something that grew from Vaughn Bantings' experimental technique for creating believable flat-top Bald Cypress from stumpshttp://www.vlbanting.com/makingtaperoncypress.htm. At this point it has only been about 2 years since I carved my first cypress using this technique. Of course the jury is still out on whether this technique is going to result in a believable image.

Here is the most recent video of the first tree on which I used this technique.

Excellent videos, John. Very informative and envy inducing!

One thing though.......I think your defoliation and pruning techniques are a little on the slow side

Good job on your Bald Cypress's. I really enjoy you utube videos.
These trees are exceptional bonsai material. Vaughns technique was cutting edge in his day. Many of the Tursday Knights went on to become masters on thier own right. With that being said I think Guy Guidry is the student that perfected the technique. His technique creates a very believable taper rapidly no mater what style your going for. Guy tends to style in more of a redwood style. In fact Vaughn use to chastise him for it, but Guy has always leaned to wards the redwood style to show off the taper. He can also create some fantastic flat tops. The bald cypress fast growth rate excellerated the advancement of this technique.
Mitch Thomas

Thanks Mr. Rider:)

Thanks Mitch and I couldn't agree with you more. Gary is the only one of the LA. boys that I have had the pleasure of spending any real time with...
John

John
That strange kinda serindipity. I have never met Gary either. Guy was my first teacher then I met Vaughn but never studied with him. Allthough I have all of his presentations saved on my hard drive, he was a great artist and teacher.

Guy is a very charismatic teacher, probably the best stylist of raw material I have ever studied with.

Thanks again Mitch

I have collected 5 bald cypress about the size you have, my question is how far down can the "V" be cut? I think I woulkd like to go down about 8 to 10 inches and carve the trunk into 3 limbs to give more seperation and maybe a little twisting of the forks?

John
not to jump your thread but......

tlynn
How long have they been collected?

Mitch

collected just this week, I hope to work on the tops next year.

tylnn
Sorry, no work of any kind until next spring. The tree must recover for now.

Do a search on Ken Duncan's Bald cypress.
His technique is very radical and effective if you ask me.

Mitch

tylnn, look for John's other cypress thread (Curvy bald cypress - first training and tips). I think you'll find a lot of useful info there.

R

jgeanangel wrote:... ... the v cut is simply my way of resolving the transition from the cut top of the stump to the branches.
... ... Here is the most recent video of the first tree on which I used this technique.

Ingenious!
I am impressed with the height of the tree and the stability that it shows into the small pot!

May I ask whether this technique could be used to other species, too?
Could we work in this way with an olive tree?
Thank you.

tlynn wrote:I have collected 5 bald cypress about the size you have, my question is how far down can the "V" be cut? I think I woulkd like to go down about 8 to 10 inches and carve the trunk into 3 limbs to give more seperation and maybe a little twisting of the forks?

I don't think that will be a problem. I would certainly wait until they have recovered and are growing vigorously...as Mitch suggests, next growing season at the earliest. I am not exactly sure how you intend to twist the branches, but I think if I were to try it, I would do it with wire after carving, as opposed to carving a twist like you might with a juniper. It may work to carve a twist, but I have never tried it with Bald Cypress.
Good luck with your trees!!!
John

my nellie wrote:

jgeanangel wrote:... ... the v cut is simply my way of resolving the transition from the cut top of the stump to the branches.
... ... Here is the most recent video of the first tree on which I used this technique.

Ingenious!
I am impressed with the height of the tree and the stability that it shows into the small pot!

May I ask whether this technique could be used to other species, too?
Could we work in this way with an olive tree?
Thank you.

I am sure this method could be used with other species...I think a vigorous species would work best....I have no experience with Olives For me, this method bares a lot of similarities to the v cut method for creating broom styles.

Thanks
John

Thank you for the response, John.
Olives are tough guys
You have given me a serious help with my question about a stumped olive I have and it seems that it's worth to try this method.