Taxodium Distichum - Swamp Cypress

[alpineart]

Hi Kkc , another season should see the knee's in a legue of their own . The natural ones have outgrown the manufactured knee's 3-4 fold ,i have plcced some wire on 2 to give a more uneven shape to them . I have set a group of 5 small trunks into an extra large rectangle pot to see if the produce knee's competing with each other , should get a result either way come seasons end , quite confident they will produce the goods .

Cheers Alpine

[alpineart]

With such a good growing season i have decided to cut this back hard and wire the new upper branches into the required positions to progress this from stick in a pot to a styled stick in a pot flat top Swampy . I have seen quite a few short fat mothers but i'm not looking to have one in my collection .Standing at over 1.8m high i had plenty to work with

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, the first cut removed 700mm but wasn't what i was after

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, the second cut another 300mmcame off

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. With the trunk now at 800mm i removed the lower unwanted branches as the have done the required job to heal the original chop where the layer was taken off . I had a play and wired the branches up into position to create the flat top effect i was looking for from the very start

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. More than happy with the canopy at this stage , it does need a slight rotation to be at its best . With the top finished to Knee's have had a clean up and any wire removed along with some of the soil .

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I have added a new layer of moss

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to highlight the Cypress knee's which i very happy with the progression of these

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. The natural knee's have worked out superior to the roots i folded and trained into knee's .

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All the leaves/fronds or what ever you call them have been trimmed to aid in new side shoots .

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. All up very happy with its progression

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, and it can only get better with time . Finished height is 1050mm from the soil level , the base is 50mmx 85mm pot size is 550mmx 350mm

Cheers Alpineart .

[Dario]

Nice one Alpine!
I love the flat top bald cypress style and have seen great pics of examples from nature.
The more I do bonsai, the more I have an appreciation for the many styles, forms and tree varieties.
Lately I have been enjoying taller more slender trees like yours.
Interested to see this progress in the future, thanks for posting
Cheers, Dario.

[alpineart]

Hi Dario , mate its hard to get good natural pics as you said . Most are shaped like pine tree's in Bonsai . I watched those Yanky Gator Goons last night just to look at the tree's in the swamps and Bayou , then hit this bugger this morning . I have had issues with google for some time , so i gave up searching for pics and styles .

Cheers Alpine

[Boics]

I like it Alpine.
Nice result so far and a good progression as always.

Will be even better given some time..
Cheers,

[Qitianlong]

Love those knees!! Gotta work out how to do that...

[alpineart]

Hi Biocs , its progressing nicely as planned , with ramification on top it will be a very nice looking natural Bayou tree .

Hi Qitianlong , mate they tell me the Yanks try to achieve knee's on there big Swamp Cypress Bonsai but i have never seen any pics of them . These were made in Australia , Notch this one up for Ausbonsai and a little Alpineart ingenuity .

Cheers Guys .Alpine

[Dario]

I watched those Yanky Gator Goons last night just to look at the tree's in the swamps and Bayou , then hit this bugger this morning .
Cheers Alpine

Yeah I have done that too just to look at the environment...it is stunning.
I also seem to look at trees even when I am watching a movie
Have you seen that long haired moss that hangs from trees in areas of the U.S. ? Don't know what it is called but the first time I became aware of it it was on a tree in the background of a movie scene and I thought it was the trees foliage
Cheers, Dario.

[alpineart]

Hi Dario , mate i'm always looking at the background /backdrops as most movies don't interest me , not real keen on the idiot box . I have seem that moss blowing in the breeze . I have seen a plant at Bunnings for around $30 not air fern its a moss type foliage silver grey in colour and a living plant very close to the mosses in the swamps/ Bayou's . I will return one day at get the name to do some research on it when Google starts functioning properly .

Probably way too hot here for it, but i could make a purpose built shelter just to grow it along with the Swampy . This trainer is well and truly over potted , but it's still in the development stage and that means root run and plenty of it . With some serious ramification in the canopy it will definitely look more natural .

Cheers Alpine

[bki]

is it spanish moss?

[Dario]

Yeah as the foliage develops this will get much more refined etc and I look forward to seeing it.
Interesting re the moss you saw at Bunnings, let me know if you do find it again.
Good luck with google!
Cheers, Dario.

[alpineart]

Hi bki , thanks for the ID on the moss , it's the same as Bunnings had at Wangaratta .

Hi Dario , the moss was in the garden section where the Bromeliads are housed . I intend to drape some over this in a few years time when it is displayed be it the local show or here at home .

Cheers Guys .Alpine

[Barry1]

Cheers Alpine for a very informative thread ... what would be really helpful as well would be a guide to working with Swamp Cypress eg Best time to repot ,prune etc
These trees would have done well up here in Bundy during the floods , most of the place looked like a massive swamp

Cheers
Barry

[alpineart]

Hi Barry1 , mate these are deciduous down here so they are root worked in winter or the dormant period , they may retain the foliage up there but no doubt they would be worked in Winter . I have killed a few playing havoc with the roots during the growing season . Hard pruning and trimming can be done in winter , during the growing season the foliage can be trimmed to induce side shoots . Down here they drop most of the current seasons new growth so i hoping by trimming the foliage constantly they will of course thicken enough to retain some of the secondary growth there for improving the ramification .

They can be air layered quite easily . The problem with layering is the thick bark on smaller material can be 2/3 the thickness of the wood . A wide ring bark and wire tourniquet is successful but the trunk / branch needs bracing as the wind can snap the layer off .

My layer was blown off , fortunately it had a few roots and i managed to grow it on . This layer while it has a good root mass is very slow compared to seed grown material and all the major branches died off and new foliage grew from the trunk . Soft wood and semi hardwood cuttings can be taken in early Spring /Summer , i'm going to try a few now to see if they take , hormone powder/jel is recommended . These should be pushed into a 50/50 sand and peat mix and kept moist but not wet or they rot quickly , dappled light but not full sun until the actually sprout new growth and they are growing well .

All mine spend their time constantly in a water bath which is maintained half the depth of the pots . Bloody shame about all the water up that way , could do with a few inches down here .

Cheers Alpine

[Barry1]

Thanks for the info mate , the devastation up here is unbelievable it's like being in a war zone ... a lot of people don't know about the 9 tornadoes that ripped paths of destruction up here and in other parts of the Wide Bay to
The North side was hardest hit as the river carved a new path and everything in it's way was carried away including houses , one house disappeared into a 5 meter sink hole
Anyway soldier on as they say

Cheers
Barry