AusBonsai

Hi, im looking into getting my hands on a Swamp Cypress and i have been digging around on this forum and elsewhere to find out how to look after it. So far ive understood that it will grow faster in water than in soil, but ive yet to find specifics on this. at the moment i am just interested to find out how much soil would i need and how much would be inundated in water, what sort of fertiliser should i use and how long should it stay inundated in water. The balcony i grow the rest of my trees dont get a particularly great deal of sunlight.

if it makes it any easier, im planning on getting the plant from here thanks in advance

Hi Naimul and welcome Pot them as normal in a free draining mix and then sit the pot in a deep saucer and keep it filled. Or try a gravel bed which is probably better as the roots can grow down into the gravel. It can be anything like a deep saucer without holes and just fill it with something like 5mm drainage gravel. Swampies love heaps of chook poo while you are growing them on too. Good luck !

Thanks. Just with the gravel bed, do I just place the pot in, say, a larger pot without any holes and fill the bottom with gravel, and then keep that larger pot full of water?

Yes you could - but a saucer or any kind of tray that holds water would be better - at least twice as big as the pot the tree is in. Once the roots grow thorough the drain holes in the pot you will find it grows much quicker. This is better than just in a pot but still not as good as growing in the ground.

I grow my Swampies in either a styro box, or more lately in a large black plastic box (from the Green Shed). Neither containers have any holes in them, so water can not drain away and the box remains full of water. The swamps I grew in the styro box gave better growth than the one I now have in the plastic one, but there was a good reason for that. The styro box sat on the ground and the roots eventualy grew through the foam and into the ground. Once that happened the tree took off. Roots haven't been able to penetrate the plastic and I guess yours would have difficulty from the balcony, . You will still get good growth, either by using a large box of some sort, or from following Tony's advice.

ahh thanks Graeme and Bougy Fan, that really helped clear up a few things. All i need now is some big boxes/pots and the plant itself.

I know they say there is no such thing as a silly question but...
Why would putting it in the ground be better than having a gravel trap underneath if its the water the roots are after?
Do you need to do anything to the ground before or is the water table enough?
Don't think I'm getting this....
Grant

Trees always grow faster in the ground. One of the members here has a theory that it's "root run". That trees grown in the ground have roots running down a long way that gather extra nutrients and water. A gravel tray helps with the roots running out but to a limited extent. And it's only water and not nutrients that are collected.

I have 4 swampies planted in the ground at my folks place. 2 have been there for about 18 months and I dug them up at Christmas time to prune the roots. These 2 have increased their girth more than trees I have had for 4 years in pots on a high DL regime. Don't know the scientific reasons why but it just is.

DOH !!!
I was very happy with the growth of my swampy last week and busy admiring it when I noticed the roots out the bottom of the pot and into the gravel trap underneath. Not putting 2 and 2 together I just repotted into a larger pot thinking it was time...
Into the ground it goes this arvo I think.
Thanks for the great info.
Grant

Hi Naimul,
These are a couple of photos showing what happens when a Swamp Cyprus is in a water tray.

bonsaibeginer wrote:DOH !!!
I was very happy with the growth of my swampy last week and busy admiring it when I noticed the roots out the bottom of the pot and into the gravel trap underneath. Not putting 2 and 2 together I just repotted into a larger pot thinking it was time...
Into the ground it goes this arvo I think.
Thanks for the great info.
Grant

Grant,
Have a look at this post I did a little while back. It may give you some ideas. viewtopic.php?f=9&t=14986

Regards Ray

Thanks Ray, using the colander is a fantastic idea. Would never have thought to do that

I got my tree about 2 weeks ago, and i received it great condition (I would definitely buy from there again if they had more of the species i wanted). Since i have never had a cypress before im not sure what it is supposed to look like in winter. At the moment, the foliage is the soft green colour it had when it arrived but some of the leaves have gone brown, as if they have dried up or something. Is that how it normally loses its leaves in winter? i have it sitting in a deep saucer filled with water, and have fed it aquasol once, if that helps.

Can I ask where you got your swamp cypress from?

Isitangus wrote:Can I ask where you got your swamp cypress from?

yeah sure, i got it from here

http://www.bonsaishop.com.au

it was delivered in two days (i live in sydney) and in great condition

Hi Naimul, swamp cypress are a deciduous Tree , hence the change of colour and loss of the leaves , all mine are grow in various pots in a disused fish pond permanently The fish don't like the ferts , so it also doubles as a dunk pond for soaking tree's .

Cheers Alpineart