Bald Cypress Bonsai Swamp Collecting 

Thanks for watching. Be sure to check out the follow-up videos. Links are in the description.

salsonwheels Thanks for watching. I find a great deal of garbage out there. Finding ones that will make good looking trees is difficult when you can't see the base until it's already dug. I'm really happy with this tree and how it's come out. Check the description to see links to follow up work.

+USFmarine My gut instinct is to say January. The timing of my collecting is based on the swelling of the buds. I pull just as the buds on the branches are starting to swell. This tells me that the stored energy in the roots has moved up into the trunk. With respect to larger bald cypress, the pulled tree is going to have a very shallow root base and you need to cut off all of its branches. This will force the tree to sprout everywhere it can. I have pulled these trees later and they seem to do okay. I don't pull any earlier because it's too damned cold. The best reason to pull in Winter, however, is bugs, spiders, snakes, and gators. They all seem to be fairly dormant for us in New Orleans. I have NEVER seen a snake in January or February. I saw snakes EVERYWHERE in March.

This should work great on any large tree. My main reason for using it in the swam is that I cannot see what roots have already been cut. The winch opens the cuts so that I can feel what roots have already been cut. This is exhausting work and I don't like accidentally cutting roots that I've already cut. That just doubles the work.

I can't speak for winter's harsher than my own. I'll check in with a friend in Birmingham. Some of my trees have wintered with water covering the roots, and I've only seen a crust of ice once. The tree was unharmed. But it was a very thin crust of ice. My new winter protocol for bald cypress is to drain the pots in October/Early November. If I have to punch holes, I'll punch them (see note). In March, I'll nest the now-punctured pot into a non-draining pot and refill for the summer. This will be the first winter where I begin the practice. I have come to have a better understanding of the roll of lenticels in flooded/non-flooded trees. NOTE: Some plastic pots will allow you to jab a screwdriver into the pot wall with no issue. Other pots will crack and break if you jab them with a screwdriver. Therefore, I use a large nail, held with pliers, and a blow torch. Heat the nail, then melt the hole into the pot.

I try to keep as much of the mucky soil on the roots as possible. When I get the trees home I clean it all out and trim off even more roots to get them into growing containers. As for the wound at the top, no, I do not use wound sealer. I won't be keeping the top six inches or more when I do my first styling. At the first styling, I use Tite-Bond III TO SEAL the top of the tree. It's waterproof and the tree will heal right over it without harm.

+David Nelams Thanks for watching. I put the tree into a 50/50 haphazard mix of unsifted haydite and unsifted pine bark mulch. Essentially, it's made of the same things we use to make bonsai soil, but dirtier. I'm not looking for this to drain and it's so much soil that I want to cheap out on it a bit. Good luck with your trees. Be sure to subscribe. I'm embarrassed with myself for not publishing more of my videos. I really need to get them edited.

I have a bald cyrpess in my yard that's the right size for what I wanna do,is there any special techniques that are different from swamp retrieval? ANy and all help would help this novice bonsai grower!!

+lihils "Cypress" is a common name that gets applied to too many species. The bald cypress is a deciduous conifer where the leyland cypress is an evergreen conifer. BCs respond to techniques used on maples and elms. I've never worked with a leyland, but I'm assuming you want to read up on black pines and junipers.

BillsBayou Thank you.

This was early February. Collecting in late winter is best for the tree so it will recover nicely as well as keeping the swamp critters from interfering with my activities. Thanks for watching!

I live in south Florida and was planning on collecting a bald cypress. I think I know a place where there’s a lot of good ones what time of year do you think would be best for me to collect it?

If you're in New Orleans, come to the Greater New Orleans Bonsai Meetings! There's usually one on the second Tuesday of every month. Dates change if we have an out of town speaker or if the meeting date falls on a holiday. For example, we have a meeting tomorrow night, Feb 20, 2018. Hope to see you there!

I'll be working on this tree soon. Likely in late January. It's bushed out quite nicely. I'll do a video of it.

+Casey Allen Thanks for watching! There are plenty of trees in California that I'd like to harvest. Cliff-sides, mountain trails, open desert...

Ixerat This is just one technique for developing bonsai. Bald cypress respond very well to this type of collecting. All branches must be removed to encourage prolific branch growth. The roots are cut down to fit into its first training pot. Yes, in the end, I have a stump. But this is the scope of this one video. Take a look at my other videos and you will see the progress this tree is making towards becoming a bonsai that I hope to be proud to show off. Thanks for watching.

Ixerat - Almost all the classic bonsai trees started life growing in the ground. That gives the tree age and unique character, which would take a lifetime if grown in a pot. I live in London, England, and have grown a Bald Cypress from seed in my greenhouse for several years. I love it but it will never develop in a pot the way that Bill's tree has grown in the swamp. As for the art; nature creates and gives character to the tree, then the bonsai artist takes over its development from that point. It also takes great knowledge, experience and skill to get a mature tree to recover from the trauma of being taken from the ground. What Bill has shown here is just the initial stage. Bill, I admire your passion and dedication. You have to be a little crazy, like most of our fellow bonsai enthusiasts, but in a good way. Look forward to seeing this Cypress develop. Thanks for posting the video, it made my day.