Bald Cypruss/Ahuehuete styling question

[El Tigre de Bonsai]

Hello,

I have an Ahuehuete, or Sabino here in Mexico. It is the same species as the Bald Cyphress, Taxodium distichum, but found here in Mexico. It is in fact the national tree. I bought a very big tree from a nursery here in Mexico and it has this big empty space and unappealing root.

Anyone have ideas of what I could do to make the base of this trunk look more appealing? The small root that is hanging down on the left is dead and i will remove it. Here are my ideas for the empty space

1. Cut the big root on the right and do some Dremel work on the trunk to get the bulge on the mid-bottom right side of the trunk down a bit down a bit.
2. Cut the root and build a hobbit house to the right of the tree.
3. Leave the root and build a hobbit house.
4. put a rock in the space

Anyone else have an idea? I would like to figure this out before I repot it.

Sincerely,
Tigre

 

[Colorado]

Can you remove the large jin on the right? Then tilt the tree to the right to alter the planting angle and hide the “space”.

Interesting tree but quite a challenge! Good luck!

 

[El Tigre de Bonsai]

Can you remove the large jin on the right? Then tilt the tree to the right to alter the planting angle and hide the “space”.

Interesting tree but quite a challenge! Good luck!

by jin do you mean the big root that is right below the orange arrow?

 

[Daniel son STL]

by jin do you mean the big root that is right below the orange arrow?

He’s talking about the tree behind in the fence that’s lined up with the cypress to make it look like it’s part of the cypress

 

[Colorado]

No I meant the large upright piece of deadwood. But now on closer look maybe that is a fence post in the background?

It might be helpful to post pics of the other 3 sides to determine if maybe there is a better front.

 

[Firstflush]

Interesting, I can’t tell if it is in the pot or in the fence line.

 

[El Tigre de Bonsai]

I can take better pictures tomorrow. The fence is about 60cm behind and that dead wood is part of my neighbors fence. I have thought about dead wood and have kept an eye out while out in the field but haven't saw anything appealing.

 

[Perrywinkle]

I love the curvature in the trunk. Could we get some pictures that better show the two roots on the right? It's hard to give an opinion from this angle.

 

[just.wing.it]

I'd probably cut off that root on the left....and not build a hobbit house.
Interesting trunk for sure.

 

[rockm]

FWIW this is probably NOT a bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). More likely the Montezuma Cypress (Taxodium Mucronatum) -- a close relative of the BC. The Montezuma cypress is Mexico's national tree. The Arbol de Tule in Oaxaca (a Montezuma cypress) is the largest tree in circumference in the world. Bonsai legend John Naka began work on one of these back in the 1950's.

Bonsai & Penjing Museum Collections in DC — National Bonsai Foundation

Museum Collections

www.bonsai-nbf.org

FWIW, I wouldn't do a thing to this trunk. I would certainly NOT build a hobbit house in it. This is a very interesting and expressive trunk, particularly for a species that generally produces straight upright trunks. I'd look to develop branching on the outside of the bends and on building an apex from branches at the top. The flaws you point out are not flaws, but accents.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

I have one from seed planted in 2008 I think, MC grow very fast similar to BC but they are semi-deciduous, the seeds were sent to me from Oaxaca México, they aso live in the states not only México

 

[El Tigre de Bonsai]

I cut the root off and the plant has recovered nicely.