Five Year Native Tree Challenge: Esolin's Tecate Cypress (hesperocyparis forbesii)

[Esolin]

So it came:



The good news is, it's young enough to bend hard. The bad news is ... it's young enough to bend hard. I'm a little disappointed, honestly. For what I paid to get a 5-gal specimen, I hoped it would have a bit more age on it, but I guess with rare species, you get half as much for twice the price. The foliage is still 100% immature as well. Oh well, it IS still very shapeable, so even if it doesn't mature enough by the end of the contest, it could be a great bonsai eventually.

There is some nice natural movement at the base, so I lucked out there. The roots aren't bad either, but the crossing one needs attention pronto.




I guess the first order of business will be to repot/fix the roots and put some more movement in the trunk with a heavy wire. There also are a couple of whorls that need to be reduced before they create inverse taper. Other than that, I'm going to have to think about the shape. I'd expected to receive a stick-straight unbendable trunk, but I've got more options now.

 

[Esolin]

Moods change like the weather and I'm over my initial disappointment. I'm determined now to make a good start with this specimen toward a quality future bonsai. First, a little more species info.

The Tecate Cypress is characterized by bushy, bright-green scale foliage and smooth red bark that's constantly exfoliating in papery curls. Single or multi-trunked, it's conical when young, but often develops a spreading top with age and averages 15 feet high by 7 feet wide. The immature needle foliage is softer than that of a nana, and really only hurts if you grab the brown, dried needles.

An endangered species, it's found only in a few regions of Baja and Southern California. Its seed pods require fire to open, which is normally a good strategy in chaparral areas, but with worsening drought, years of fire suppression, and now an increasing frequency of wildfires, young trees have less chance to reach their reproductive age of 30-40 years before another fire kills them. It's also the only food source of the critically endangered Thorne's Hairstreak butterfly, so if I ever find caterpillars on my tree, I'm going to be deeply conflicted.

Conservation efforts are being made. The trees are being touted as excellent windbreak material for dry climates with poor soil, and seedlings are available from a few online vendors. It's also advertised as having a nice fragrance. The crushed foliage does have a distinct smell that is best described as a blend of juniper and laurel sumac--another local bush with a smoky, resinous fragrance. Basically, smelling it reminds me of hiking in the California backcountry on a hot dry day.

There's no info on how to treat these as bonsai, so I'm treating it how I'd treat any conifer and will be as conservative with root work and foliage reduction as I can. But I did want to get a look at the roots before the rainy season was over since I figured this would be the most 'forgiving' time of year to work a native species. I'm glad I did because I discovered the interior was quite root-bound from when it had been up-potted from 1 gallon to 5 gallon.


This forced me to reduce the core root mass more than I would've liked, but if it tolerates this reduction without flinching, it'll be a good sign for future work. So far, it seems unbothered. I put a wire on the trunk to add some more movement and reduced some whorls. The bending caused the young bark to flake off in places as is characteristic of the species.



For now I'll let it be and try not to play with the wire too much more. The bark is so thin that it did bleed some sap in places where the wire rubbed in too hard. I'll have to be diligent in watching for wire scarring, since I don't think they'll be quick to fade on a smooth-barked species. But maybe I'm wrong. The exfoliating quality might help negate that.

 

[HorseloverFat]

This is an interesting tree, that I am unfamiliar with!

I like what you are doing!

I, personally, would have “Zohaned” it...

 

[Esolin]

lol! I originally put a corkscrew bend in the middle of the trunk, but decided it looked out of place unless I bent the whole trunk that hard, and with the bark so thin I chickened out! And I've already got some juniper whips bent into pretzels, so I'm going to go for a different look with this.

 

[Esolin]

Update time!

The Tecate didn't skip a beat after repotting and has bushed out with new Spring growth. I removed the wire I used to put movement in the trunk, and there is definitely some scarring and sap bleed. I knew there would be. The bark is so incredibly thin and soft, that scarring is unavoidable. However I'm optimistic that with the way it exfoliates, any scars which do not heal will blend in on the bark's naturally mottled appearance. Now to let it grow until it's next assessment in the Fall.

 

[Esolin]

We got a bleeder!



That's my main takeaway from watching this tree grow out over the summer. Every little scratch or bruise makes it bleed copious amounts of sap. Not that this is necessarily a bad thing since it indicates health and healing. The deepest wire scar bled a lot, but under the crusted sap seems to be filling itself in. The only downside is that these regions of deep trauma have tended to develop a slight bit of inverse taper, so best to avoid them.



But regions of light scarring have mostly blended better:



All in all, the trunk growth this year has been phenomenal, basically doubling in girth across it's whole length. It's almost too good and I'm wondering if I should try to slow it down to encourage better taper development. I could chop off the sacrifce leader earlier than planned to reduce its strength and avoid a bigger scar in the long run. . . but I also intend to do some significant rootwork in the Spring to deal with more circling roots, so perhaps I shouldn't reduce the top until after it's recovered from rootwork. I could also slow it down by cutting back on it's resources (i.e. water), but I don't want to weaken it before heavy rootwork either. Decisions, decisions. Always tougher with an undocumented species. I guess I'll leave it alone for now and hope it doesn't turn into Jack's beanstalk overnight.

 

[Esolin]

Brief update. I cleaned up the roots on this one, and cut off the main leader to develop some taper. It will be mostly left alone again this year to grow.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

You guys in California have really cool Cupressus species!! Unfortunately some are very endagered with small populations

 

[Esolin]

You guys in California have really cool Cupressus species!! Unfortunately some are very endagered with small populations

Thanks. It's been interesting to learn more about the less common local species, regardless of whether they proove to be good bonsai material or not. Recently I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Cuyamaca Cypress seedling too. I don't know if I'll bonsai it or not. Just keeping it alive feels important enough.

 

[Esolin]

Update. This tree's been doing okay, but its growth slowed down after removal of the main leader, and some subsequent damage to the new leader. It's definitely apically dominant, as the lower growth as been weakening. Due to the coarseness of this species, I envision it being a larger bunjin or penjing piece. That said, it's still got a long ways to go in terms of branch selection and development. Work must be done with care due to the scaring/bleeding issues. This one may be dropping out of the running. Not sure yet. Balancing its energy for targeted branch growth has been a challenge. The best front is also still up for debate. It make take a long time to get this tree looking like a bonsai.

 

[Esolin]

Even though I'm probably not keeping this tree in the running for the contest, I figured I'd give an update since there isn't a lot of documentation on Tecate Cypress as bonsai.
The species is very thin-barked. It sheds bark as it grows, with the peels often clinging until knocked off. And it does bleed profusely, even from wounds that are months old. Cuts are slow to heal, if ever. I suppose the upside is that the two-tone ragged bark hides a lot of scars. I think the loose scale foliage may reduce/ramify some once the tree is older and yearly growth slows. We'll see by how much, but I suspect it's still best utilized for medium or large scale bonsai, not shohin. I also suspect that like other cypress species, it may not backbud easily on old wood, but again we'll see.