Summer bald cypress collecting

[johng]

I've had success all the way to the first of Aug. Most I will not prune until the following seas0n. As I'm sure you are aware, use care moving the container at this early stage....new roots are very tender. Trees that are very vigorous at collection will typically throw buds within 10 days....weaker trees can take as long as a month to push buds.

Only took 8 years for someone else to try summer BC collecting...and talk about it publically!
Nice work, Joe!

John

 

[Joe Dupre']

John, I found a tiny, pin point sized bud 3 days after collection. It was so small, it might have been there from the start and I didn't see it. It took almost two weeks until it finally started filling out.

I also dug a sweet gum at the same time. Zack Smith says he has better luck collecting them in May. I'd have to agree. Behind the sweet gum is a muscadine vine collected at about the same time. It's budding out also.

I'm formulating a theory here. Treat all collected material like it would be a cutting............shade, damp but not wet soil, keep out of wind, don't move the tree while roots are forming, etc. I've seen some of the trees that Zack Smith has collected and some came out of the ground with precious few roots. In effect, they were big cuttings. He has a very good success ratio. Hmmmmmmmmmm.