Bald Cypress Problem

Hello, I purchased three 5 to 10 gallon bald cypress trees last spring. We had a brutal summer here in West Texas, and not long into the summer the trees lost their leaves. Since then, I occasionally bend a branch to test it's flexibility, and it almost always snaps with no green inside. However, if I scratch a little spot low on the trunk, there shows to be some green in there. If the top portion of the tree is dead, is there any hope for the tree if only the lower part is alive? Should I cut off the top part of the tree? When do Bald Cypresses start putting on spring leaves? I bought these trees for a good amount of money from the local garden centers with a 1 year warranty. I'm wondering if I should just give up on them and take them back while they are still under warranty and get something more drought resistant.

They could likely resprout from the base (where you are detecting "green"), but that isn't really what you paid for.

You could take them back, and see what else you might try - but I doubt you'd find ANYTHING you like that would have put up with that phenomenal TX drought.

AND, if it was lack of water that cost these little trees their health - is that the garden center's responsibility?

I actually watered those trees quite a bit last summer. Good point, that got me thinking. What does qualify as the garden center's responsibility?

I think it should be their responsibility to not sell foreign trees that don't grow well in the area to naive customers that don't know any better. Then when the foreign tree doesn't do well, is it the customers fault for buying it or the garden centers fault for selling it? I saw banana trees being sold at Lowe's the other day. I wonder how many people are going to buy that and plant it in their yard, clueless that banana trees don't grow here.

Why did they sell a water loving tree in an area that's basically a desert? Why did I buy it, because it was beautiful.

Ah, caveat emptor - let the buyer beware.

Garden centers - as any place of business - will try to supply what the customer wants. I would venture to say that the customer should do as much homework as possible on what a plant needs to grow where it is being planted, before making the purchase - especially if the vendor is not forthcoming with ample information. I know, I know - that's darn hard to do when the plant (like a Lorelei) is singing to you "take me home"...

Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) apparently is not native to your town/county in TX, but it is native not very far away in your state - so calling it foreign isn't quite fair.

Baldcypress is certainly water tolerant - more than most trees - that's why it often forms pure stands in swampy or periodically inundated areas. It doesn't require these conditions, though, and is an outstanding ornamental landscape plant for this very reason. Like any other woody plant, it will require moisture to adapt and grow into a new location - especially during record drought conditions! I would be surprised if there are not established Baldcypress growing in the San Angelo area.

I'm not looking to have a huge debate here, just thinking out loud about planting practices and warranties. As container plants, these likely were growing in soil-less planting mix, not garden soil. This kind of growing media is really hard to keep moist once in the landscape, and droughty conditions are going to exacerbate the situation. If you are looking to keep these plants, or replace them with any other container-grown plant, try to shake loose the root system a bit and get the root tips in good contact with the garden soil in which the plant will be living the rest of its life. Watering new trees with a drip hose arrangement will reduce your efforts and make a great difference in survivability, especially through long hot dry summers. Better yet - install container grown plants in the fall, when their water needs are much less yet soil warmth allows root growth to encourage earlier establishment. These plantings will be far better prepared to tolerate difficult growing conditions in ensuing years.

A one-year warranty likely means the customer is paying at least twice as much for the plant as without a warranty, since the business offering such is betting on a return. The practice of offering warranties never made much sense to me. It only increases the cost to the customer of ALL plants, and does nothing to increase quality. I'd rather know I'm buying a live/healthy plant for the least cost, and assume the responsibility of growing it. I would pay for assistance in planting and maintenance, instead of a return policy. A whole year has been lost to plant establishment and growth now, and bad feelings generated. That's a no-win situation.

So - where from here? Only you can decide what makes sense in your landscape. It may be worthwhile to see if there are indeed successfully grown Baldcypress around your community, and then make your choice to have that idyllic plant yourself or not.

hOWDY NEIGHBOR !

We have a bald cypress and it has
not leafed out yet, , not time yet ...

This is what I would do:

- consult with the nurserynan where
you purchased the trees

- cut back the banches to see &
remove any dead wood and possibly
stimulate regrowth

- trees in TX shoul be planted in
Fall or winter, NOT Spring or Summer
EVER !!

- Younger smaller trees will takr off and thrive
and succeed better than older, bigger ones !

- For the first several years of life trees in
Texas need weekly deep supplemtntal
watering, even in normal rainfall years. This
helps the trees to receive enough water
until the roots run deep enough to draw
up underground water.

- Before pirchasing trees (or other plants )
DO YOUR HOMEWRK and mak sure the
tree you want will do well in your area.

Dont set your trees or other plsnts up for
failure !


This message was edited Mar 10, 2012 6:35 PM

Good advice, thank you both. I think planting trees and shrubs only in the Fall & Winter makes since. The Summer is just too brutal here.

Now for the Bald Cypress, we do have some growing on river banks around town. I've only seen one large tree that wasn't near a water source, but it didn't look that great. I hate to give up on them, so I will try cutting off the dead portions to see if that will encourage it to start growing again. I'm not familiar enough with their growth habits to know if this will work or not. I wasn't sure if it would if the central leader was severed.

BajaBlue, when does your Bald Cypress start to put on leaves?

it has not come out yet

willl keep you posted

Well, one of my 3 Bald Cyprees trees started putting on leaves towards the bottom of the trunk, but not the top...yet. I think the other 2 may be completely dead, but I will give them a little more time.