Pruning Taxodium

I bought two bald cypress trees for the price of one from a local nursery. One of them is has two leaders ( I think thats why they were cheap). Will the tree still have a conical shape if left alone or should I remove one of them? I bought these trees to plant down by a drainage ditch where it stays kinda wet after rains.

I would probably prune one of them. How large is the competing leader in comparison to the tree?

Scott

Hi e-guy. If you mean you have 2 or 3 co-leaders about one or 2 ft long (25-50cm), you don't have to do anything.

T. distichum has evolved to grow in tight conditions and broken tops and still maintain the rounded shape. In the South Florida these clumps are called Cypress Domes because from the distance, the flat prairies are broken by what seem to be hemispheric domes. In some places, the Cypress Trees are the only perch for clouds of birds with the result that many of the trees that seem so perfect from the distance have co-leaders. Somehow the tree only sends auxin to one of the leaders and the tree continues its symetry. Below is a photo of mine taken today. The strong branches are interspersed with little ones, with the former being one of the co-leaders. You can see at the top of mine that there is not a single leader.

While I was out I took a picture of her knees. Some of the nicest looking knees this side of the Susquehanna. I told my wife she should be so lucky to have knees like that.

Smooth move, Pete. Is the, ah, weather a little frosty tonight in your neck of the woods?

If you're ever in the south you should take I-65 accross the Mobile river. Pure stands of bald cypress and tupelo trees covered with spanish moss and a lush undergrowth of palmetto palms. I drive that long bridge at least once a week and it amazes me everytime. You can only see the palmettos in the winter when the trees are dormant.

I have a correction to make. My wife says she does have knees like that because those ARE her knees since those three Taxodiums are hers. She says my trees are the Black Locust that spring up everywhere.

The temp. right now is 44F/7C with a very stiff wind bringing tidings from your end of the world Maackia. We will struggle to reach the freezing point tomorrow all day. This morning started out well below freezing with an icy wind making it feel even colder. By noon we had reached almost 50F/10C with a warm wind. Now that we are on the backside of the low, the wind has changed direction.

Escambiaguy, big stands of T. distichum are awe inspiring for sure. Some of my favorite places in FL are the sloughs of the Swanee and Santa Fe (pronounced Santa Fee) around Alachua County north of Gainesville. If you are ever in that area, Oleno State Park is worth a visit. Karst landscape on a big scale. Many farmers have sinkholes in the pastures which are windows to the underground caverns. Night swimming in a big hole of blue water connected to underground caves is something everybody ought to get a chance to do. As migrants working the same farms year after year, we got to know many large landholdings in the area and the local farmboys showed us around.

Other nice woods to visit are the northern end of Santee Lake, the Pee Dee River basin (SC) and some of the woods in the Clinton/Newton Grove area of NC. All have some nice stands of Cypress. Closer to me is the Pocomoke River basin on MD's Eastern Shore. Trying to walk through there is a chore, sort of like threading your way through a forest of knee-high stumps.

Sure lucked out on the knee thing, Pete. And a very interesting read. Thanks.

For those who can't get down south: the mini swamp by the entrance to the Dawes Arboretum is pretty awesome for us who have never seen a real cypress swamp.

. . . and here's another nice cypress-tupelo swamp right up here in Illinois, along the Cache River -- sans the moss and palmetto.
Guy S.

Hi Guy,

What's stripped the bark off the bottom of the tree? (my guess - ice floes during spring river ice breakup)

Abrasion can also come from flotsam like the horizontal log in the photo, bumping around when the site is inundated.

Are there any of those nice barrel-bottomed Nyssa aquatica in the background?

The bark actually is intact -- you're seeing the absence of lichens below the high water mark.

Guy S.

I have a very small bald cypress in my side yard where there is a low spot that water stands in. Hope it does not develop knees ! It would be a little rough mowing over them! But then, I probably won't ever see that since I am already 73 !
As for bald cypress swamps, I enjoy seeing the ones along I 40 between Russelville and Little Rock.

VV, I missed your question earlier, sorry. There are many water tupelo in the area, but I can't recall if there are some that would appear in that photo. There are also pumpkin ash, swamp cottonwood, drummond maple, etc.

Guy S.

Hi Guy - sorry, I wasn't clear enough! - I can see the bark is intact in that the wood isn't exposed, but all of the loose ridged bark that shows higher up has been eroded off by something, leaving it polished smooth on the buttressed part and the knee (I don't see any lichens higher up, either!)

Resin

I suppose we can combine all of the above -- ice, drowned lichens and moss, debris abrasion. I've never seen wild cypress in Illinois without smooth bases, and hadn't given it much thought prior to your observation.

Guy S.