The Ultimate Guide to Caring for a Bald Cypress Bonsai Tree

The bald Cypress Bonsai tree is tall and boasts a bark that is reddish brown in color. This type of tree has leaves shaped like needles which turn a beautiful shade of auburn during the fall each year before they fall out before the winter with some of the smaller twigs that are on this beautiful tree.

The bald Cypress bonsai tree comes from a deciduous conifer that sports a tall trunk and an array of branches throughout. This tree comes from the true family of Cypress and even has beautiful green needles to prove it. This tree has also been referred to as a tidewater Red Cypress, Gulf Cypress, White Cypress, and even swamp Cypress.

This gorgeous tree is native to the southern states of the United States and just happens to be the official state tree of the state of Louisiana. Many people like to own a bald cypress tree but they first need to learn how to take care of it properly. This tree is easy to care for but definitely needs the proper care, like any other living thing, to thrive and flourish.

If you want to have one of these beautiful trees of your own, it will help tremendously to know and understand how to properly take care of one. Read on for steps on how to take this type of tree in our ultimate guide to caring for a bald cypress bonsai tree.

All About the Soil

The first thing you need to do is find just the right soil for your bald Cypress bonsai. To do this properly, you need to think about where this tree grows in its natural habitat. As we have already noted, this tree is sometimes called the swamp Cypress and, for good reason, since you will want to plant it in soil or even some type of compost that will hold water well without letting too much drain out. You can also use a very wide tray to create a very pretty hill with a lovely landscape design. One side of the hill can be free for water only and then a wall of soil could be on the other side that looks almost like a riverbank around the water. By doing this, your bald Cypress bonsai tree will have water whenever it wants some or needs it.

Water is Life

Water means life for all living things and your bald Cypress bonsai tree is no exception. When you water this tree, you want the water to remain in the soil for as long as it can. This means that the spring and summer months when it is very hot and dry can wreak havoc on your tree if it is not watered every single day to ensure that the roots never dry out. If there is any dryness in the soil, the roots of your bald Cypress bonsai tree will suffer. You can actually use less water for your tree during the winter months since the soil will hold water longer.

Repotting is Necessary

The bald Cypress bonsai tree has roots that will thicken up very quickly as it grows. They may not be deep in the pot but their thickness will cause you to run out of space right away, which is the reason you will need to repeat your tree about every two years until it is fully mature. As your tree grows larger, you may even want to get a large container to cover the thickness of the roots. This will help cut down the amount of repotting to every three to four years, especially during the older stages of the tree’s life when you start being able to tell that the roots are not growing as quickly as they did before.

Pruning and Shaping It Up

If you want a lot of pretty foliage, you will want to shorten the needles of your bald Cypress bonsai tree in the early part of spring every year. The new shoots will appear very suddenly, so you will want to keep on top of trimming the needles on a regular basis. You should wait until they are a little bit longer than you prefer before you cut them back. During the summer, it is better to allow your bald Cypress bonsai tree to grow undisturbed for a period of time. You can prune it again during the fall before the tree becomes dormant over the winter. This will help with the overall look and feel of the plant and allow you to retain the shape that you want for your tree.

The Perfect Location has Sunlight

When you look for the perfect location for your bald Cypress bonsai tree, you need to remember that your tree needs full sunlight for many hours in the morning as well as in the afternoon throughout the spring and summer. The bald Cypress is considered to be one of the top bonsai trees for outdoor living, so it can handle a lot of direct sunlight which is the reason its roots need to be drenched in water all day long, so it won’t dry out in the sunlight that it creates. This type of tree can handle colder temperatures and even frost in the swamps, but the bald Cypress bonsai tree is an exception. It prefers being indoors during the wintertime so it can remain warm and away from that cold snow and rain. Unlike other trees in its coniferous family, your bald Cypress bonsai tree will actually lose leaves during this time of the year.

Fertilizing is Important

When it comes to basically any type of plant or tree, it is important to fertilize the soil in which it is growing to help it grow faster. Since the bald Cypress grows quickly as a bonsai-type tree, you will want to give it food that is in the form of liquid every week by first diluting it with water. If you would rather utilize a slow-releasing fertilizer, you’ll need to top off your tree each month. This tree loves water and wants to be fed regularly, so the first method of using liquid fertilizer each week is the better way to go.

During the autumn time of the year, you can still feed your tree fertilizer since it will store the carbohydrates that are in the fertilizer within its branches and trunk. This means you can stop fertilizing completely during the winter months since it has plenty of stored fertilizer that it can use while it stays dormant during the cold weather. This resting period is very important to your bald Cypress bonsai since it is then preparing during its dormancy for the springtime to arrive.

Methods of Propagation

New ways to propagate your bald Cypress bonsai tree are either by cutting or through the seeds. Both of these methods do very well, but it depends on how quickly you want the trunk of your tree to have more girth. With each of the cuttings, you can have a small tree that looks like a bonsai almost instantly, but growing your tree from seeds is more rewarding and your tree will live longer.

Another way to propagate your tree is through vegetative reproduction, which is not very common. You can find sprouts on the stump areas of old trees or even roots that have been buried in the soil over time. The only problem with this way of propagating is the fact that your plant will not be very healthy at first and may never develop very well over its entire lifespan.

Diseases and Pests Can Cause Issues

The Bald Cypress bonsai tree is very strong and resilient against many diseases as well as pests, but due to its penchant for living in swampy conditions, your tree may end up with rotting roots and fungus issues. Also, if you see any twig blight occurring, you need to remove all shoots and leaves that show any signs of this particular disease. Luckily, most pests and insects don’t really care for the bald Cypress bonsai tree and they should pretty much leave it alone.

Patterns of Growth

The leaves and branches of your bald Cypress bonsai tree will grow very quickly throughout the spring and summer months. Even during the fall time of the year, you may see some amount of development. This tree enjoys growing taller in the branches and may even start to grow upwards if you stop the crown from growing.

Stepping Up the Style

When you find a bald cypress out in the wild, you can notice how much of its trunk rises to meet the sky along with its branches on either side. You can prune your tree this way to have a very formal, upright, or slanting tree since these are the most natural styles for it to grow in. You can also place several bald cypress bonsai together in a large pot to create somewhat of a bonsai forest.

If you want to go for a more unique design for your tree, you can go with a Deadwood bonsai style. You can also try to allow your tree to cascade downward, but that is not always best for this type of tree.

The Sun Rules

We cannot stress enough that the sun is the king and queen when it comes to the bald Cypress bonsai. This tree needs several hours of sunlight every single day to ensure that it grows properly throughout the spring, summer, and fall months of the year when it is not dormant during the winter time.

The Swamp Life

Even when keeping your Bald Cypress bonsai inside your house or business, it will still need tons of water since it enjoys a swamp-like environment. It may drink less water if it is not exposed to as much sunlight as it is used to, but you will still need to keep the soil as moist as possible to prevent the roots of your tree from drying out. When you press your finger into the soil, it should feel wet. This will help you determine if your tree has enough water. You can keep a tray or plate underneath the pot of your tree to be able to use the water that drains out in your future watering sessions. You should check your tree daily for sufficient moisture and water as needed.

Warm and Toasty is the Best

Your bald cypress bonsai tree does not do well in cold temperatures, which means the winter months can be very traumatic for these beautiful trees. This is the reason you should bring your tree indoors if you live in a climate that experiences very cold winter months. You need to keep your tree warm and toasty at all times.

We hope these steps help to keep your bald Cypress bonsai tree healthy and beautiful. We want you to be able to grow a tree that flourishes and lives for a long time so you can enjoy it for many years to come.

The Leaves Will Fall

Keep in mind that even though you water your tree regularly and keep it warm and toasty throughout the cold months of winter, it will still lose its needles during this time period. This is another reason to keep a large tray or container underneath your tree. Not only will it catch excess water, but it can catch the falling leaves also. This will prevent you from having to clean needles out of your carpet or off of your wooden or tiled floors.