Deformed Taxodium

I have a bald cypress that just doesn't look good. It is tall and skinny and the shape is awful (thats why it was on sale). If I cut it down at the ground, what are the chances that it will resprout? If it would resprout I would let it start all over. And, would it be better to do it during the winter (less shock)?

I only have one experience, and that was a neighbor that had one planted for his yard, B&B, about 3" caliper. It died for whatever reason, and resprouted about 30 branches from the stump. I think Lucky had one that his son mowed over that did the same thing. So, from that vast experience, I'd say go for it! Just a guess, but late winter would be the time I'd choose.

From a US Forest Service bulletin:
"Vegetative Reproduction- Baldcypress is one of the few conifer species that sprouts. Thrifty sprouts are generally produced from stumps of young trees, but trees up to 60 years old also send up healthy sprouts if the trees are cut during the fall or winter. However, survival of these sprouts is often poor and those that live are usually poorly shaped and do not make quality sawtimber trees . Stumps of trees up to 200 years old may also sprout, but the sprouts are not as vigorous and are more subject to wind damage as the stump decays. In the only report on the rooting of baldcypress cuttings found in the literature, cuttings from trees 5 years old rooted better than those from older trees ."

Good memory, Kevin. yes, my son infected a 4-ft, 2" caliper pondcypress(T.ascendens) I had planted at the edge of the pond with 'weedwhacker wilt' - essentially girdled it from about 2" above ground level up 18" or so. Top died within a couple of days, so I just cut it back to healthy bark, and it's regrown - and actually looks better than it did before he decimated it. I'm thinking its in its 3rd year since the incident, and you'd never know it.

Have a baldcypress, given to me by a friend, planted at the other end of the pond - it had double leaders, so I pruned one out and just stuck it in the mud at the edge of the pond, about 30 ft away, and it never wilted - I'm presuming it's rooted in, as that's been at least 5 years ago - not growing as vigorously as the one on the bank, but it has grown some in the last couple of years.

How tall is it, how skinny, and what might it look like in about three years if you leave it alone? I would hesitate to decapitate it unless there are irreconcilable problems with the existing stem. But if that's truly the case, whacking it might (or might not) result in an improvement.

Guy S.

Call a "deformity" "character."

Hey, Character! Welcome back! Haven't seen you for a while and was beginning to worry.
Guy S.

I worry myself when I don't see me enough. (Mostly, I've been building up my business as well as doing favors for the Western CO BG. )

A riparian-minded fellow in CO told me that the sun was enough that Taxodium were dwarfed as a result of not having to stretch to catch sun. I nodded and said "Is that so?" in a beleving way. The initial idea in my mind was that he made a complicated assumption, but I still give him credit. Is it true that high light intensity can actually stunt the internodal length of shoot growth? I figured sunburn would come first and that a plat will still send out shoots with so much sun, but I am only figuring.
After seeing all of the nice (common) specimens in IL, I will pamper my potted Taxodium back home a bit more.
K

It's about 6ft tall and shinny with hardly any side branches except at the very top.