Part One: The Collecting Trip

Mardi Gras, "Fat Tuesday", New Orleans, Cajun food and Bald Cypress collecting. These are all things I've wanted to experience for many years. Well, in February of 1998 they all came true. My friend Gary Marchal from the New Orleans, La. area invited me, and my friend Bob Stevens, down to do a little Bald Cypress ( Taxodium Distichum var. "Nutans") collecting in the swamps near New Orleans. Gary is a well known Bald Cypress expert, and is a recipient of the Ben Oki Excellence In Styling award for one of his large collected specimens. Since it was mid Winter in N.E. Ohio, and I had never been to Louisiana, I jumped at the chance!

It was cold and a usual mid-February day when we left for New Orleans. By the time we had driven the 1,100 miles the weather turned beautiful and warm. We arrived in New Orleans at the height of Mardi Gras celebration week and that night Gary took us out for an excellent Cajun meal, and a tour of the streets of New Orleans during the festivities. This was a totally new experience for an Ohio boy. The word "crowded" doesn't nearly seem fitting to describe the Bourbon St. area of old New Orleans. A sea of people, covering every square foot of the streets, sidewalks and balconies, inching along the streets enjoying the massive party! This was something I've wondered about , and wanted to see, for many years.

We were up early the next morning to get started on our adventure. Gary had advised me weeks before about what supplies I'd need. He only mentioned two: A pair of fishing waders/hip boots and a Stanley "Short Cut" Toolbox Saw. Being an experienced tree collector, I knew what I'd need! I was going to need loppers, bow saw, shovel, pry bar, heavy cutters, burlap, etc., etc.! Well, I found out quickly that Gary was right. Luckily he had a supply of Stanley saws on hand for us Pilgrims and I had thought to bring along a pair of fishing waders. Bob Stevens borrowed a pair of hip boots from Gary. From the supplies Gary had on hand, It was easy to see that he had done this a few times before!

Now came the questions: How deep is the water?, alligators?, snakes? How far do we travel from the truck? Are they hard to collect? Gary eased our fears stating that the water was only a few inches deep! and the alligators and snakes were still in hibernation and weren't out yet ( although he did mention that the 70 degree day was a little warmer than usual). Gary assured us that was just a short trip walking to the collecting site!

When we got to the collecting area we grabbed our waders/hip boots, saws, and a wheelbarrow and headed through about 1/2 mile of wooded area to a single set of rail road tracks. Then we traveled about a mile and a half down the railroad tracks to the collecting site. Hmmmm! Don't we have to come back all this way with trees? We finally arrived at the area where Gary had pre-tagged a few trees for us to dig. I put on my fishing waders and Bob put on his borrowed hip boots. When Bob took his first step onto a log running out into the water he immediately slipped and went into the water that was just a little deeper than his hip boots could accommodate! Just a little deeper mind you! So, a day of water filled hip boots started off for Bob Stevens. Things were looking up! It was my turn to negotiate the entrance into the swamp. Lets just suffice it to say that I was lucky my waders came up to my chest! Once in the water I was surprised. It was warm, it didn't smell "swampy" to me, and there were no alligators in site! Gary showed us the two trees he had tagged for us to tackle, gave us a brief lesson on collecting, got us started, and went off to find a few trees for himself. We were out about 100 yards into the swamp and the water was six inches to 3 feet deep in the area we were working. Gary explained that we could feel around the root base with our boots to judge how far out we needed to cut and then begin to saw the rootball with our Stanley Short-Cut saws. I was surprised, this was going to be a piece of cake! The root mass was a tight ball of roots that only came out perhaps 8 inches from the trunk. We simply had to saw around the root mass and then rock the tree back and forth until either the main root/trunk underneath either broke off or we could saw it. No problem! Well, have you ever tried sawing under water, in dark water? We quickly became aware of another small problem. Your feet sink into the mud and you can't move if you stand in one spot to long! First we took out Bob's tree and sawed it off to carry . I began to look at mine....No, it wasn't big enough! I looked around for a few minutes and found the tree I needed! The tree was about 25-30 feet high and had a root base below water more than 47" around. Bob and I spent about 45 minutes sawing, rocking, sinking, cursing, and rocking some more. Finally I got it out. We got the two trees onto a small island to trim up the rootballs and shorten the trunk as Gary showed us he had done to his. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, Gary collected about three trees the size of Bob's while the two of us were struggling. Now, how do we get these out of the swamp? Easy, Gary just rests them on his shoulder and walks out! But mine was too big to put on my shoulder! I had to ROLL the rootball about 100 yards. to get out of the swamp while turning the trunk in my arms. Gary had an expression for the man who collects the biggest tree of the day. I cannot repeat it here! On my way out I stopped often to rest and took the opportunity to saw off a few "knees" to place in the pot next to my tree. Finally we were out of the water and back on the railroad tracks. Bob was getting pretty tired, so was I , but I wanted just one more! While Bob rested Gary and I went down the tracks a short way and went back into the swamp and got two more trees.

Now it was time to leave. The seven trees we had wouldn't all fit into the wheelbarrow at once. It seems some Yahoo had to collect a big one! So, we had to make two trips back to the end of the tracks to drop off trees. I stayed at the end of the tracks and carried them back to the truck one at a time while Bob and Gary went back to get the second load. I did have a small altercation with a nest of Fire Ants that I mistakenly sat some stuff down on when I stopped to rest. Now I know where the name came from! I thought I had it bad carrying the trees back through the muddy woods to the truck until I saw Bob, hip boots still filled with water, pushing Gary's wheelbarrow down the railroad ties one at a time, for over a mile. Oh! Did I mention that the bottom of Gary's wheelbarrow was rusted out and sagged down causing it to rub on the tire! Now I know what to get Gary for Christmas!

Finally we got everything back to the truck, loaded up, took off the waders ( what a relief) and left. The trees were not wrapped in anything. Gary said the tight rootballs would be fine until we got back to his home. When we arrived back at Gary's we placed the trees in some tubs of water. That night we got cleaned up, went out to eat more great New Orleans cuisine , and strolled around the streets a while observing the festivities.

The next morning Bob and I wrapped the three tree's rootballs in wet sphagnum moss and covered with the mass with plastic. This worked great to keep them moist until we got home a few days later.

Part Two: Aftercare in NE Ohio

When I got my two trees home I was faced with a few new problems. It was late February in Ohio. This tree had been leafing-out in Louisiana, and I could not put it outside! My sturdy son had to help me carry the largest tree to the basement where I put them both in a very large fiberglass tub of water . They would have to sit there until I felt it was warm enough to take them outside. I hoped they would remain healthy until mid-April when I could get them out and yet still protect them a little bit from frost. They did fine. I potted up the smaller of the two first and put it in my unheated greenhouse where it would be fairly warm and protected from any Spring frosts. The larger tree was more of a problem. My son and I moved it outside to pot up. I should mention that whenever I move it my son has to help. It certainly pays to have strong offsprings!

 I set the tree on my picnic table to clean the roots as Gary suggested. They are a very tangled, hard, compact mass that requires a lot of work with root pick and high pressure hose to get cleaned out. Since they had been soaking for about 6 weeks in water I decided to re-cut the root tips so I could pot them up with a fresher cut to place into the soil. I needed to shorten two sides of the rootball anyhow to get it to fit into a pot. I used a standard Haydite/ aged pine bark bonsai soil for potting up the tree. I placed it in the largest Mica pot available. In the case of this tree, this is NOT just a training pot. It is there to stay. I could never afford a good quality imported pot this size! I added the sawed off knees to the pot for effect. My son and I placed the tree on a large cart and I kept the tree on the cart in front of the garage so that I could wheel it in case of frost.

The tree began to sprout immediately. Buds popped all over the top half of the trunk and it grew like crazy. The smaller tree was also going strong. Neither tree is grown setting in a tray of water. They are watered once a day with a hose sprayer attachment. In late July of '98, after it had been growing for about three months, the foliage of the larger tree was as tall as the garage door opening. I decided that the tree was going to be too tall. I also did not like how the trunk was only sprouting at the top half of it's height and that the taper was not decreasing at that area of the trunk. I decided to cut off another 10 inches of trunk, which also removed more than half of the foliage. This allowed me to pull up another apex leader and to calculate the finished height that I desired. Cutting the top down 10 inches also forced out new growth down further on the trunk, a desired effect.

The smaller tree was left at the height originally cut. It had a nice taper, budded out very well and I pulled up a new apex after a few weeks of growing.

As Fall started getting close I began to worry about overwintering my trees in an Ohio winter. Although Bald Cypress trees grown from seeds up North are very hardy, and grow well in the ground here, the transplanted trees from the deep South are not hardy to this climate at all and I have found, through experience, that they may not survive a winter in an unheated greenhouse. I did not wish to try to keep them growing inside, under lights. They were too big and I was certain they would do poorly if I tried to accommodate them. I needed to keep them in the unheated greenhouse. Since the majority of my bonsai are temperate plants, and very hardy, I do not heat my greenhouse except in late winter when the erratic warm and cold spells can cause trees to begin to leaf out early ,and I run a danger of frosting tender foliage if temperatures drop way down to dangerous levels again. I use a small electric heater during those days and nights to protect the tender new foliage that has not begun to harden-off. I had a problem to solve!

I have had good luck with a method of overwintering other trees that are "touchy" in this climate when trying to overwinter in a greenhouse without a controlled climate. Trident Maples, and some imported azaleas have done well for me by placing them in large styrofoam boxes filled with pine bark up past the height of the pot. I place a few inches of mulch on the bottom, which has drain holes cut in, and then fill around the tree up slightly above the pot rim . I have found several sources for these styrofoam boxes. You can simply use an inexpensive styrofoam ice cooler box with drain holes cut in it. I have also used the styrofoam boxes that aquarium shops receive fish shipments in. They are larger and more sturdy than the styrofoam coolers. I also use large plastic trays that are disposable surgery kit containers from local hospitals. These trays contain sterile "kits" used for various surgery procedures and are not reusable. You can store a very large tree in them. The smaller bald cypress I kept snug in a fish shipping container over the winter. The larger tree was more of a problem. I kept it in the large fiberglass tray that it was kept in during it's stay in the basement for 6 weeks. I then constructed a styrofoam wall around the tray. The tray and walls were then back-filled with mulch. I watered about 6 times during the winter. The trees began to leaf out this Spring without one single dead twig from last years growth. When I could finally get to them in the greenhouse in late May I removed the mulch and pulled them out of the boxes. I found that on both trees I had new white roots growing up vertically in the mulch. They were doing great!

It has been 18 months now since the trees were collected. It is the middle of their second year of growth. I fertilize them about every two weeks using full-strength Miracle Grow so that I can achieve rapid growth while in the training stages.

The smaller tree has had a second apex pulled up after cutting the first one to about 4 inches. It's height is 43 inches above the pot, which will be the final height of the tree. All branches, on both trees, are coming out at a steep vertical angle to the trunk which causes them to look very juvenile. They will have to be wired down to horizontal or lower to achieve an aged look to the silhouette. When I get the selected branches wired down and the apex ground to increase the taper from the original cut I will have a nicely shaped tree. It should look pretty good in about one more full growing season.

The larger tree is increasing the girth of its new pulled-up top very quickly and will be cut back again next Spring. This tree will take about two more years before I can get a nice taper developed and carved into the top. The original sawed-off top is about 4 inches across. I will begin to wire down the selected branches late this summer before they get too large to easily pull down. This step is critical in timing because if I wait too long to do this step to either tree I will find I'll have to remove the heavy branches and start over again. The larger tree has a rootbase circumference of 47 inches at the soil level. The final height of the tree will be approximately 55 inches above the rim of the pot.

These are a couple pictures I took in June 2000 during the Cleveland Bonsai show. Our guest artist was Gary Marchal.  Gary's demonstration was the styling of the smaller of the two Bald Cypress trees that I had collected with him in New Orleans  almost 2 1/2 years earlier.  The tree was well established and I had twice pulled up  new tops to improve taper.  Each growing season  I had cut back the growth of the branches and removed many of the extra  branches popping out. Gary carved out the original saw cut to a nice trunk taper, selected  the best front, removed a large/ugly root from the front, made final branch selections and wired them out.  Next step in this bonsai's life will be to reduce the rootball slightly more and place it correctly into a better pot than this mica training pot.

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