Dormant Pruning A Bald Cypress - January 2025
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A few years back, I learned my lesson when it comes to pruning young trees: don't. Don't prune them. Let them go a few years before you touch them at all. No limb'ing up. No removing limbs/branches. If you have to do anything, just clip off the tips of some of the lower branches, but leave them in place - attached to the tree. In trying to 'hurry the tree up', I thought I could prune off all the lower branches and focus the energy near the top of the tree - to drive the leader UPWARDS. Turns out, the tree needs limbs and branches and leaves to collect the necessary energy to grow. That 'leave the tree' advice is what I've followed with the Bald Cypress tree that is planted IB2DWs. It went in the ground in 2018 . The Bald Cypress is probably my most 'successful tree'. I planted it as a tiny, pencil-thin pot-grown tree. Today, it is probably fifteen feet tall and growing. Be...