Bald and Montezuma Cypress trees
Ralph Arvesen
Cypress?
I did not realize Montezumes have more of a weeping look. The one we planted
is really taking off but the top kind of hangs over. I spoke to Gunsight
Nursery and she said that's whey she prefers the Bald Cypress over the
Montezuma.
- Is the Montezuma cold hardy in the Austin area?
- How cold would it have to get to damage the tree?
- Do you know where any large Montezuma trees are in the
Austin or San Antonio area (I know of plenty large Bald Cypress,
but not Montezuma). They would of been planted since they are
native to Mexico and extreme south Texas.
Thanks for any comments,
--
Ralph Arvesen (Round Mountain, Tx)
rarv...@get.net
Rusty Osborne
<rarv...@gte.net> wrote:
I lost my established, 6 foot Montezuma to the drought this year while on
vacation. I believe that there are some large, mature Taxodium mucronatum
at the San Antone zoo/botanical gardens; my guess would be they're more
susecptible to drought than to cold, esp. establishing saplings, but cold
is definately a range limiter. They're marginally evergreen in this area,
but the farther north you plant them, they become decidious like the
balds. My feeling is it's a struggle for them much farther north than
D-FW.
Bueno suerte,
Rusty Osborne
--
Remove "xspam" to reply to this address. It's there to frustrate spambots.
"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine."
- Unknown
Ralph Arvesen
Rusty Osborne wrote in message ...
:I lost my established, 6 foot Montezuma to the drought this year while on
:vacation. I believe that there are some large, mature Taxodium mucronatum
:at the San Antone zoo/botanical gardens; my guess would be they're more
:susecptible to drought than to cold, esp. establishing saplings, but cold
:is definately a range limiter. They're marginally evergreen in this area,
:but the farther north you plant them, they become decidious like the
:balds. My feeling is it's a struggle for them much farther north than
:D-FW.
:
:Bueno suerte,
:
:Rusty Osborne
Rusty,
Sorry to hear about your tree. I don't want to get to personal, but was
there any reason you planted the Montezuma over the Bald Cypress (was there
some characteristics that you liked better, etc)?
I planted the Montezuma in a small canyon (more like crevice) near seeps
that flow into our creek and it's doing great, but I kind of whish I
planted the Bald Cypress. I would hate for the Montezuma to do great for 20
years and then die from an uncommonly cold winter. We live about 70 miles
west of Austin, so I'm not sure what the chances of cold damage are.
I also like to restore our land with plants from Central Texas. The
Montezuma is not from here, but it is pretty similar to the Bald Cypress.
Thanks again, I appreciate your comments.
--
Ralph Arvesen
Robert Frost
Ralph Arvesen
> Robert Frost wrote in message
<16375-36...@newsd-123.bryant.webtv.net>...
> If so it should do well in Austin because they do alright in Dallas.
I'm not familiar with the Pond Cypress, but it is different than the Bald
and Montezuma cypress.
Pond Cypress
Taxodium ascendens
Bald Cypress
Taxodium distichum
Montezuma Cypress
Taxodium mucronatum
Here is a short article that discusses the Pond and Bald Cypress. It sounds
similar to the Bald Cypress... it's nice to hear they do alright in Dallas.
It looks like both the Pond and Bald Cypress are more cold hardy than the
Montezuma.
http://www.fl-ag.com/forest/pondcyp.htm
--
Ralph Arvesen
DB
well adapted to more arid conditions than the T. distichum I understand. I
am not sure how you established it, but many times we somewhat "baby" trees
along and the first tough thing thrown at them when we arent around....down
the toliet they go.
Case in point- The city has planted hundreds of trees and provides for their
watering every two weeks for two years (mulch is applied at planting, but
seldom maintained). They do this by means of a water truck that has a long
nozzle on a pipe that sticks out. The truck pulls up to the tree with the
large diameter pipe and lets go a deluge of water right at the base of the
tree. This year, many of the trees that had been in the ground for 3 years
even suffered badly.
It appears, perhaps, those that were watered heavily and routinely at the
base did not develop sufficient enough root systems to allow it to withstand
a hot, dry period such as we had.
Regarding your T. mucronatum with the "weeping" top- Often trees that are
growing rapidly develop a rank growth that is not well supported with wood
fiber. I don't know if that is particularly good or bad form wise, but I
prefer to see even and steady growth as opposed to rapid, rank growth.
I think T. mucronatum is a nice tree, but I too would rather have had a good
old bald cypress there. Maybe you should plant a T. distichum right beside
it and see what happens?
Dennis
Urban Forestry Resources
******************************************
arboricultural consulting services
**********************************
Dennis Brown, Consulting Arborist
9800 Westward Dr.
Austin, TX 78733-3144
(512) 263-2798
que...@texas.net
or
http://quercus.home.texas.net
also visit TreeFolks!! at http://www.io.com/~treefolk
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S.L.
>
> I lost my established, 6 foot Montezuma to the drought this year while on
> vacation. I believe that there are some large,
Are you sure its dead? I don't know if this is true of Montezuma
Cypress, but Bald Cypress will drop its needles during a drought, then
re-flourish as if nothing happened the following year. I live on Onion
Creek, and there are several dozen wild Cypress around which sit back
from the creek rather far. I've seen several of these turn brown and
drop their leaves as early as mid-June, only to come back happy as ever
the next year, or even within the same season if enough rain comes
along!
--
Stephen Lacker
Applied Research Laboratories, The University of Texas at Austin
sla...@arlut.utexxas.edu (Remove the extra 'x' to mail me)
Rusty Osborne
Hi Stephen!
Is my tree dead? ¡Quien sabes, amigo! I've snapped upper-branch twigs back
to the trunk, and even snapped off the top, (which was lifeless) but I've
left the trunk and root alone, hoping that it may return some green,
perhaps from the root stock, next spring... I've always wanted to believe
in reincarnation :)
keep the faith,
Rusty
DB
Dennis
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