Italian Cypress Bonsai

Watering

Never neglect to water your Italian Cypress Bonsai tree, as it has to be watered before the soil completely dries out. Try using a moisture meter to get to know the requirements of your bonsai tree. Water the tree until the water runs out the bottom holes of the pot. The water needs to drain away quickly, but the soil has to be left saturated.

During the winter months, when your tree is spending time inside, it is recommended to place it in a humidity tray. A humidity tray is a tray filled with gravel and water. Your tree rests on the gravel but receives the humidity from the evaporating water. This provides extra moisture around the tree to reduce the amount of moisture lost to modern heating systems.

Repotting

All Bonsai trees require periodical repotting when their root system has filled the pot to supply fresh soil and to encourage a more compact root system. As your Italian Cypress tree increases in size, repot it in a larger container until the tree reaches the size you desire. Then perform pruning every two to three years to keep it that size. Try to use homemade or purchased containers with removable sides to make accessing the roots easier.

Autumn or Winter is the best time for reporting as the trees go dormant in Winter. The stress of being uprooted is far less at this time than it would during the seasons of their active growth. Root pruning is done by removing the tree and all soil from the pot. Remove the outer and bottom root mass of the tree, taking care not to remove more than a quarter of the roots.

Place screens and a thin layer of gravel over the draining holes and fill the pot with enough soil to elevate the tree to its previous height in the pot. Return the tree to the pot and fill in the root mass and rest of the pot with fresh soil. Thoroughly water the tree and place enough ground cover to cover the surface of the pot to help prevent soil erosion when watering.

Shaping and Pruning

Ensure that your Bonsai trunk has developed well enough before pruning to avoid a straggly look in the end. It is best to prune during the Summer and shape it later, right before dormancy. The Italian Cypress twigs sprout in sharp and acute angles, making it easy to develop a gnarled-looking branch. Pluck the leaves that grow from the trunk unless you want them to further grow into a branch.

A visible knee is a tell-tale sign that the tree is mature. A knee is developed by not repotting or root pruning the tree for several years. The tree will become root-bound with many of the roots bent nearly double. Carefully coach one doubled bend before letting it jut through the moss into the form of a knee.

You should tie the branches using raffia twine at the branch tips in order to pull it down. Shape the foliage by pinching back new growth. The new growth tends to sprout at the location of the most recent pruning.

Location and Sunlight

The Italian Cypress Bonsai prefers outdoor life during Spring and Summer. It loves direct sun for at least four to six hours a day. The Italian Cypress will thrive indoors in high light conditions and where the nighttime temperatures will not go below 45 degrees. It is recommended that the Bonsai is placed on a windowsill or on a table in front of one. If you do not have a sunny enough window, you might need to install grow lights to provide sufficient light to keep your Bonsai healthy.

Fertilizing

Applying fertilizer is required to keep your Bonsai healthy and beautiful in its small pot with limited soil. A general-purpose liquid fertilizer used at half their recommended strength will suffice. Apply at least once a month except during Winter. Italian Cypress Bonsai enjoys foliar feeding, with a water-soluble fertilizer applied every second month as a spray. Fertilize once a week in Spring and gradually reduce it to once every other week during late Spring and Autumn. Do not fertilize during Winter.

Propagation Methods

To grow a new Italian Cypress, start by taking a cutting from mid-summer to early fall. Cut a long branch from the bottom of a healthy Italian cypress tree and cut the branch into several pieces. Each cutting must have at least three or four sets of needles. Strip the needles from the lower half of each Italian cypress cutting and dip these ends in powdered rooting hormone before planting.

The planting medium needs to be moist and consist of a mixture of half regular garden soil and half clean, coarse sand. Cover the planting container with clear plastic and place indoors in a cool, humid location.

Seeds can also be used, but they germinate slowly and may take up to a year from germination to planting.

Pests and Diseases

The Italian Cypress Bonsai is prone to Seiridium canker that infects the bark, causing lesions (cankers) on trunks. Freeze damage, insect feeding, pruning cuts, wind damage, and other sources of wounds all help to increase the likelihood of infection.

You can avoid infections by placing trees in proper soil, watering generously during droughts, and avoiding wounds. Botryosphaeria canker is similar to Seiridium canker and may occur on vigorously growing trees. Pruning and sanitation are the only measures available for minimizing disease progress.

Cercospora needle blight and phomopsis blight might also occur, and these affect the needles. Treat blight with the removal of diseased plants, fungicides, and watering to avoid wet, humid conditions.

A fungal-like organism causes Phytophthora root rot in soils that retain high soil moisture levels for long. Affected roots need to be removed, and the tree repotted. Bagworms and mites also cause problems sometimes.

Growth Patterns

Italian Cypress Trees foliage grows in dense sprays and is dark green in color. Trees naturally grow tall and are slender. The leaves are scale-like and produced on rounded shoots. The oddly shaped cones are brown colored with a dry, hard exterior, and the seeds are tiny, flattened, and brown. The seeds and cones lack resin blisters.

Recommended Styles

The natural tall and slender growth of the Italian Cypress adapts well to shaping and being twisted into various styles. This Bonsai is styled as an informal upright twin-trunk, formal upright, and group style, mostly called the bonsai forest. It is also well suited for the cascade and semi-cascade styles.