Bonsaify | Wiring a Monterey Cypress Bonsai

Isn't this Monterey Cypress beautiful? Eric walks through how he preps the tree for it's first exhibit. He started this bonsai from seed, and it's been in the hands of a good friend for most of its life. Preparing it for show involves wiring to compact some of the crown and branches, and creating jin (deadwood style of bare-stripped part of branch).
00:01:10 wiring close-up
00:02:25 Eric explains the bigger cuts he's considering to enhance the overall aesthetics of the tree.
00:03:22 After wiring (which took Eric the better part of two days - 8 hours!) Eric explains his stylistic decisions.
00:07:06 Eric explains why he didn't create any large jin, but did create some portions of branches, to mimic how Monterey Cypress grow naturally in San Francisco and Monterey.
00:08:44 One thing Eric finds delightful about this tree, which has been grown in a container throughout its 12-13 years lifetime, is that the trunk has taken on mature characteristics.
00:10:12 Discussion of the crown and off-center peak of the apex.
00:12:50 Why the sequence of wiring was significantly different than what Eric would typically do.
What experiences have you had growing and styling Monterey Cypress? Let us know in the comments below! And please, like and share this video, and subscribe to our channel for awesome bonsai content!

[@Bonsaify]

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[@TheBonsaiZone]

I just got some Monterey Cypress seeds, this is a good inspiration!!! Very nice styling!

[@Bonsaify]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@arnoldmmbb]

They germinate very easy without any treatment nigel, I have hundreds of Italian and Monterrey cypress from seed!

[@philipbeadle6446]

I love seeing some classic California trees being grown as bonsai

[@hugues-francoisdemalmont2482]

A work in progress, but what a beauty. If you live in the Bay Area, a Monterey Cypress is not only a natural, it’s a must have. Great presentation!

[@bryan.holmes]

Beautiful work, I love the approach to the natural growing pattern of the species and must say I like the back as a front as much as the current one.

[@Tore1972Wisdom]

It looks amazing. Great work. Different is always a good thing in my opinion.

[@tangledtanuki]

I picked two up this weekend from the nursery. It is a Golden crest variety. So interesting how this came up. Thanks for the video

[@arnoldmmbb]

Cupressus are very underrated as bonsai, there are a lot of species with amazing bonsai potential like Monterrey cypress or Italian cypress

[@henzobonsai]

Stunning bonsai 👏

[@almac2598]

Reminds me of a Cedar of Lebanon. Nice tree.

[@grahamjones548]

Thank you had one for a long time not knowing what it was or what to do with it great direction very much appreciated

[@DavidScheltema]

Great video. Learned a lot about styling.

[@stanleychen7147]

Wow, what a fantastic tree.

[@OjaiBonsai]

Nice work

[@DarthMasiah]

very nice natural style

[@Bonsaify]

Thank you!

[@9daywonda]

Nice one hey.

[@davidmorgan3508]

Aussie Dave here, beautiful cupressus 🤗. I have a "Cupressus Leyland ll" that i bought from a nursery 6 months ago. My leaves/needles look nothing like yours 🤔🤔

[@jmh1189]

Growing up in the Monterey are(Pacific grove) I always thought the Monterey cypress looked like giant bonsai trees because of their irregular shapes and flat tops formed when growing in the high constant winds.

[@katyb2793]

I've been searching for info on when to prune and repot and not having a lot of luck. People say Spring, for repotting, but what should the tree be doing at this point? I live in Australia, and mine has been growing again since early winter... so I'm thoroughly confused 😅 And what time of year would you recommend for heavier pruning?

[@Bonsaify]

Hi! Yes, the repotting interval for me locally is the coldest part of winter. But that's not very cold around here. I would say early early spring for repotting. They can be problematic in that under our local conditions, they don't seem to stop growing consistently at any given time of year. Pruning - either heavy or light, can be done almost any time - but late spring through late summer is when I normally do it. Fall is fine too, but normally I would be doing finer pruning only at that time.

[@katyb2793]

@@Bonsaify I see, thank you! It's been growing from seed for 3 years, and i kept putting off repotting since I didn't know what to do. It's pretty desperate for a repot now so might have to just do it and hope for the best 😬 Thanks so much for your help!

[@ANTONYMOUS7]

This was a very timely video. Just repotted my newly acquired Monterey Cypress in a bigger pot to hopefully thicken it in the next months. They're not common here in the Phillippines and I've found very little resources online on turning them to bonsai. Question from a cypress noob: I read that they don't back bud or create ramification on old wood, so once you prune it all the way to the branch, it's going to end up with nothing in that area. But if I trim just the ends of the new shoots - wood that's still green, is it still going to continue growing from those ends? And will the branches split? Also, thank you for this video. Got a lot of insight on how to eventually design my Monterey Cypress.

[@Bonsaify]

Yes, they do not back bud on older wood. To get them to split, bend things over and they will start to bush out. If you just let them grow they'll grow straight and strongly vertical.

[@pavelsimsa1357]

nice tree, but it seems to me the top is wider than lower parts, especially from the side view, lower parts seems to be weaker than top - aren't you afraid of further weakening of the bottom and great strengthening of the top?

[@Bonsaify]

It is a concern, but it's also the way that they grow, and the natural progression of age in these trees is to see all the lower branches dead in older age. So if you think of bonsai as static and want the tree to remain the same for decades, then yes these are problematic. If you think of it as dynamic and work with the changes to imitate a tree in the wild, you will find inspiration and you can embrace the changes as something that is interesting rather than problematic. Nevertheless, keeping the top thinned is a good way to prevent the lower branching from becoming too weak quickly.

[@pavelsimsa1357]

@@Bonsaify Thank you,

[@danielguy1891]

can Monterey Cypress bonsai live indoors?

[@Bonsaify]

I doubt it, but i've never tried.

[@nikolaisprinkling]

Have you ever worked with Pygmy Cypress?