starting and growing cypress trees

[wimperk]

QUESTION - BALDCYPRESS... I've collected about 100 seed pods/cones from a huge baldcypress tree on our property. I'm letting them dry out in the garage. I want to plant and grow them to help with getting "green-belt/agriculture" status for our property, but don't know the best method... or timing.

Need guidance!

 

[Jay Banks]

Baldcypress need about 90 days of cold (winter) weather to germinate. You can either place them in the refrig over the winter for sowing in the spring or pot them up in and place the pots in the ground with a mulch covering the seeds.

A propagation bed should have afternoon shade, watering source, and be away from large tree roots.

 

[wimperk]

Baldcypress guidance

Thanks a bunch! Since we live in Florida, we'll most likely place them in the fridge... We weren't sure whether we could simulate wetlands in a pot... so we plan to sow them in designated wetland areas on our property - near a run-off from our pond. We thought we'd shove coffee cans almost all the way into the ground (both ends cut out) and plant the seeds inside - to help us keep track of where we cultivated them.

I'm excited about this idea... I don't particularly like pine trees, and we wanted to get ag-rating for our taxes another way. Hopefully this will do it.

We are also looking into cultivating Tulip Poplars (they grow all over our 17 acres) and Catalpa (southerners pronounce this Catawba) trees - these are also all over our property. Fisherman would pay money (we think) to buy Catalpa trees for the caterpillars that feed on the leaves - and are good bait.

Any insights on those two trees?

Thanks already for your help and reply!

Karen