What Is the Price of Cypress Seedlings? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods

Cypress is a general term for plants of the cypress family, and it is distributed extremely widely in China, from Inner Mongolia and Jilin in the north to Guangdong and northern Guangxi in the south, with cultivated areas covering almost the entire country. Its wood is medium in hardness, fine-grained, aromatic and highly rot-resistant, and it is mostly used for construction, furniture and joinery. The seeds can be pressed for oil, which can be used to make soap, or for food or medicinal purposes. Let us take a look below at cypress seedling prices and planting methods!

How much does a cypress seedling cost?

Note: There are very many kinds of cypress, such as Chinese arborvitae, Chinese juniper, hinoki cypress and sawara cypress, and their seedling prices vary enormously depending on variety, specification, place of origin and market, so the prices above are for reference only. Please rely on the actual situation when purchasing.

What kinds of cypress are there?

1. Chinese arborvitae: Chinese arborvitae is a tree species native to China. It likes light and tolerates slight shade when young, has strong adaptability and is not demanding about soil, growing in acidic, neutral, calcareous and mildly saline-alkaline soils. It tolerates drought and poor soil, has strong sprouting ability, moderate cold resistance and relatively weak wind resistance.

2. Chinese juniper: Chinese juniper is a tree species endemic to China. It likes cool climates, has strong cold resistance and is not demanding about soil, growing in dry sandy land, on sunny slopes and in rock crevices. It is often used for landscaping, its wood can be used as furniture material, and its roots can be used medicinally.

3. Hinoki cypress: Hinoki cypress is an excellent landscaping tree species. It likes light, and its seedlings and young trees have some shade tolerance. It is relatively cold-resistant, has rather poor wind resistance, tolerates drought and poor soil, likes moisture but does not tolerate waterlogging, and can grow in slightly acidic to slightly alkaline soils.

4. Sawara cypress: Sawara cypress is an evergreen tree. It is cold-resistant, likes cool and humid climates, has a shallow root system and is not demanding about soil. It is often used for landscaping, such as specimen trees, groves, hedges, foundation plantings, scenic forests and sanitary protection forests (health-promoting tree species).

5. Dragon juniper: Dragon juniper likes sun and tolerates slight shade, likes warm and humid environments, is resistant to cold and drought, and dislikes waterlogging. It adapts strongly to soil acidity and alkalinity and has strong resistance to sulfur oxide and chlorine, but rather poor resistance to soot and dust. It has very high ornamental value and is widely cultivated across China.

Cypress planting methods

1. Woodland selection: Cypress is not demanding about soil and can grow normally in various types of rock or soil, but it does not tolerate water and moisture and has relatively low wind resistance, so it should not be planted in waterlogged low-lying land, on windward mountain gaps or in sites with high wind speeds.

2. Afforestation density: Cypress grows slowly during its first 100 years, its crown is narrow and small, and its root system is also relatively shallow, so the canopy closure time is very long. Therefore, the initial planting density is 5000-6000 plants/hectare, with thinning carried out later according to the canopy closure situation.

3. Mixed tree species: Cypress grows slowly and has a narrow, small crown, so weeds easily grow in the woodland. To suppress weed growth, cypress is often mixed during afforestation with tree species such as Chinese pine, trident maple and black locust, or with shrub species such as false indigo, sea buckthorn and thorny elaeagnus.

4. Careful site preparation: Cypress afforestation usually takes place on dry, poor mountainous land, so site preparation methods usually include fish-scale pit preparation, contour trench preparation and level terrace preparation, and it is best to prepare the site one season in advance.

5. Afforestation techniques: Cypress afforestation can be carried out in spring, or in the rainy season or autumn. Severe cold and dry winters are not suitable for afforestation. Commonly used methods include sowing afforestation, seedling planting and container seedling planting; large seedling planting can also be used, but large seedlings need to be transplanted several times.

6. Management and protection of young forests: Young cypress forests can be weeded manually or chemically. For overwintering, soil and straw can be mounded over them for cold protection, or trunks can be whitewashed for cold protection. At the same time, because cypress grows slowly and its crown is narrow and small, intercropping with crops can be carried out after planting to increase the value of land use.