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We bought a Goldcrest Cypress today and I'm wondering how fast it would grow; I just don't get any clear (or even rough) answers from Google.

Some more info: We are in South Africa, around 26 degrees latitude. The tree is 900mm high at the moment and I've supplanted it from a 300 mm diameter pot to a 500 mm pot. We have a temperate climate, with around 600mm of rain a year mainly between November and March, it gets sun for the majority (>70%) of the daylight and I'll be watering it regularly making sure the soil doesn't dry completely.

The trees are relatively popular in South Africa and I can find a lot of local guidelines as to how to care for it, and I've seen them grow probably between 4 m and 5 m and perhaps taller.

I'm merely asking out of curiosity and am excited to see for myself, but any guidance would be interesting and helpful.

ChP
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In the UK, planted in the ground and not pruned it would probably reach 4 meters tall in 10 years and 10 meters or more in 20 years - i.e. about 300 to 600mm per year.

Used as a hedge plant, it can be pruned in spring to keep the height down to about 2 meters.

In a pot, the limited root space will restrict its growth. It is fairly shallow rooted but the roots spread sideways near the soil surface in proportion to the height of the tree. You also need to consider whether it will be blown over in a pot, if it grows too tall.

Being shallow rooted, they tend to suffer from being blown down when grown in the ground. They are trees that you would plan to replace after maybe 10 or 15 years, not ones that will live for centuries.

alephzero
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  • Thanks, this helps a lot! I intend to leave it in the pot though, and it stands in a corner out of the wind 2-3m is probably enough for me – ChP Sep 30 '19 at 16:45