Bald Cypress Trees- A Missouri Native

The Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) tree is a Missouri native recommended for both residential and commercial landscapes.

Bald Cypress is a beautiful specimen tree that looks like a evergreen, but is actually a deciduous-needled conifer. It is interesting to note that there are living Bald Cypress trees known to be over 1,000 years old! These trees are possibly some of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River.

Bald Cypress have no serious insect or disease problems, but bagworms and mites are occasional insect pests that can affect the vigor and appearance of trees in the landscape.

Unlike evergreen hemlocks, spruces, and junipers, Bald Cypress is very sensitive to horticultural oils. So if you try to control this mite with oils, you'll do more damage to the tree than the mites will! Traditional pesticides such as Carbaryl (Sevin) are typically recommended to knock down Bald Cypress rust mites which are actually eriophyid mites - not spider mites. Use a 10-power hand lens if you want to see the rust mites on the leaves, but their white cast off skins and rusty foliage color are two easy diagnostic characteristics. Thorough spray coverage of the foliage is necessary to control all types of mites.