Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai Tree Care

The Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai Tree, scientific name Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Compacta’, is native to southern Japan and the island of Taiwan.

This is an evergreen conifer with dark green fan-like foliage and reddish bark. It is a hardy tree that needs to be grown outdoors.

Additional Information

Family: Cupressaceae

Scientific name: Chamaecyparis obtusa ‘Compacta’

Common Names: Hinoki False Cypress, Compact Hinoki Cypress, Japanese Cypress.

Origin: Native to southern Japan and the island of Taiwan.

Appearance: Hinoki False Cypress has a reddish brown trunk with a dense canopy of dark green leaves. Some cultivars are available in different colors ranging from blue-green to golden yellow and chartreuse. It has drooping flat frondlike branchlets bearing small scale-like leaves. Hinoki False Cypress leaves are borne in pairs of two unequal sizes and shapes.

Flowering: No ornamental flowers. It produces pea-sized orange brown cones with 8 to 10 scales.

Outdoor/Indoor Use: Outdoors.

Light Requirements: It is very important for this tree to get full sun. If there is not enough sunlight, the inner and lower branches might die.

Water Requirements: It likes a humid environment. Grows well in moist but well-drained soil. Requires more daily watering during growing season and less watering during winter months.

Pruning/Training: Through the growing season, pitch tips of young shoots to maintain the shape of the tree. I don’t recommend using scissor pruning because it will turn trimmed leaves brown. Also, avoid pruning back to old wood because the tree needs new wood to bud.

Bonsai Style: Slanted, straight-trunk, windswept, curved-trunk, and literati. It will not work for the broom style.

Fertilizing: Use liquid well balanced fertilizer once every two weeks during growing season.

Repotting: It needs to be repotted once every two to four years when young and only once every three to five years when older. Use fast draining bonsai soil mix.

Hardiness: This is a hardy tree that grows best in the USDA Zone 4 – 8. It needs to be protected from strong winds.

Insects and Diseases: Root rot, needle and twig blights, spruce mites, and scale.

Propagation: By cuttings or seeds.

Buy Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai Tree:

Buy Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai (18 years old) – $195
Buy Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai Large (9 years old) – $64.95
Buy Hinoki False Cypress Bonsai Medium (5 years old) – $39.95