Gold Mop Cypress for Sale - Buying & Growing Guide

Planting and Care

by John Haryasz | Horticulture Writer and Landscape Designer – last update on July 19, 2022

Planting instructions

The gold mop cypress will grow in partial shade but tends to thrive more in areas that receive full sunlight, about six hours of light per day or more. The soil in which this plant grows should be moist but have good drainage as well. Often, loamy soils provide the best conditions for this plant’s roots. Since this species is on the smaller side, you’ll also have the option of growing it directly in the ground or growing it in a garden container.

Watering and nutrients

Providing the correct amount of water for a gold mop cypress can be a bit challenging at times. You should not allow the soil in which these plants grow to dry out, nor should you allow the soils to become waterlogged. Instead, you should maintain consistent soil moisture at all times for this plant. This often amounts to watering a few times per week during the growing season. You can also fertilize your gold mop cypress about three to four times per year. Use a balanced fertilizer or one that is rich in nitrogen.

Pollination

Pollination is not a topic that you should spend a lot of time considering when growing a gold mop cypress. These plants do not provide an edible harvest, and their flowers and fruits hold little to no visual appeal. In fact, you may not notice the flowers at all. They tend to be quite small and serve no role other than allowing for pollination. When pollination is successful, this plant will produce small cones that are equally lacking in ornamental qualities.

Pruning

When caring for a gold mop cypress, you should conduct your pruning in the late winter or early spring, just before the plant enters its active growing stage. Typically, these plants respond well to pruning and shaping, which allows you to create different shapes as you please. You should also use your pruning cuts to take away any part of the plant that shows signs of disease or significant damage. Use clean pruning shears to limit the risk of spreading disease to this plant — always a wise decision.

Pests, diseases, and animals

The gold mop cypress shrub has great pest and disease resistance, which is also the case for its parent species. This lack of insect and infection issues makes this plant quite easy to care for if you know how to meet its basic needs. However, the gold mop cypress is not entirely immune to these issues. For instance, this plant may face occasional complications related to blight and root rot. The latter condition is most common after overwatering this plant.

Achieving maximum results

If you want your gold mop cypress to remain healthy and grow its best, you should avoid planting it in soils that contain lime. Lime soils don’t allow this plant to absorb the nutrients it needs, which leads to stunted growth. On the positive side, the gold mop cypress proves to be more adaptable to warm-weather climates than many other ornamental evergreens. This plant can grow well as far south as hardiness zone 8 or 9 while also surviving as far north as zone 4.

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