Ts 
L,07 
GACY 
Thru Courtesy of the’ ETN ee of Tuesday, March 31st, 1953 
The Dwarfing of Trees, 
Developed Here as a 
Hobby, Said Building 
New Business 
Dwarfs transformed Gilbert S. Cruz 
into a tree breeder, author, publisher 
and scientist. 
The Morada Lane resident built 
a new business and captured the inter- 
est of experts because he is so taken by 
tiny trees. When ill health forced him 
to take a leave of absence last year 
from his long-time career as a calcu- 
lator salesman, Cruz turned to a hob- 
by of stunting trees. 
In the last 12 months, this hobby 
has developed into.an enterprise called 
“Don Pedro Farms’’ where Cruz is 
pioneering in the cofamercial produc- 
tion of dwarf Christmas trees and ex- 
perimenting in the wholesale dwarf- 
ing of other types. The Division of 
Forestry is watching closely his 
experiments with varieties cut for 
Christmas trees. 
Cruz’s idea is to grow Christmas 
trees no taller than three feet which 
-can be kept in pots and moved in- 
doors during the Yule season. There 
will be no messy needles and no dead 
tree to lug out when the holidays 
end, he says. His first Yule dwarfs 
will be ready-in from three to five 
years. 
DWARFS REDWOODS 
While other tree lovers fuss over 
Sequoia Gigantea, hoping to raise 
giant specimens of one of the largest 
known trees, Cruz concentrates on 
dwarfing the redwood. He babies his 
sequoia, the gift of a farm adviser, 
with a dream of growing a ‘‘giant’’ 
redwood only a few inches tall. 
His farm also serves as a hobby 
center where he packs kits to start 
others growing dwarf trees for pleas- 
ure and profit. 
Cruz decided to strip the mystery 
from the hobby, “‘Bonsai,”’ or trees- 
in-a-dish, which is a Japanese creat- 
tion. Oriental growers painstakingly 
stunted trees so they could have live 
_ displays in a minimum of space. Their 
methods of pruning roots to cause 
dwarfs became known after World 
_ War I, but were not widespread. 
~' Many years ago Cruz visited a 
_ Northern California tree experimental 
DWARF TREE SPECIALIST 
Gilbert S. Cruz, Morada Lane, developed his hobby of growing Dwarf Trees into 
a miniature industry and today packs dwarf tree kits to start others cultivating 
tiny trees. 
home-grown dwarts. 
farm to demonstrate calculating ma- 
chines. 
This visit whetted his interest in tree 
cultivation. Later he read as much as 
he could about the dwarfing of trees 
and grew some. He increased his study 
last year and several months ago 
wrote and published a booklet detail- 
ing the process of dwarfing trees. 
SELLS HOBBY KITS 
In addition, he began to pack hob- 
by kits, containing seeds, fertilizer, 
other cultivating aids and _ instruc- 
tions. 
Cruz sees no tricks to his new trade. 
‘The raising of dwarf trees is the same 
as for normal trees the first year. The 
following winter or spring they are 
transplanted and the main tap root 
cut. Tap root pruning continues for 
five years until the tree 
“‘automatical- 
He is pictured above with an |l-year-old Juniper tree, one of his 
ly gives up.’ Top pruning also is 
done to shape the tiny growths. To 
train trees, Cruz uses copper wiring, 
sticks and stones to force the growth 
in various directions. 
The eevee and pushing results 
in mature trees only a few inches in 
height. “At his farm, Cruz is dwarf- 
ing all types of trees, including fruit 
and flowering types. 
Thousands of trees are being root- 
ed in his planting beds. His successes 
include a tiny forest in a flat bowl 
with six different types of trees all 
small enough for a table arrangement. 
Happy with his hobby which grew 
into a dwarf industry, Cruz believes 
in spreading his wealth. “‘Anyone can 
grow dwarf trees, for pleasure and 
profit.” 
