Developing a new Redwood

You sound like you know what you're talking about Chris. I'll go with that.

Wander wrote:You sound like you know what you're talking about Chris.  I'll go with that.

LOL, depends on who you listen to. I like to say I know enough to get myself in trouble.

Truthfully, I've been doing bonsai for almost 4 years, but have grown plants in the ground and containers (including orchids for a while) for a few decades. The idea of gradually increasing the pot size is pretty widely recognized. You might get away with going directly to a 2' wide pot, or it might cause problems. But it's really not necessary at this point.

If you are new to all of this, do yourself a favor and spend some time reading through Brent's articles at the site in the link. Lots of good, basic info there.

Best wishes and keep us posted! If you have any specific questions once the redwood arrives, don't hesitate to post them (and I'd like to see what the tree looks like).

Chris

here is some dawn redwoods i got early last year from jonsteens out west... (they had a deal for something like a dozen "seedlings" for 20-30 bucks... some of the seedlings were 4' tall)

i took some of the shorter ones and started a forest/group planting:
(if you know the dawn redwood story, you will understand why theres a dinosaur creeping around)



and i took 5 of the longer ones and bound them together hoping the trunks fuse over time:



not very good photos and the trees are nothing great yet, but you get the idea of what is possible with these

Dawn redwoods can make beautiful groups/forests. I started one last year but during this winter mice or voles got into my storage area and did severe damage to the trunks...girdled one completely. Hopefully I can get it to heal over or perhaps do a ground layer. I have a couple of others thickening in the ground and some seeds that are germinating so I will have replacements on the way if needed. Of course, the tree that was damaged most severely was the largest in the group.

Chris

coh wrote:Of course, the tree that was damaged most severely was the largest in the group.Chris

damn !

i lost one outta my forest too, but it was the smallest and i was lucky because i held one back in a separate pot for just such an occasion (its the one with the deadwood top on the right)

and yeah, the cuttings seem to take well (so far)

For everyone who wanted to see the trees when they arrived

Redwood Experiment

Keep us posted!

I'm somewhat surprised to see them sent bare-root at this time of year but as I said, redwoods are pretty vigorous so they should be OK.

Chris

I am still not sure what to do with them. They obviously need to be potted for a while to develop some roots and foliage. If I then put them in the ground I'm afraid the winter here will kill them, if the summer doesn't. However they probably won't be big enough to do the first stump cut(cutting at 1/3 tree height when trunk is 2/3rds thickness). So come December I will have a tree 3-4 ft tall that can't winter outside.

You'll definitely need winter protection. I allow my coast redwoods to stay out and experience near freezing or just at freezing temperatures, then I bring them in. I have an mudroom that is essentially unheated (it's got a door to the basement and heat rises from there). Temperatures during the winter stay mostly in the 35-45 range. I've kept one redwood under these conditions for about 7 years. I allowed it to get pretty tall (about 10') and wrapped up the branches like a Christmas tree to take up less space.

If you need to, you should be able to prune the top back to, provided it produces growth from lower on the trunk.

Chris