Oregon Redwood [Sequoia sempervirens]

**JimLewis** Sat Apr 18, 2015 10:25 pm

I'll be interested to see what you decide to do with that kinda bulbous base. Otherwise, this has the makings of a very nice tree.

Guest Sun Apr 19, 2015 12:07 am

Guest Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:17 pm

**JimLewis** Mon Apr 20, 2015 9:45 pm

VERY nice work!

Guest Tue Apr 21, 2015 5:44 pm

Wow! Thank you Jim. Not everyone's cuppa perhaps ... but we're having a ball!

LanceMac10 Tue Apr 21, 2015 6:17 pm

Nicely done, brah!! Should like really nice as the branches mature and fill out. Especially on the viewers left. Can't help but wonder what it would look like if you used a branch on the viewers right to create a subtle deadwood feature. Seems a little "tight" on that side. Showing some really nice work lately, Mike. Keep it coming! Enough talk. Grab that Glen Livet, his little buddy Tumbler Glass, and go for a waltz thru your garden!!! Careful you don't imbibe too lustily, one of your trees might try to strike up a conversation!! Keep creatin'...... Laughing

**Kevin S - Wisco Bonsai** Tue Apr 21, 2015 10:29 pm

maaan... the pics werent showing up at work, but now that i can see them,
that is outfarkinstanding !!!!!!!!!

glad you went with the fire scars... looks very very good...

this one really is pure stoke for me... Cool

Guest Tue Apr 21, 2015 11:51 pm

Ryan Wed Apr 22, 2015 4:09 am

Wow. Absolutely gorgeous tree. VERY well done.

Guest Thu Apr 23, 2015 12:54 am

**JimLewis** Thu Apr 23, 2015 1:01 pm

Your virt has TOO MANY branches. Not enough lower trunk.

Guest Thu Apr 23, 2015 4:54 pm

coh Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:28 pm

Thank you for posting this tree and its development! I have been working on a twin trunk coast redwood for the last 7 years (bought as a young plant from Brent Walston in 2007). I'm getting close to the stage where I want to develop branching, and am wrestling with how tall to make the tree(s), and how many branches to use. I think either way (more sparse versus your latest virtual) can work. The nice thing about going with the "more branches" approach initially is that you can easily remove branches to get back to the more sparse look if you change your mind. Adding branches later would take more time.

I've spent time hiking in the redwood groves down in the Big Sur area, have also seen the giant sequoias in Yosemite. I know they're different species with different growth habits (very tall versus very wide/huge trunks). Not sure which I want to emulate but most likely the coast redwood style. Really like working with these trees.

Have you got any tips for pruning this species and developing branches? Do you have to prune at a specific time, only prune back to a bud, etc? I've noticed that some of the branches that I pruned back last summer have started to die back, while others are budding out...not sure what accounts for that difference. I've read that they can tend to drop branches (and then sprout again from the trunk) if pruned at the wrong place/time.

Chris

Guest Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:58 am

**Kevin S - Wisco Bonsai** Fri Apr 24, 2015 12:37 pm

mikeyeye wrote:Maybe we should be investigating what the folks working with Bald Cypress are doing? The two species feel similar to me.

it might be needless to say, but that never stopped me before:

re: bald cypress work - on the next rainy day; pour or load yourself one, climb into the lazy boy and check out AAC member, john geanangel's youtube series on BCs... lots of work and solid explanation to go with it all.

coh Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:25 pm

mikeyeye wrote:

Wish I could pass along some RW tips but honestly, I’m not sure what to expect. This is the first I’ve worked with and it’s been in a pot less than a week. Guess we’ll go on this adventure together. I have many more questions than answers...So far roots seem to be no problem. You can see in photo #3 the roots emanating from the basal branches. These are almost air roots in that they grew in the old shed foliage debris. In the gift shops that have sprung up around the easily accessible groves one can purchase thin slices of RW burl that will root and shoot readily. Possibly air-layering is no problem. Maybe it was risky nearly bare rooting this tree but since it came out of mill run garden soil I didn’t think there was much choice but to remove it. Somehow I’m not too worried as it was bare rooted to Arbortech the bottom of the trunk when it went from grow box to garden bed. Didn't notice any check in growth then.

I think there may be something to the difficulty with branches. The new buds don’t much seem to come from the ‘needle’ axils much but rather from the bases of the secondaries. We may have to continually re-grow the pads every couple of years. Was there any correlation between the die-back and positioning on the trunk? I’m going to start (once it’s wired) to cut the top 1/3 back very hard, less hard in the center, and very light on the bottom branches for now and see how that goes. I did manage to try a few different techniques such as pinching out the tips like a juniper but all the rampant growth made it impossible to track what was happening. We’re about to find out I guess. I’ll keep this posted (with pics). There almost hast to be inherent problems though. What else explains why we see so few Redwood bonsai? Maybe we should be investigating what the folks working with Bald Cypress are doing? The two species feel similar to me.

Mike,

I've been seeing more and more coast redwoods for sale and in collections locally. The past 2 National Exhibitions in Rochester have had stunning specimens. In 2012 there was a tall, rugged tree that won a major award (Finest North American Native Species), that was Robert Shimon's tree. In 2014 there was a smaller, more classical informal upright from a grower in the Chicago area (a photo can be seen on the Bonsai Tonight blog: http://bonsaitonight.com/2014/10/10/the-people-you-meet-at-the-us-national-bonsai-exhibition/). It was really beautiful, full with nicely developed branching, smaller and more compact than most coast redwoods I've seen. I had a chance to briefly talk to the owner and asked him about pruning/pinching and he said there was "nothing special" to do, but didn't go into great detail.

Last year I asked Bob Shimon about the pruning and he said: "keep only the buds you intend to use and eliminate the rest. If you have a bud at the tip of a branch and buds further back, terminate the end bud and let the other buds grow out. When they are out about an inch or so, pinch the ends to terminate their growth and encourage new buds at a later date." Sounds pretty basic but when I tried that, I got some branches to bud back, but others died back. As I said, still not sure why...your observation about them only budding at the bases of secondaries is something I'm going to pay attention to this year.

I am in a difficult climate region for these trees, we have a long cold winter and my specimens (I have 3 right now) are kept in a relatively dark, cool (35-40 F mostly) location from late November until March or April. So they may not respond as well as trees being grown on the west coast. One thing for sure, as you note...they produce very strong root systems and seem to tolerate major root pruning pretty well.

Anyway, I'll try to remember to post any observations I come up with, and I look forward to the same from you!

Chris

Guest Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:23 pm

Ryan Tue Jul 14, 2015 11:29 pm

Wow, looks just like the trees I was amazed by when I visited a few years ago...incredible.

**Kevin S - Wisco Bonsai** Wed Jul 15, 2015 9:28 pm

coming along swimmingly !

coh Sun Jul 26, 2015 4:26 pm

Looks good, Mike!

I have mixed results to report on mine. I have 3 coast redwoods: 2 are collected trees that probably originated at Mendocino bonsai, the other is a seedling that I obtained from Brent Walston about 7 years ago. Last summer I did some pruning and got variable results. This year, after discussing redwood pruning techniques with another member here, I decided to let my trees just grow to build up the branch thickness. I think I may have pruned a little too early last year.

My oldest tree (from Brent) is suffering and I'm not sure if it is going to make it. I transplanted last spring (2014) and did a lot of root reduction (mainly removing heavy roots from the bottom of the root mass). It seemed to do OK last summer, though not as vigorous as usual. I didn't think that was unusual after the heavy root work. However, the lack of vigor has persisted this year and growth is slow, pale, and the tree is losing branches. I finally pulled it out of the pot and found that there had been no root growth at all into the new soil, which just fell off the sides and bottom. That is very alarming as redwoods are usually very prolific root growers. So I cleaned up the root mass, cut some wedges and drilled some holes to open up the dense core, and replanted into a container slightly larger than the root mass. Tree is still putting out growth but wilts pretty badly on hot days. Now we wait and see what happens.

Chris

Guest Fri Jul 31, 2015 9:29 pm

Guest Sat Aug 15, 2015 7:14 pm

Guest Sun Aug 16, 2015 5:40 pm

Makomune Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:24 am

When you first posted that big ol butt on there I was skeptical but you really transformed it! Good show!

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Love it!

Re: Oregon Redwood [Sequoia sempervirens]