Coastal Redwood Questions

[Trebor]

Hi, I obtained the below pictured coastal redwood last year and have a couple questions for those more knowledgeable than I am (basically anyone reading this). As background, it spent the winter in Cincinnati in a rooftop sun room, I basically kept the humidity and temperature as close to its natural habitat as I could. I spray it every other day and keep the soil damp. I’d say it probably has grown 4-5 inches and seems to be pushing again now.

#1) PRUNING: The growth/shoots at the base—are these sucking energy from the main tree/should I trim them off? My initial thought was that it would provide increased trunk growth, but seems like it could result in a bulb or inverse taper at the base of the trunk. If they are best to be trimmed, are they any good for propagation?

#2) REPOT: It’s due for a repot, is there any strategy as far as the next pot size goes? Anything wrong with getting it a massive (but relatively shallow) pot to grow in or is it better to incrementally increase the container size? (Assuming in both cases, that I will pay attention to root development)

#3) SOIL: It is currently in whatever the nursery mix was that it came in. I was going to buy a 1/3 each Akadama, Pumice and Black lava mix. The current mix is the nurseries bonsai mix, but I don’t know what it is. My sense is that it less porous than the 1/3 mix I’m looking at. Is there anything to be said for having material that holds water more to provide a little insurance against the roots drying?

I appreciate any advice/info. Thanks – Rob.

 

[MrWunderful]

1)- yes, prune the suckers off unless you want them in design.

2)it really depends on how healthy the roots are once you get in there. Shoehorn it in whatever you can as long as there is a sufficient quantity of roots.

3)coastal redwood live in a very wet environment, where fog and dew are constantly dripping on the ground. I keep mine in either 100% akadama, or 3:1:1 with some pine bark mixed in, so a pretty wet mix. But I live where they occur naturally, and my akadama doesnt break down in hard freezes. I would keep it in the wettest mix you can that will hold up for 2-4 years inbetween repots.

 

[Trebor]

Thanks so much!

 

[0soyoung]

This is the species to pinch, pinch, pinch if you want branching. Every habitual pincher should have one of these to pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, so that their will junipers thrive!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

1)- yes, prune the suckers off unless you want them in design.

2)it really depends on how healthy the roots are once you get in there. Shoehorn it in whatever you can as long as there is a sufficient quantity of roots.

3)coastal redwood live in a very wet environment, where fog and dew are constantly dripping on the ground. I keep mine in either 100% akadama, or 3:1:1 with some pine bark mixed in, so a pretty wet mix. But I live where they occur naturally, and my akadama doesnt break down in hard freezes. I would keep it in the wettest mix you can that will hold up for 2-4 years inbetween repots.

I have 3 different varieties of Sequoia sempervirens I’m growing trunks on at present. Each are planted in deep 3 gal pots and may be slip potted this year to larger containers if they are root bound on next check.
I do have all these trees in a mix of peat and potting soil, sort of like the soil they tend to initially grow in nature and to keep the moisture level up.
I concur with MrWunderful about the akadama breaking down rapidly in your area. In our coastal areas Akadama will work great and I may shift to that later on down the line. However I’m getting big growth everywhere on the trees in this mix and am sticking with it for now. (It also helps to mist the branches a lot)
In our area I worry about the occasional hard freeze possibly damaging the roots, as they don’t get hardly any hard freezes in the coastal climate like their big cousin, Sequoiadendron giganteum does. So I toss them in the cold frame when things get too cold here.
btw: Osoyoung is spot on....pinch.... pinch..... pinch!
Good luck!
DSD sends

 

[Trebor]

This is the species to pinch, pinch, pinch if you want branching. Every habitual pincher should have one of these to pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, pinch, so that their will junipers thrive!

Thanks for the info! I plan on watching the Mirai video on coastal redwoods, but am curious in advance if pinching is important while the plant is still growing/in development. My sense was that all the branches on the young plant would be pruned off after the plant is to size. With that premise, I was going to just let it grow wild for a couple years. Major error?

 

[BrianBay9]

Thanks for the info! I plan on watching the Mirai video on coastal redwoods, but am curious in advance if pinching is important while the plant is still growing/in development. My sense was that all the branches on the young plant would be pruned off after the plant is to size. With that premise, I was going to just let it grow wild for a couple years. Major error?

You can definitely start new branches off of a bare trunk once you grow to size. Grow to the trunk size you want and cut it back. It will throw new growth everywhere.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Yep! They are very vigorous. In the mean time, while your intention is to grow the tree out as fast as possible, you might want to be thinking of thinning and pinch/pruning to keep the branches from shading one another out too much and getting too leggy! I have one variety where the interior subbranches will often shoot out and exceed the overall growth of the rest of the branch... The growth depends on the variety of coastal sempervirens you have, there are a wide variety nowadays, the trees exposure and your care... Here’s some pics of different types. It looks like you might have the variety in the third photo..
Cheers
DSD sends
(Sorry about the sideways images, They imported sideways and I haven’t figured out how to correct this error on this software)

 

[PherPhace]

I just bought a similar tree. I picked one with suckers at the base thinking it would help add some width down low. Is that not true for Redwood?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Well, it shouldn't hurt and will make the tree stronger give proper horticultural growing techniques. As far as the trunk, that ought to depend on where exactly the suckers come into the trunk. Generally the trunk girth is considered to be built by the energy gain from branches above the area of the trunk you are concerned about. So branches way low might not directly contribute to trunk building. However, given proper feeding and care with enough room to grow, there is alot to say about the extra positive energy balance that the lower branches will create by having extra photosynthetic surfaces feeding the base. Thus IMO this energy will be returned to the rest of the tree each year in more growth.

For some more on that Forsoothe! just posted a really cool explanation on this topic in his Post #25. (Once you hit the link scroll to #25) I'd defer to him if he differs on this subject.
Cheers
DSD sends

 

[PherPhace]

Well, it shouldn't hurt and will make the tree stronger give proper horticultural growing techniques. As far as the trunk, that ought to depend on where exactly the suckers come into the trunk. Generally the trunk girth is considered to be built by the energy gain from branches above the area of the trunk you are concerned about. So branches way low might not directly contribute to trunk building. However, given proper feeding and care with enough room to grow, there is alot to say about the extra positive energy balance that the lower branches will create by having extra photosynthetic surfaces feeding the base. Thus IMO this energy will be returned to the rest of the tree each year in more growth.

For some more on that Forsoothe! just posted a really cool explanation on this topic in his Post #25. (Once you hit the link scroll to #25) I'd defer to him if he differs on this subject.
Cheers
DSD sends

Great explanation. That was my basic understanding, but I'm relatively new to conifers so I wasn't sure if there are different rules in that respect.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good luck with your Redwood! Mine all just got a trunk chop and I wired up a new leader and a couple branches and have pinched back twice already.
All four are still in 3 gallon containers and basic potting soil. Will look at the roots soon and likely uppot if that’s indicated.
Cheers
DSD sends