Conifer Division: Palafr01's Dawn Redwoods (2021 shohin contest)

[palafr01]

While perusing the Bnut website one night, I stumbled upon the 2021 shohin contest thread and became so inspired by all the different contest entries that I decided to have a go at it myself. Coincidentally I had happened to have started some dawn redwoods from seed last year from cones that I collected near my home, and out of the 30 or so seeds that I sowed around 9 germinated, and of those only 5 survived until the end of the growing season. I knew that I didn't want to do the same old cliché forest planting most people attempt with their redwood seedlings so I thought the rules of the contest gave the perfect excuse for me to try something different.

 

[palafr01]

So I thought for awhile and realized that I couldn't recall a thread or post where someone created a formal upright dawn redwood from scratch (i.e. from seed/cutting). In most cases dawn redwood bonsai (like most trees) are usually started with a big box store tree or large landscape tree and cut it down to start. Admittedly it is faster to develop a tree this way, but given how quickly redwoods grow I thought it would be worth trying to grow one out from the beginning. So this thread will hopefully serve as a roadmap to others whose wish to grow out dawn redwoods from seed.

 

[palafr01]

Finally to the documentation. I unfortunately do not have many pictures of the 5 seedlings since they were on autopilot (growing out) for the most part last year. To summarize the previous growing season, I was new to the species so I was learning as I went. To summarize here's two what I learned:
1. dawn redwoods are fairly easy to grow with few if any pest problems. The few seedlings I did lose died early on due to damping off which is not uncommon in conifers.
2. while redwoods like moisture I believe they do appreciate having well draining soil.

I think my soil composition ( a combination of small pumice, gravel, and peat) could have been better as my surviving seedlings finished growing with heights around 4-9 inches which if I recall falls a bit short of the 10-12 inches that can be expected under ideal conditions. Being new to redwoods I did not separate them from their starting container which could have played a factor as well.

Goals for 2022:
1. Separate and repot the seedlings into a better mix so they can grow out for the rest of the season.
2. Begin to consider which of the seedlings are the best candidates for the contest

Lastly, good luck to all growers in the contest and may you all have a successful 2022 growing season!

(fyi picture taken 11/1/21)

 

[HorseloverFat]

Cool Beans!

 

[LindaPat]

I like to grow them. I also grow them from seed.

 

[LindaPat]

They have such funny roots, but root cuttings never work for me. I think there must be a good way of pruning them, but I haven’t found it. I’ve learned to keep them in a shallow tray of water in the summer.

 

[palafr01]

Here's a quick update on the five seedlings that I am working on in the order that I repotted them this spring.


Below is seedling #1. Unfortunately this one died not too long after I repotted it (~1 month) and these pictures are here for documentation purposes only. If I had to guess, I believe that I over worked the roots and this lead to an overpot situation. With rather low temperatures during March and April this likely either prevented the soil from adequately drying between waters or it stalled the seedling's growth enough to the point that some pathogen was able to kill it before it recovered. Not much else to say about it.

 

[palafr01]

On a better note here's tree #2. This one has great roots and it is generally doing well. It is growing well but still isn't doing so with vigor, nor has it firmly rooted itself in the pond basket. It is the only seedling where this issue is a concern, and I'm not sure why this is the case. Anyways on to the next tree.

 

[palafr01]

Next up is tree #3. This is the tree from the 2021 photo and it is an interesting one. For whatever reason this tree (at the moment) seems to be either a dwarf or a weeper. I'll post a more recent picture with it in leaf soon, but the growth of this tree is both tighter and more arched than its siblings. At first I thought its location in its original pot caused the growth I saw (it was above the drainage hole), but it appears that this wasn't the case. Furthermore it also doesn't have much of an apical leader and the buds it forms seem to be clustered. Aside from that the nebari on this tree is already pretty goodm and I have I hopes for this one. If it is a dwarf I may set it aside to grow freely as a curiosity, but for now it is still in the contest since it probably is too early to call its growth habit.

 

[palafr01]

Tree #4. Not too happy with this one as it had the worst root spread of the bunch. With what I had to work with I decided to experiment and see if I could make a slant style tree with a buttressing base using part of the taproot to kickstart the process. The pot is admittedly too small, but with the size of the rootball I believe it this was the best course of action to take at the time. I wont get much growth this year but I hope that tree #4 will fill the pot with roots so I can transplant it next year.

 

[palafr01]

Lastly tree #5. At the moment this tree is slated to be grown out as a medium to large size tree so it was planted to the ~3 gallon nursery container to can some size. Of all the trees this one had the least root work done to it and it shows. Though it started slow like the others it recently has begun to pick up steam and is now starting to show some extension growth.


These photos and the ones above where taken not long after repot, and I will post more recent photos to show their continued progress.

 

[palafr01]

Here are the four trees in leaf as of the time of this post. (In numerical order)

 

[19Mateo83]

Good looking little glyptostroboides! Good looking little ginkgos too!

 

[HorseloverFat]

glyptostroboides!

WHAT did you call me!?



...


OP, those are coming along!

Looking good!

 

[palafr01]

Quick mini-update. Two close up shots of tree #3 and its needles. Interestingly tree #3 seems to have curled needles with loose spacing between them. These traits are not ideal for this contest and for bonsai in general so this tree will probably not be my entry for the contest. That said I may continue to post pics of it from time to time as it develops. More pics when I get time...

 

[palafr01]

Here are the trees in order. Not much has changed but they are still going strong...

 

[palafr01]

Not so good update. Trees #2 & #4 didn't make it. Was away on vacation and my method of watering rotted the roots

 

[palafr01]

(Timed out on editing.... lol)

Not so good update. Trees #2 & #4 didn't make it. From late July to early August I was away on a vacation and I believe that my method of watering ultimately rotted the roots. What I think happened was that the heat wave we had at the time killed off too many roots in the pond basket/pot just prior to my vacation which meant that the tubs of water I used to keep them hydrated left the soil too wet for what root mass remained. A silver lining in all this was that I returned home to living trees meaning that the tubs had done their job. However if I grow these again, I would not recommend pond baskets for this species as they lose water quickly. Such an observation was easily predictable, but I thought I could get away it and instead I got burnt for it.

Below is tree #5, the last surviving seedling, now twice as tall than it was at the beginning of the growing season. As mentioned earlier, I was growing this tree to be large so it was never intended to be apart of the contest. When it has put on far more size, I may take some cuttings from it and renter the contest using any cuttings that strike. When I do I'll post them here.