Dawn Redwood (dinosaur bonsai!)

[Polcyn]

So in searching for trees for my young collection of future bonsai I read about the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) and was immediately amazed by this tree's rebirth back in the forties.

So obviously I bought one as soon as I could!!! Thank you "The Hidden Gardens" in Willowbrook, IL.

Now that I have one (see picture) I was hoping that there were a few "nuts" that could share some care and styling tips and/or some pictures of their trees/progressions.

Any help is appreciated... even if it is sassy!

Thanks

 

[Redwood Ryan]

That is an outdoors year round tree. Put it outside and leave it out there if you want it to survive.

 

[Polcyn]

That is an outdoors year round tree. Put it outside and leave it out there if you want it to survive.

I knew that was coming! He will go outside soon, just got him and want to do some basic styling first.

thx

 

[GGB]

They grow like weeds, if you give them space. I chopped mine a couple times and started getting a textbook formal upright trunk going but this last chop yielded really screwy budding and branches that started curling upright into leaders. I might abandon it as bonsai and keep it in the landscape. They get "bar branches" and what I ould consider "coarse growth" but it seems like being potted slows the chunky akward growth. Neat trees, I had a thing for them for a while but have since switched over to Blad cypress, a relative that, in my opinion seems to have better qualities for bonsai. Good luck, the history is what pulled me in too

 

[Redwood Ryan]

I knew that was coming! He will go outside soon, just got him and want to do some basic styling first.

thx

I would not style this tree at this time of year. The leaves have already hardened. I'd just go ahead and stick it outside.

 

[augustine]

You don't keep outdoor trees inside ever except to display for a few hours.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

My advice, think big, 3 or more feet tall and the coarse growth will be more in scale. They grow very fast if roots can run. You can get more than a foot of growth a year. Won't take long to get trunk diameter up to size.

Lots of sun, water and fertilizer. They are also considered a swamp cypress, though they are not as aquatic as bald cypress, they want a lot more water than a juniper.

Timing for pruning and styling is much like bald cypress. Because they are deciduous, the timing is quite similar. Oldest trees I've seen growing in botanical gardens, about 70 years old, have a habit similar to a less than 100 year old bald cypress grown in open ground. I don't know what ancient metasequoia look like, I imagine much like old coast redwoods. Or something between an old coast redwood and an old bald cypress. They are related closer to coast redwood than bald cypress.

Of course, you can train them to any form you like.