Dawn Redwood first chop advice

[karen82]

It's too early to do anything yet (still snow on the ground here) but one of my plans for this spring is to dig and chop my dawn redwood (and probably replant it in the ground again). It's been growing in ground for 3 years now and is rather close to the septic tank so it needs to be dug and root pruned. The photo is from last summer, next to a pencil for scale.



Can they be safely chopped low or should I chop it above the lower leaves? My understanding is that being deciduous, they can handle harder chops than most conifers - similar to a bald cypress. But I can't find much on dawn redwoods, and I usually don't see BC being chopped very low.

 

[Joe Dupre']

My stock question is "How big do you want the trunk to be?" If it's about at the diameter you want, chop at the appropriate height for the species to eventually get the finished height and style you want. I don't know anything about dawn redwood, but if it indeed does behave like bald cypress, chop it at almost any height. "Well, I don't know what style I want." Well, you kinda have to have a basic, general direction for the tree. If not, you can easily waste 5 years going in the wrong direction.

If it were mine, I'd dig it up, chop it to 2-3 feet high and replant it in a better location for a few years. You could probably get the trunk up to 3-4" in diameter, giving you a very impressive specimen.

 

[LittleDingus]

In my opinion, chopping dawn redwood (or bald cypress) doesn't produce an attractive taper. It always looks a bit like a graft union to me.

My opinion is you get a better, more natural taper by letting the low branches grow. Grow the tree to look like a Christmas tree with wide spread low branches narrowing to a point as the trunk goes up.

Also, water them heavily! They can't take quite as much water as bald cypress, but they will flute at the base for all the same reasons bald cypress will when watered heavily. They can get root rot...but, if they are actively growing it's much less likely.

I'd guess your tree is taller than mine being in the ground, but here's one of mine after 3 years in a grow bag with pencil for scale



This tree is from seed planted in October 2019. I often plant redwoods in the fall to have something fun to watch over the winter months It currently stands about 4' tall and over 3' wide...well, it was over 3' wide, but the deer have taken off some of the lower branches this winter

In my opinion, you have to let the lower branches on these guys run to get a realistic taper with a natural looking trunk. Chop the trunk and you get what I find as ugly scars. Trim the lower branches or crowd them to inhibit lower branch growth and they grow with little to no taper. But let the lower branches grow and they can start to get that tapered look early.

Personally, if you're putting it back in the ground and have the room for the low branches to spread, I'd cut it back to about what you want as a final height. Keep the entire of the final trunk whole. Then trim the branches to create a cone shape. And let her run! Each year trim back to a cone shape if necessary...or at least trim upper branches to let light into lower branches to keep them growing. Try not to trim the lowest branches.

But remember, it's not my tree, it's yours