Giant sequoia from seed

[Dorky_gearhead]

Late last spring me and my girlfriend went for a drive up into the mountains (up by batch park). The bear creek rout has a gate that's close for months due to snow, so we decided to take balch park road, which is longer with less switchbacks. The first bit of snow we encountered was on a bend of the road, on the north side of a ridge. We got past that with no problems, the snow dissapeared for a few miles, then on the next north facing bend we found it was impassable. We got out of the car and decided to go on a walk. We came upon a very large redwood, 15-20 feet in diameter. I grabbed an arm load of green cones from under that gargantuan tree.

I placed the cones in a large plastic bag, and set them out to dry, and open up. Fast forward to last week i have a few that were planted up, and i have 3 that have broke the surface. As of now i have no clue what ill be doing with them. I might use some for bonsai, or i might just bring them back up to the mountians and plant them near their mother.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Sequoia, they are not as easy to make into bonsai as coast redwood. The young plants also tend to look enough like a juniper that often people don't realize they are looking at a sequoia in a pot rather than a juniper in a pot. They are very upright growing, so much so that they are really only good for formal uprights and informal upright styles.

I would be tempted to use the seedlings as landscape plants, your own yard or your friend's and relative's yards. They grow very fast once established.