Help differentiating live vs deadwood on coastal redwood

[Lars Grimm]

Hi All,

I recently expanded my collection to include a few coastal redwoods for the first time. They have been growing very well this year, but I would like to do some deadwood preservation in preparation for the colder/wetter upcoming winter. The rest of my collection is exclusively deciduous so I am struggling to differentiate the live from the deadwood on these redwoods, as I would like to apply some lime sulfur.

Does anyone have any basic recommendations for how to tease the two apart? Am I mostly looking for the color differences? Is it safe to just peel back some of the sloughing bark? I can't find much info on coastal redwoods out there, so any links would be welcome as well.

All of the growth is coming from Side A, but it still looks like there is some healthy bark on the bottom right of side B. When I got the piece from Bob Shimon, the whole base was covered up and I was able to expose this cool arch. There is also a big hollow on the top that is not well appreciated on these pictures. You can see the scorch marks in Side A from an old fire.


Side A


Side B

 

[Shibui]

Just gently scrape off the flaking bark. The flaky bark is all dead so won't affect the tree underneath. It should be easier to spot the difference between live bark and dead as you get down through the flaking outer bark.
A toothbrush may not be stiff enough to get the outer bark off. A normal wire brush is too harsh and will damage living bark underneath. Picking it off by hand is way too tedious. I have found that a brass brush (available at hardware stores) is stiff enough but not too damaging provided you use it gently.

 

[Potawatomi13]

Believe LS completely unnatural looking on Redwood. Redwood Red not white. Not desert/dry environment trees with sunbaked wind blasted dead wood but wet place tree where wood rots.

 

[Starfox]

You can dye the lime sulphur if you need.

Found this article on a Redwood demo tree which has this passage...

He also pointed out that in most cases lime sulphur is not needed for redwoods, because they resist rot. Use it if you please, but the whitening it causes is also not natural-looking on redwoods. If you insist on using lime sulphur, consider coloring it to tone down the bright white.

March 2020: Bob Shimon’s Redwood Demonstration

In March of 2020, with pandemic-related uncertainty at its highest and information at its lowest, the Marin Bonsai Club had what would be its last meeting before the official stay-at-home order. Ou…

marinbonsai.org

All personal choice at the end of the day.

 

[Lars Grimm]

Believe LS completely unnatural looking on Redwood. Redwood Red not white. Not desert/dry environment trees with sunbaked wind blasted dead wood but wet place tree where wood rots.

Yup, I was definitely planning to tint it.

 

[Lars Grimm]

You can dye the lime sulphur if you need.

Found this article on a Redwood demo tree which has this passage...

March 2020: Bob Shimon’s Redwood Demonstration

In March of 2020, with pandemic-related uncertainty at its highest and information at its lowest, the Marin Bonsai Club had what would be its last meeting before the official stay-at-home order. Ou…

marinbonsai.org

All personal choice at the end of the day.

Thanks so much for this link. This is exactly what I am looking for.

 

[TimberLakers]

I used Minwax Wood Hardener on my coastal redwood deadwood.

No tint and no sheen - just prevents water damage during the wet winter season.

 

[Lars Grimm]

I used Minwax Wood Hardener on my coastal redwood deadwood.

No tint and no sheen - just prevents water damage during the wet winter season.

Something like this: https://www.minwax.com/wood-products/maintenance-repair/minwax-high-performance-wood-hardener

 

[TimberLakers]

Something like this: https://www.minwax.com/wood-products/maintenance-repair/minwax-high-performance-wood-hardener

Yep, that's the stuff. No complaints on my end. Looks like it did before it was applied - just water resistant now.