My new Dawn Redwood

[jazvessels]

I just bought this at a Dallas Bonsai Society auction. I am told it is 20+ years and I believe it has been slightly neglected recently. It is very root bound and I think many of the branches are kind of leggy and thin. It is 30" tall and 1.2 " dia. I am in zone 8A. Right now we are having nights in the 30s. What I have read is that it is the most cold hardy of the redwoods. I know leaves will turn yellow/orange and fall off. I have been keeping it in the green house around 40°. A couple of questions:
1. Should I leave it outside to trigger fall color? our temps for the next two weeks range for 54° day, 29° night.
2. Probably the wrong time to do any kind of re-pot and/or trim back those long leggy branches. the soil has fine roots poking out to surface everywhere.
3. I hear that in spring I can cut back somewhat aggressively. but really would like some more specific guidance. Should I prepare to go to a larger pot" this is 12" across. I am thinking that on re-pot, removing some root mass I can keep it in this one.
Please feel free to share any thoughts you have.

 

[BrianBay9]

I assume you're in Dallas, so to start we have different climates. But when I buy a new tree like this I focus on making sure it's really healthy and thriving before I plan any additional work. Yes, I'd definitely leave it outside. Repot? Only if the soil is bad or not draining well. If you repot, I would be gentle with the roots unless they have filled the pot and are circling around. Unless you know this tree and it's health from the previous owner, I would not cut back aggressively. I would fertilize aggressively and hope to see at least one season of full, sustained growth before planning major pruning/styling.

 

[jazvessels]

I am in Dallas. I am a little concerned about the soil being very hard but still accepting water. I have had it a couple weeks and it seems healthy if negelected.

 

[GGB]

DR are very cold tolerant, I would not protect it right now or you will have a problem on your hands later. This tree looks prety weak in my opinion but I don't know its history. It may have been pruned recently, and the foliage just looks like that because it's old tired interior growth. When happy they should be extrodinarily vigorous. They are very flood tolerant when healthy. If that were my tree I would submerge it in a pan of water for 45 minutes just to make sure the soil is fully saturated and doesn't have any dry spots. Then get it out of that soil this spring, maybe being somewhate conservative with how much root you remove, since we don't know for sure how healthy it is.

 

[jazvessels]

Put it back out, soaking the pot. This is what the bed look like. I am considering lifting it out of this pot and putting it into something bigger without disturbing the roots and covering the exposed.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

A slip pot as described with little to no root/media disturbance will work… as long as you can match the media the tree is in.

Next year I would focus on getting the tree healthy with robust growth. Right now it looks weakand likely sheared back, leaving few solar panels.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[rockm]

I wouldn't bother keeping this in a greenhouse in Dallas. That is probably overkill and as said, could be more trouble than benefit. I'd mulch it into a corner of your yard where it's wind protected. Keep the soil moist all the way through--if you cover up and over the top of the pot, you won't have to worry much about watering if it's in a place that is exposed to precipitation.

Before you do that, you can open up the soil a bit without repotting, by pushing a chopstick or other substantial thinnish stick far down into the soil a dozen or more times at varying places. That can allow temporary entry paths for water to get into the root mass. After that's done, get it under mulch and keep an eye on it from time to time to make sure it doesn't dry out if there isn't much rain/precipitation.