bought a chopped BC; plan for future growth?

[LittleDingus]

Is this guy a goner? For what it's worth, I'm getting a refund from the seller because he sold it as a bald cypress.

I doubt it. They are very resilient. I routinely let my dawn redwoods sit in a couple of inches of water for days. Not the same as full submersion...but they can take it as long as they can dry out some from time to time. There are some healthy roots on the right there...and the big one in front still looks fine. Can't see what's going on under the soil though At this point, I would not depot it to find out.

Personally, I'd try to get it somewhere with some air flow to dry out the soil some. Don't let it dry completely if you can avoid it...but it looks pretty soggy at the moment. It looks like it's in a plastic pot inside a clay pot? Is the clay pot temporary for stability? The outer container that was used for submersion? You might pull it out of that outer pot for a day or two to help get air into that soil ball. Heck...I've even lain smaller trees like this fully on their sides for a day after heavy rains to help get air through the pot when I used to use more organic/soggy mixes.

By the looks of the picture, I think the split is probably due to swelling of the trunk faster than the bark/cambium layer can keep up. Basically, I think the sap wood under the bark is now "water logged" and swollen from sitting in so much water and that swelling is what split the bark. If that's the case, the swelling might shrink back after a few days now that it is not submerged and close that gap some. It should heal as the tree grows. There may be a noticeable scar for a few years...there may not be. Might depend on if there is a branch on that "chord" to help drive healing.

NOTE: I'm arguing to dry up the soil because it still looks water logged. That may be the picture...you're in a better position to tell. I would NOT allow the soil to dry out completely. If you're a gardener, I'd aim for friable soil and then resume normal waterings.

How does the top look? Anything yellowing or looking weepy?

 

[bendem]

I doubt it. They are very resilient. I routinely let my dawn redwoods sit in a couple of inches of water for days. Not the same as full submersion...but they can take it as long as they can dry out some from time to time. There are some healthy roots on the right there...and the big one in front still looks fine. Can't see what's going on under the soil though At this point, I would not depot it to find out.

Personally, I'd try to get it somewhere with some air flow to dry out the soil some. Don't let it dry completely if you can avoid it...but it looks pretty soggy at the moment. It looks like it's in a plastic pot inside a clay pot? Is the clay pot temporary for stability? The outer container that was used for submersion? You might pull it out of that outer pot for a day or two to help get air into that soil ball. Heck...I've even lain smaller trees like this fully on their sides for a day after heavy rains to help get air through the pot when I used to use more organic/soggy mixes.

By the looks of the picture, I think the split is probably due to swelling of the trunk faster than the bark/cambium layer can keep up. Basically, I think the sap wood under the bark is now "water logged" and swollen from sitting in so much water and that swelling is what split the bark. If that's the case, the swelling might shrink back after a few days now that it is not submerged and close that gap some. It should heal as the tree grows. There may be a noticeable scar for a few years...there may not be. Might depend on if there is a branch on that "chord" to help drive healing.

NOTE: I'm arguing to dry up the soil because it still looks water logged. That may be the picture...you're in a better position to tell. I would NOT allow the soil to dry out completely. If you're a gardener, I'd aim for friable soil and then resume normal waterings.

How does the top look? Anything yellowing or looking weepy?

Thanks much for the detailed response. I just set its plastic pot in the larger clay for stability purposes. I'll come up with another way to stabilize it while keeping the airflow good. Unfortunately we've got rain and record cold (on this date) in our forecast. But I've moved the tree under an overhang to limit some of the rain it's getting.

 

[PA_Penjing]

yeah little dingus is right it's fine. When I take cuttings or airlayers the trunk always splits like that. It's weird, it seems to be filled with some kind of crunchy manmade white foam. I haven't ever researched it because ... i don;t know, I guess I'm just not curious enough

 

[LittleDingus]

Thanks much for the detailed response. I just set its plastic pot in the larger clay for stability purposes. I'll come up with another way to stabilize it while keeping the airflow good. Unfortunately we've got rain and record cold (on this date) in our forecast. But I've moved the tree under an overhang to limit some of the rain it's getting.

I hear ya on the cold! We're cooler and wetter than typical too. My poor redwoods have leafed out, but they haven't really pushed much new growth yet I'm worried we'll flip from too cool to too hot and I won't get enough growth to pot some of the ones I thought would be ready after this season.

On yours, my concern would be just that if anything has started to rot...continued wet doesn't help Since your soil looks organic, it might not even be any part of the tree that starts to rot...there might be enough organic material to grow a lot of fungus that could then get into any cracks in the bark...including ones you can't see below the surface.

Again...nothing to panic about. Redwoods are very resilient. But, if you can keep it on the drier side to hamper some fungus growth until it warms up enough for the tree to take off again, it wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, by the end of June, this will be all behind you.

I know you thought you were getting a bald cypress, but, for my money, I very much prefer dawn redwoods. They are similar enough to be basically interchangeable but I find the redwood a slightly better tree to work with

 

[bendem]

I hear ya on the cold! We're cooler and wetter than typical too. My poor redwoods have leafed out, but they haven't really pushed much new growth yet I'm worried we'll flip from too cool to too hot and I won't get enough growth to pot some of the ones I thought would be ready after this season.

On yours, my concern would be just that if anything has started to rot...continued wet doesn't help Since your soil looks organic, it might not even be any part of the tree that starts to rot...there might be enough organic material to grow a lot of fungus that could then get into any cracks in the bark...including ones you can't see below the surface.

Again...nothing to panic about. Redwoods are very resilient. But, if you can keep it on the drier side to hamper some fungus growth until it warms up enough for the tree to take off again, it wouldn't hurt. Hopefully, by the end of June, this will be all behind you.

I know you thought you were getting a bald cypress, but, for my money, I very much prefer dawn redwoods. They are similar enough to be basically interchangeable but I find the redwood a slightly better tree to work with

Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to spray some copper fungicide on the base of the trunk and / or top of the soil? I realize spray = wet, which I'm trying to avoid.

 

[LittleDingus]

Do you think it would be worthwhile for me to spray some copper fungicide on the base of the trunk and / or top of the soil? I realize spray = wet, which I'm trying to avoid.

When it comes to sprays and treatments, I'm an "if it ain't broke...don't fix it" kind of guy. I would let the foliage tell me what to do. If it keeps looking like the foliage in your first couple of pictures, I'd leave it alone...that foliage looks very healthy

Color can be a great guide...especially on dawn redwoods. They tend to have bright green foliage when it first emerges and they stay lighter green when they have adequate light. When the foliage starts becoming dark green to bluish, they can probably use more light...but they can get by on less too, especially if it's hot. If the foliage turns crispy, that's usually a combination of too much heat and not enough water...misting can help. I get a lot of crispy ends to my branches in late summer unless I water well and mist during the heat of the day to cool the foliage down.

Yellow is usually a bad sign. Leaf tips browning while the rest of the leaf stays green can be bad. Leaf curling can be bad. Be on the lookout for those types of conditions...that might be telling you the tree is stressed in bad ways.

Otherwise, all you're really trying to do is get the tree into conditions that favor it's growth. These things can fend for themselves quite well when they have optimum growing conditions