Dawn Redwood Primary Developement

[Chunky Trunks]

Let’s talk Dawn redwood. During this stage of my bonsai addiction, Dawn Redwood is the front runner as my favorite. What strategy are you using for Primary Developement (controlling roots)? These trees have very aggressive roots and grow straight out the bottom of my 3 gallon nursery pots into a raised bed. Theyre going on a bench for the time being. How are you creating radial roots without having to fight those aggressive “tap” roots? Anyone tried different air pruning pots or a unique method of field growing (dread the day I dig those up). Bonsai On! Thanks in advance.

Zone 8 / NC

 

[PowerTap]

Why are you drawn to dawn redwood as an early species? My impression of them is that they don't have a deep body of knowledge because they are relatively new to bonsai cultivation. So getting good consistent answers might be hard. Compared to a tried and true species you'll do more figuring out.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Have one whose trunk is over 2” now that we grew from a whip… and thre Coastals. Each year we up potted into a larger nursery container after chopping the bottom half of the roots off. Just saw across the bottom of the root ball.

At the same time reduce the top hamper by making a cut at least 18-24” off the ground located just at a branch that is flexible enough to wire straight up…. May have to carefully chisel a notch atop the cut to get the branch straight.

Also reduce the large branches anywhere on the trunk, but leave a bit of branch to force small branches to push at the base of the old branch.

Good Luck!

Cheers
DSD Sends

 

[Chunky Trunks]

Why are you drawn to dawn redwood as an early species? My impression of them is that they don't have a deep body of knowledge because they are relatively new to bonsai cultivation. So getting good consistent answers might be hard. Compared to a tried and true species you'll do more figuring out.

I have always been fascinated with the giant coastal redwoods and having a redwood that is hardy to my zone is fascinating. I like the quick growth (I’m finding out that comes with a price), the color change in the trunk through each season is beautiful, I like green new growth contrasted with the bronze hardened growth looks like a work of art, and as a deciduous conifer I get the benefit of seeing the winter silhouette. A bit of mystery behind the tree but I plan on experimenting with several forms of primary development during dormancy when I can root prune and transplant.

 

[Chunky Trunks]

Have one whose trunk is over 2” now that we grew from a whip… and thre Coastals. Each year we up potted into a larger nursery container after chopping the bottom half of the roots off. Just saw across the bottom of the root ball.

At the same time reduce the top hamper by making a cut at least 18-24” off the ground located just at a branch that is flexible enough to wire straight up…. May have to carefully chisel a notch atop the cut to get the branch straight.

Also reduce the large branches anywhere on the trunk, but leave a bit of branch to force small branches to push at the base of the old branch.

Good Luck!

Cheers
DSD Sends

How long did is take to get the 2” trunk? Are you planting on any sort of disk or tile to create radial roots? What I am seeing with mine (also have a few coasties) those roots want to take a nose dive straight down.

 

[harshadg]

You can look at bald cypress for inspiration. I airlayered a landscape DR last year and planted the layers into Anderson flats this year. A couple of months ago, I placed them in a tray of water for each flat. The root growth is nothing short of remarkable - whether this can be used to produce radial nebari is a question I can answer next year. But if I were to re-do this (and I do plan to repot them next year), I will be putting them in large flat tubs that can be dunked in water much like the bald cypress model.

To answer your question tho, you can place a tile underneath potentially after you prune the tap root, and only encourage lateral roots. Apparently this has been done with bald cypress, and certainly has been with other deciduous. Definitely get them out of nursery containers as early as possible. The problem with keeping them in vertical (as opposed to flat containers) is that once they fill out the bottom of the pot, the tree will ground layer itself and form a new set of roots closer to the surface. Then your challenge will be to select the roots at the best level, which may not be easy or will leave you with unaesthetic roots.

 

[Chunky Trunks]

You can look at bald cypress for inspiration. I airlayered a landscape DR last year and planted the layers into Anderson flats this year. A couple of months ago, I placed them in a tray of water for each flat. The root growth is nothing short of remarkable - whether this can be used to produce radial nebari is a question I can answer next year. But if I were to re-do this (and I do plan to repot them next year), I will be putting them in large flat tubs that can be dunked in water much like the bald cypress model.

To answer your question tho, you can place a tile underneath potentially after you prune the tap root, and only encourage lateral roots. Apparently this has been done with bald cypress, and certainly has been with other deciduous. Definitely get them out of nursery containers as early as possible. The problem with keeping them in vertical (as opposed to flat containers) is that once they fill out the bottom of the pot, the tree will ground layer itself and form a new set of roots closer to the surface. Then your challenge will be to select the roots at the best level, which may not be easy or will leave you with unaesthetic roots.

Just did some carving and styling on a flat top style bald cypress. Those roots are long gone in that 25 gallon chopped nursery pot. Will take a long time to recover. That answered my questions perfectly. With this species we just need to keep those roots from going straight down and keep large roots under control. Tall skinny nursery pot won’t cut it anymore. I will be creating some grow boxes for fall. I’ll keep you posted! Thanks man.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

How long did is take to get the 2” trunk? Are you planting on any sort of disk or tile to create radial roots? What I am seeing with mine (also have a few coasties) those roots want to take a nose dive straight down.

Forgot to mention, when up potting also cut down the pot by about 1/2. So wider vs smaller.

Do know all redwoods will create a radial nebari two ways, Ground layer and flat cut the roots. Disc, not sure.

Dawn’s and other redwoods are very water hungry. Best to keep in a rich premium nursery mix, maybe cut with pumice or large perlite while growing out.

Think all the redwoods are on their fifth year. As they approach 3” will likely chop, pot in a box and maybe ground layer.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[19Mateo83]

Just did some carving and styling on a flat top style bald cypress. Those roots are long gone in that 25 gallon chopped nursery pot. Will take a long time to recover. That answered my questions perfectly. With this species we just need to keep those roots from going straight down and keep large roots under control. Tall skinny nursery pot won’t cut it anymore. I will be creating some grow boxes for fall. I’ll keep you posted! Thanks man.

I’m here in charlotte as well and I treat my dawn redwoods the exact same as I do bald cypresses and they love it. I use the shallow round pond liners or cement mixing tubs from Lowe’s. I drill my drainage holes on the side of my tubs so it always stays wet.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I’m here in charlotte as well and I treat my dawn redwoods the exact same as I do bald cypresses and they love it. I use the shallow round pond liners or cement mixing tubs from Lowe’s. I drill my drainage holes on the side of my tubs so it always stays wet.

That’s a great idea!

Best
DSD sends

 

[Shibui]

Agree that almost anything that suits bald cypress will also suit Dawn redwood.
Root pruning is no problem. I can cut off as much as I like and they just keep growing.
Forming nebari is the same as other species:

• Cut vertical roots and encourage shallow laterals. Just because they are growing out the bottom of the pot does not mean those are all vertical roots. Many will be laterals that have run down the sides to the drain holes. Just chop back to horizontal whenever you do root trim.
• Layer or use a disk to create new lateral roots where you want them

I'm not a fan of tiles under roots. It will force roots to grow horizontal but any that are folded under others will still grow and thicken and can even push the trunk up away from the tile. many newbies also put the tile too far below the base of the tree which will do almost nothing for nebari.

What strategy are you using for Primary Developement (controlling roots)? These trees have very aggressive roots and grow straight out the bottom of my 3 gallon nursery pots into a raised bed. T

Use this to grow your trunk quicker. No problem with chopping those roots at the end of each summer but allowing them to get away will give much larger trunk diameter increase. I repot and root prune aggressively most years because the roots are so aggressive.
Better to not let it happen when you move to developing branches and ramification as escape roots promote coarse top growth with longer internodes.

 

[Jrmcmich]

I have a single DR and I root pruned almost all of it and was worried if it would live as roots were a mess to start with. Tree has grown very well this year and assume as others mentioned root growth no issue. I used a shallower wider pot as well and is actually a smaller pot and may go larger to add trunk size next or following year. Seems happier this year than last and believe it’s bc it was root bound last year and couldn’t get needed water.

 

[rockm]

I have always been fascinated with the giant coastal redwoods and having a redwood that is hardy to my zone is fascinating. I like the quick growth (I’m finding out that comes with a price), the color change in the trunk through each season is beautiful, I like green new growth contrasted with the bronze hardened growth looks like a work of art, and as a deciduous conifer I get the benefit of seeing the winter silhouette. A bit of mystery behind the tree but I plan on experimenting with several forms of primary development during dormancy when I can root prune and transplant.

Dawn redwood behaves much more like Bald Cypress than Coastal Redwood and Sequoia. It's deciduous, like BC. The west coast redwoods are evergreen. It also likes growing in lowland swamps and wet areas. In China, it's called the "Water Fir"

Bald cypress is pretty closely related to redwoods and sequoia. It is basically the Eastern U.S. version of those trees. The biggest BC were logged a very long time ago, but a few still survive. Some BC in North Carolina are among the oldest trees in the world.