Dawn Redwood

[Aaron S.]

A couple of months ago I got this Dawn Redwood from death row at a local nursery for $1.50. I figured at that price, there isn't much to lose. At the time of purchase it was in a 2 inch square pot and had very little green. Once I got it home I re-potted it and found that even with the real small pot, it was a long way off from being root bound. As you can see the top of the tree has grown about as fast as the national debt. The bottom of the tree is not quite catching up. With it being top heavy and the near constant wind we have it is falling over several times a day. I can see a couple of options but I do not know if they would kill the tree if I did them at this time of year. I was thinking of either slip-potting it in a larger pot or doing a trunk chop. The bottom 75% or the trunk is laser straight so that is another problem I will need to address.

 

[GGB]

Hey man, looks vigorous. good nursing skills. At that height it should be way thicker. If you plant it in the ground it will reward you with a thick buttressing base very quickly. You can chop them like any weedy deciduous tree and they'll come right back. at least while young and healthy. If it were mine i'd chop it back to about 7" tall and stick it in the ground. My thought process being.. if you chop it low it will bud up below the trunk with branches that will accelrate the buttressing base. If these tree have no lower branches they just grow tall and lean but they don't self prune the lowest branches naturally and can get a great base. Although if your plan is literati, just ignore everything ive said.
I have one I've grown from seed and every year i chop it hard without removing any branches below the chop and it would be well on it's way to a great bonsai tree if I wanted to use it for that.. Alas I don't / can't

 

[GGB]

Typically now is a good time to chop a tree, to answer your question. But if someone with more experience (with redwood) tells you otherwise I'd listen to them

 

[GGB]

OH yeah! one more thing, the new branches/trunk will lignify at a snails pace. This gets tricky if you have a sudden harsh autumn. If you have a shed or garage you can extend their summer just long enough to make sure everything you want to keep is nice and woody. The weather in PA is crazy and we've had hurrican blizzards in October. Don't know anythign about OK but if it's zone 7 maybe it won't be a problem for you

 

[Aaron S.]

Thanks GGB, I lived in Reading PA from 95-97, beautiful countryside, architecture, and history but it was just not home. I have a large tub that I was thinking to put it in. It is about 3 feet in diameter and 2 feet deep. I have no income at the time so the soil I use is crushed red lava rock, topped with a thin layer of home made compost. Once a week I "fertilize" all my trees by watering them with compost tea.

 

[GGB]

Cool, sounds like my first 3 years in the hobby haha. I sort of like PA but don't blame you for not feeling at home in Reading. Dunno what it was like in the mid nineties but reading isn't doing so well right now. Lotta crime and meth

 

[Aaron S.]

If I chop it like you said, would there any chance for the removed material to grow as a cutting. Over the winter I did a trunk chop on a Mulberry and planted the top as a cutting and now the cutting is bigger than the parent tree.

 

[Aaron S.]

I never did get around to doing a trunk chop, I put it in a large pot and just let it grow over the summer. It is now about 6 feet tall, the bottom is still thin of branches but has had some nice growth. The base of the trunk nearly tripled in thickness and is buttressing nicely. About 2/3rd up the tree is a nice crook of the trunk and that is pretty much the reason of no trunk chop. As you can see from the Jun pics to the Oct pics it is pretty healthy.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Just to give you an idea of what can be done, you could next year chop it as low as 2 or 3 inches from the soil. It will back bud, pick a new leader. Let it grow to 6 feet talk again. Repeat each time keeping a progressively shorter segment of trunk. This way to develop taper.

You could or should wait with the chop until the trunk is the diameter you want for the finished tree. Waiting is the quickest route. Reapeated and earlier chopping will slow the development of caliper, but will allow for smaller scars to heal.