Dawn Redwoods question on thickening bark/pruning

[power270lb]

Looking for advice and feedback on these dawn Redwoods. Grew them from seed a year ago and goal atm is thicker trunks. Not sure what I want to do but leaning towards a forest eventually. Made pond baskets and I've never pruned these. Should I just let go? Putting in the ground isn't an option because of where I live unfortunately.

 

[dbonsaiw]

No advice, just kudos on growing such nice trees from seed.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

If it were my Dawn Redwoods, I’d get these out of the pond baskets as soon as you can. Dawns love to keep their roots wet.

If one wants to develop trunks, the goal will be to keep these growing as fast they can. When these get too tall, cut the leader and wire a new one…. and worry about root nebari once you start getting caliber.

If its a forest you want, it would still be good to get some caliper. In that case you don’t need to concern yourself a lot bout the nebari

btw My redwoods are all in nursery pots, upsized every two years and planted in premium growers mix cut with bark, about 70/30ish.

Here is a five year old.


cheers
DSD sends

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

First, think about desired finished height. Trunk diameter should be around a quarter to a third of final desired height.

By and large - wide shallow containers. Keep moving them into containers that hold more media, but keep the containers shallow to help get wide root flair. If you had been following recent bald cypress threads, dawn redwood are similar, they even tolerate flooding for part of the year. Hard drying out between watering is fatal.

Pond baskets and tall nursery pots work against the goal of developing a wide shallow root flair.

One technique is to allow a seedling to get as tall as needed with zero pruning, until the desired trunk diameter has been achieved. This can mean allowing the seedlings getting to 10 or 20 feet tall. Then you chop down to a third of the final desired height.

Then regrow secondary and tertiary branches.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

First, think about desired finished height. Trunk diameter should be around a quarter to a third of final desired height.

By and large - wide shallow containers. Keep moving them into containers that hold more media, but keep the containers shallow to help get wide root flair. If you had been following recent bald cypress threads, dawn redwood are similar, they even tolerate flooding for part of the year. Hard drying out between watering is fatal.

Lots of trade off in growing out Redwoods…much more so then Maples etc…. especially considering space, nebari and time.

This is an acceptable way to grow Dawns yet requires, as @Leo in N E Illinois so aptly puts it, one to be around to water when the media goes dry…. And Dawns with a head of foliage suck water fast.…. One would have to up pot rapidly or slow the tree’s growth. This would be a bonsai many years in the making.

Pond baskets and tall nursery pots work against the goal of developing a wide shallow root flair.

imho Dawns and all Redwood‘s naturally buttress given space, unless one doesn’t want much caliper. If one wants a trunk diameter 1/4 to 1/3 of the finished height, a 24” final height wil require 6-8“ diameter trunk.

In my backyard in upsized nursery containers every 1-2 years, this would take quite a few years. (Presently 1 3/4” diameter at 5 years). I can see using a nursery pot to gain girth, then ground layering near the end, perhaps with a tourniquet (a consideration in planning) and then placing in a wide shallow put. Yet not a wide shallow pot from the git go.

Planted in the ground… that’s another story… perhaps a consideratio?

One technique is to allow a seedling to get as tall as needed with zero pruning, until the desired trunk diameter has been achieved. This can mean allowing the seedlings getting to 10 or 20 feet tall. Then you chop down to a third of the final desired height.

Yep. It tried this, but at 8-9’ the tree canopy acted like a sail and kept blowing over. 8-9’ is my limit before a leader chop.

Then regrow secondary and tertiary branches.

For sure!

cheers
DSD sends

 

[power270lb]

Lots of trade off in growing out Redwoods…much more so then Maples etc…. especially considering space, nebari and time.

This is an acceptable way to grow Dawns yet requires, as @Leo in N E Illinois so aptly puts it, one to be around to water when the media goes dry…. And Dawns with a head of foliage suck water fast.…. One would have to up pot rapidly or slow the tree’s growth. This would be a bonsai many years in the making.


imho Dawns and all Redwood‘s naturally buttress given space, unless one doesn’t want much caliper. If one wants a trunk diameter 1/4 to 1/3 of the finished height, a 24” final height wil require 6-8“ diameter trunk.

In my backyard in upsized nursery containers every 1-2 years, this would take quite a few years. (Presently 1 3/4” diameter at 5 years). I can see using a nursery pot to gain girth, then ground layering near the end, perhaps with a tourniquet (a consideration in planning) and then placing in a wide shallow put. Yet not a wide shallow pot from the git go.

Planted in the ground… that’s another story… perhaps a consideratio?

Yep. It tried this, but at 8-9’ the tree canopy acted like a sail and kept blowing over. 8-9’ is my limit before a leader chop.

For sure!

cheers
DSD sends

@Leo in N E Illinois lol you guys are sooooo much more advanced than I am. Thought I was doing a good thing (pond baskets) because it took a month to re-pot all my trees. I am around enough to water which it's been 95+ for weeks and I'm usually soaking 3x a day. When it's windy they tip over so now I'm contemplating sticking them in bigger pots after what you guys said.

As far as nebari im very interested but wouldn't know where to begin. I was contemplating next re-pot to put a plastic square/laminated so the roots grow out. The medium I use is diatomaceous earth, Lava rock, pumice and pine bark. It can be tedious watering and the winter I'm very fortunate they survived. It gets to be expensive lol, feels like I'm constantly buying medium. Have only DE, garden soil and sand ATM (a lot of adenium seedlings 100+) any recommendations where to get bark (whatever u use), pumice, lava rock for cheap? If I was going to transfer to bigger pots and just use soil/perlite what would u recommend?

Also the taller ones should I clip and when's a good time to re-pot fall?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@Leo in N E Illinois lol you guys are sooooo much more advanced than I am. Thought I was doing a good thing (pond baskets) because it took a month to re-pot all my trees. I am around enough to water which it's been 95+ for weeks and I'm usually soaking 3x a day. When it's windy they tip over so now I'm contemplating sticking them in bigger pots after what you guys said.

As far as nebari im very interested but wouldn't know where to begin. I was contemplating next re-pot to put a plastic square/laminated so the roots grow out. The medium I use is diatomaceous earth, Lava rock, pumice and pine bark. It can be tedious watering and the winter I'm very fortunate they survived. It gets to be expensive lol, feels like I'm constantly buying medium. Have only DE, garden soil and sand ATM (a lot of adenium seedlings 100+) any recommendations where to get bark (whatever u use), pumice, lava rock for cheap? If I was going to transfer to bigger pots and just use soil/perlite what would u recommend?

Also the taller ones should I clip and when's a good time to re-pot fall?

I would NOT repot in autumn. Late winter and early spring traditionally is the best time for repotting. Find some local, within 100 miles, bonsai hobby growers, a bonsai club is a good place to meet up. See when they repot.

Pruning is done if the tree has become thick enough in diameter. If the tree is "too skinny" don't prune it.