I've been growing out a dawn redwood and haven't cut anything on it since purchase. It's now looks like a Christmas tree and is taller than me, but the trunk still has a good deal of thickening to go and I will just keep growing it out for another few years. When I'm ready to prune, can I simply strip the tree of its oversized branches and start growing branches anew?
Hard Prune Redwood Question
- Thread starter dbonsaiw
- Start date
GGB
Masterpiece
yes you can. the lower branches will create muscling and "armpits" on the trunk. where as the trunk will just be a straight pole if you prune of the lower branches. Obviously root flare always adds taper too. If the tree is planted in the ground you will be amazed how fast it thickens, if in a pot, it's probably still no slow poke but I don't know from experience. I was just reading about them today and saw annual growth listed as 3 to 10 feet a year. I can confirm that mine has been averaging about 7' a year.
BonsaiDTLA
Shohin
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
I've been told that you can dunk redwood to swell the base as well.
GGB
Masterpiece
Never dunked mine, since it's ground grown but I'm taking some airlayers and plan to submerge them in the future when I go on vacation. I have seen them growing in standing water twice now. once at and arboretum and once in some ones back yard pond. I don't think they do quite as well as BC in those conditions but who knows. I've only read anecdotal things online
How exactly is this done? I'd like to do this with my BC as well. Do I simply place the pot in a larger pot of water? How does one drain this outer pot/do they?
Cajunrider
Imperial Masterpiece
To be honest, I previously thought redwood should not be dunked until corrected by the members of this forum. I have also read that redwood don't quite respond as strong as BC when dunked. Perhaps redwood are more like trees in flood plane regions that are only periodically submerged.
Currently I use multiple methods for dunking my BCs. Some BCs I simply planted them in pots that have no drain holes down below. The drain holes are at the level where I want the water to be, which can be 1" below the soil level or right at the soil level. Other BCs I put the BC pots inside larger pots that have no drain. My last and current favorite dunk is to plant the BC in a stackable bus tub with drain holes at the bottom as usual. When I want to dunk the BC, I simply stack that bus tub on top of a no drain bus tub then water the tree. The second tub will fill up and keep the BC flooded. However, mosquitoes have no access to that water. Every so often, I just lift the tub with tree out and dump the water out of the bottom tub.
From the interwebs - "The dawn redwood's natural range is an area of only about 232 square miles in China, however it has been planted successfully around the world. The tree grows at a fast rate--increasing an average of 24 inches a year. The dawn redwood grows in open forests, preferring shady, moist areas, such as ravines and stream banks, although the dawn redwood is very versatile and can grow in many types of soil."
I think 2 feet/year is being somewhat modest. Although I did not dunk any of my redwoods, I do keep them watered and fertilized well. The larger one started off about chest height this season and now towers over me. Roots have likely escaped the 10 gallon pot at this point.
I think 2 feet/year is being somewhat modest. Although I did not dunk any of my redwoods, I do keep them watered and fertilized well. The larger one started off about chest height this season and now towers over me. Roots have likely escaped the 10 gallon pot at this point.
Just saw this. I don't personally dunk my redwood and just give it plenty of water. But dunking is pretty easy - you just place the pot in a larger pot with no drainage and let it sit in water.
It appears that there may have once been extensive dawn redwood forests in the floodplain of the Metasequoia Valley in Hubei, China, as thousands of stumps were found there. These have since been turned into rice fields. DR is tolerant of soggy, waterlogged soils; you are correct that in the wild it is adapted to growing on flood plains. The species tends to struggle without irrigation in arid climates such as the American West unless planted directly on or adjacent to a body of water such as a pond or stream.
