Dawn Redwood First winter

YaBoyMyth

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Location
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
USDA Zone
10a
Anyone who has had Dawn redwoods before have any ideas for this? Let it grow another few seasons before chop? Small chop now and thin some branches out?
 

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Where you are probably won't make much difference. The climate in Michigan is quite different!
 
Yeah, I'm with @shimbrypaku on this one. If you can give it full sun and lots of water it will grow very aggressively. I chop and repot mine each year and they don't miss a beat. You'll get a fatter trunk, faster, if you take the approach @Leo in N E Illinois suggests, but I think you'll have more uniform taper with more frequent chops. They grow fast enough that either way you'll have a thick enough trunk in a small number of years, depending on what size you're going for.
 
Yup, north Raleigh.
I will take a few shots of my redwood in the AM.
None of them are more than 3.5 years old, acquired them in 2020 pencil size bare rooted.
Some have been chopped already, and the cuttings potted up. They root pretty easy.
 
Yeah, I'm with @shimbrypaku on this one. If you can give it full sun and lots of water it will grow very aggressively. I chop and repot mine each year and they don't miss a beat. You'll get a fatter trunk, faster, if you take the approach @Leo in N E Illinois suggests, but I think you'll have more uniform taper with more frequent chops. They grow fast enough that either way you'll have a thick enough trunk in a small number of years, depending on what size you're going for.
So if I was going to chop I would choose a spot near a bud during late winter and chop a little above that?
 
Taper, where I think the current trunk needs to be cut. Some lower some higher. I have a bunch more to chop, some small and some in Anderson flats, I will see if I can get so before and after shots.
The benefit of having a bunch is if you screw up its no big deal, just a learning experience.
 
So if I was going to chop I would choose a spot near a bud during late winter and chop a little above that?
Usually one would choose and spot near a branch that could be easily wired upright. Prettu much can chop most anytime here. We usually chop just as the buds show green.
How do you choose where you want to chop lol
That’s a good question that depends on three things, growth rate, desired height and design. The idea is to create taper… but this depends on which design one wants.

For a tapered upright, one might cut lower and more often. For other designs, lightening struck, split trunk, stump (takes a long time, best to but this, etc this is not the case.

The very fastest way to grow these trees out is in the ground… flat out. The next best way is to up pot every year, which is what we do. Anderson flat for this tree might work for a couple years to start with, then not so much.

A good nursery soil with a pumice drain layer seems to be the best Gro mix for in the pot/flat here. ( we’ve 1 Dawn and 3 coast redwoods growing out). If in bonsai soil the tree will go dry fast, so best to stick pot in a tray of water.

That’s all I’ve got! Good Luck and keep us posted.

cheers
DSD sends
 
Yup, north Raleigh.
I will take a few shots of my redwood in the AM.
None of them are more than 3.5 years old, acquired them in 2020 pencil size bare rooted.
Some have been chopped already, and the cuttings potted up. They root pretty easy.
good to know! I'm in chapel hill. I've only got one redwood here now but would like to add more eventually
 
How big are you looking for?
I have pencil size to 1/2 3/4 inch, some bigger in Anderson flats, some in the flats that have two or three trees planted close. Was growing them a for a forest.
 
The one I currently have is probably 7 or 8 years old and a couple inches in diameter. I'd like to get a few more that size or even larger, I prefer large developed trees.
 
Yeah I'd like to do a grove or forest type of planting with a few larger trees but of different sizes. I got this one at the Get Rooted nursery down here. Chad has some fantastic trees and of course hundreds of amazing maples.
 
Yeah I'd like to do a grove or forest type of planting with a few larger trees but of different sizes. I got this one at the Get Rooted nursery down here. Chad has some fantastic trees and of course hundreds of amazing maples.
Thanks for the info, I didn’t know about this nursery.

Thanks again
 
Definitely make sure you see a healthy bud or a few below the chop point. I'm not certain, but from what I can tell a dawn redwood will not grow from a stump that does not have already-formed buds.

As @shimbrypaku mentioned, these are among the easier trees to root from HW cuttings. Certainly the easiest conifer. So if you have the room and the inclination you can have many more trees in short order. Having lots of them means you will have more room to experiment.
 
A few pics of my chops this year.once they wake up I usually prune again.
 

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