New Sequoia

[Guy Vitale]

Eeuw that soil.

Soil is a tricky thing with Sequoia's, they have very fine roots that require near constant moisture as in let it dry out for 5 minutes and you risk loosing the tree. In nature it is said that the root spread on these trees can extend over a mile ensuring a constant supply of water, I don't know how they figured that ou, but interesting tidbit of information.

 

[Cypress187]

Soil is a tricky thing with Sequoia's.

Oh, I don't know anything about them, it just seemed so.. muddy.

 

[Guy Vitale]

Yeah, I never tried conventional bonsai soil with mine, perhaps it might work, but they tend to like heavier organic heavy soil. I would use unsifted decomposed pine bark, with finer sifted Turface, oil dry, and decomposed granite, I don't think I would plant anything else in that mix.

 

[AlainK]

AlainK, was it the winter that never seemed to end

Yes, I think so.

I presumed it would survive temps below zero since they grow in an environment with very harsh winters compared to where I live.

I understood that here, it needs a deeper container than other species to keep their feet wet, and it can be very dry for days, or even weeks in a row now, so I succeded in avoiding it to have branches that dry out. I just forgot that a tree in a pot needs more care than the ones in their natural environment, where a blanket of snow keeps them from quick temperature changes.

Also, the soil composition is important: growing it in non-organic medium like pozzolane is, I think, a mistake. Mine fared much better when I added at least 30% or organic soil (sifted compost). I suppose they need mycorrhyzae (never sure how to spell that) that are more abundant in organic soil.

My 2 €cents' worth...

 

[AlainK]

they tend to like heavier organic heavy soil.

Posted my reply before reading yours, but I couldn't agree more.

 

[coh]

I had one quite similar to yours, it was just getting where I wanted, but died in the winter of 2012-2013.

View attachment 117285

I was so disappointed that I decided never to try one again.

Er... I still have a 20 cm high cutting that I can't get rid of.

Alain, how tall was that one? Good to see that some people have been trying them, in the past when we've discussed the species...crickets!

 

[Guy Vitale]

Alain, how tall was that one? Good to see that some people have been trying them, in the past when we've discussed the species...crickets!

Agreed!

 

[AlainK]

Alain, how tall was that one?

It was 60-70 centimetres tall (about twoo feet and a big toe) I found the blue pot on sale at at garden center, the outside width is somthng like 34 cm.

Since some of you seem to be interested, here is how it started :

I bought a 15-20 cm tall seedling at a plant fair. Several yaers ago, it looked like that:

April 2005. My garden is not big enough for this tree!



So I pruned it almost bare to the trunk and repotted it. There was enough sap and vital fluid (om, shanti om) for it to push new growth. I really thought there was a 1 to 10 chance that it would survive, but it did. One month later, it already had new shoots, very green, very healthy.

May 2005:



Then...

October 2006:



Etc.

What I want to say is that when the roots are well-established and can pump up life to the visible part (hare krishna, om shanti om), and removing all the branches on a Sequoiadendron giganteum can lead to having new young shoots that are more flexible to work with.

Anyway, I hope that others will contibute to this thread so we can all, step by step, benefit from each other's experience and make this exceptional tree a key feature of American, and international bonsai. For it's really worth trying, brothers and sisters, Alleluia, Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité! And Solidarity

 

[coh]

Thanks for the additional info! One thing I can say based on my specimen - I've noticed that it seems to be very willing to produce new buds right on the trunk. The lower branches have had a tendency to die back but they keep getting replaced by new buds. So I'm thinking that when the time comes (if I ever get the trunk size I want), I should be able to grow a new set of branches. Your experience seems to support that.

I'll try to grab a pic of mine at some point this weekend, though as I said earlier...not much to see yet!

Chris

 

[Guy Vitale]

WOW! I can't believe it was pruned back that hard and survived, from my limited knowledge, these don't like that too much.

I tend to get good bud push after a trunk chop and once those buds are strong enough, I cut back the heavier branches in two stages. I also wired heavier branches down as pictured in my post above and then cut back to develop better branch structure.

The truth of the matter is that I don't think there is enough tried and true methods out there on Sequoia's to definitively say 'do this, don't do that, etc'. Hopefully this thread will develop into a great resource for this species. The one thing I think we can all agree on is that when in doubt protect it from the winter winds, an enclosed cold frame or unheated garage being optimal until outdoor nighttime temps are above freezing.

 

[Guy Vitale]

Thanks for the additional info! One thing I can say based on my specimen - I've noticed that it seems to be very willing to produce new buds right on the trunk. The lower branches have had a tendency to die back but they keep getting replaced by new buds. So I'm thinking that when the time comes (if I ever get the trunk size I want), I should be able to grow a new set of branches. Your experience seems to support that.

I'll try to grab a pic of mine at some point this weekend, though as I said earlier...not much to see yet!

Chris

I find that it does bud back very well on the trunk and these buds develop into branches very quickly. It's not uncommon for them to lose their lower branches when stressed from drying out too much from heat, wind, or cold, but like you said if health, new buds will quickly develop on the trunk. I don't recommend hard pruning like AlainK did, but that's more based on my limited knowledge of Sequoia's and reading that they don't like most of thier foliage removed at one time.

We a showed you ours, least you can do is show us yours

 

[AlainK]

I don't recommend hard pruning like AlainK did

I've just posted a message in another thread saying "in my own environment, with my trees", or sthg like that. That's what is tricky with potted trees, "the environment, that means weather, soil, etc., can make an excellent set of growing advice totally inefficient depending where you live...

 

[Guy Vitale]

I've just posted a message in another thread saying "in my own environment, with my trees", or sthg like that. That's what is tricky with potted trees, "the environment, that means weather, soil, etc., can make an excellent set of growing advice totally inefficient depending where you live...

Very true, and just to be clear, I did not say don't do what AlainK did because I know better, it's because I don't know better and everything I know about Sequoia's are that they don't like hard pruning, but perhaps they can tolerate it after all? There's just not enough certainties with this species, not enough trial and error. I've only killed two and the only thing I can really point to is too much direct cold from wind.

 

[Jim G]

Slip potted and wired today. Keeping it moist and misting at least once a day.

 

[coh]

OK, I said I'd post some pics of my sequoia, so here goes. As I said, there's not much to see.

Amazingly, I've had this tree since 2010 and this is all the growth I've gotten. It stands at a whopping 32" in height (pot is 11" tall) and has a trunk base of about 1.5". My intention has been to just let it grow to build the trunk. I want roughly 3" so at this rate, that might take another 5-6 years before I can even do a chop. So...

I'm thinking about ways to increase the growth rate. It fills the pot with roots every year, but the top only grows 6" or so. Next spring, my plan is to repot and do some root work, then plant in either a colander or pond basket and sink the pot into a pile of compost, to encourage roots to escape. And increase the fertilization rate. I'm not sure if I just have a "runt" here, or if I'm not feeding aggressively enough. One good thing is that it seems willing to produce new buds along older sections of the trunk (second photo) so I think I'll be able to re-grow branches once I get the trunk to the desired size.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@coh - your foliage color is good, with lack of fertilizer it would be more yellow-ish. It may very well be a naturally more slowly growing seedling. That is the point of seed, each one will have unique genetics. (and / or unique epigenetic changes). Trees, especially seedlings can respond to drought & other forms of stress by making epigenetic changes that slow metabolism. It may take many years of good, consistient culture to reverse these changes. I've seen this first hand with orchid seedlings, consistient good culture from flask to first bloom, amd plant will remain a rapid grower. Drought stress seedlings fresh from flask, or leave them in flask too long and it takes forever, 3 to 5 years longer to bring them to blooming size. Your seedling may have been stressed for a while before you ever recieved it. It may suddenly ''wake up and grow'' one day. Or not. Hard to say much with a sample size of one.

 

[Jim G]

Coh,
I like it!

 

[Guy Vitale]

Thanks for posting, please follow up with your development plan over the summer, I'd be interested to see how it responds to your colendar plan.

I wonder what would happen if next spring you pruned the lower branches back and redirect the energy back to the top?

 

[Jim G]

OK folks, it time for some updates on sequoia's.

Here's my update: my tree made it through its first Michigan winter and my first overwintering of bonsai. I'm very happy with that... I had three trees in their own wood box filled with pine mulch. I added a 5-inch diameter snowball to each every four weeks. It got very cold here in December (the heat tape I added did not function) to the point I tried to warm the shed but could not sustain any amount of heat for very long at all so it was keep my fingers crossed at that point.

So now one year later my tree seems like its not doing much at all. On the other hand, maybe it’s doing all its supposed to. It did get new shoots up and down the main trunk although most of them died out. Later in the spring it appeared to be losing some of it color but now for the most part the trees color looks good (to me) other than a couple small lower shoots died out.

I was using some 5/3/2 organic kinda sparingly and mostly seemed only to attract bugs, so within the last two weeks I switched to miracle gro 10-10-10 and gro power 12-8-8. I keep the soil moist at all times and slaked off on the misting.

I'm considering slip potting into a larger plastic training post and see it that helps speed things up at all. I just thought after a year I would see more growth. Don't get me wrong, I'm extremely happy it's alive and love this tree.

What do you think about the slip potting or should I leave good alone?

 

[Bonsai Nut]

I have never grown one of these, but I just wanted to state I'm not sure how much winter protection they need... unless it's for the roots.

If you go to this page, there are photos of giant sequoias planted all over the world - including some big ones in Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, etc, that get quite long and cold winters.



They are not nearly as touchy as redwoods in this respect.