2013 End of year report

One year, 1000 seeds and 225 seedlings later, we have 38 surviving sequoias.

Out of thirty eight, eighteen reached medium-term survivability (MTS) stage and are currently placed on the "white patch" in 6"-wide, 24"-tall PVC tubes. Out of eighteen MTS seedlings on the white patch, eleven reached long-term survivability (LTS) stage characterized by both large volume of lateral branches and overall height of at least 5". Five out of eleven LTS have a dominant lead (LTS+), which is at least 5"-tall on its own and is clearly separated from other branches. Since the target is 20 sequoias for eventual planting outside, the brown patch (BP) with starter seedlings has been replenished from germination batches of about 200 seeds in the last 3 months.

• BP or better: 38 (all surviving)
• MTS or better: 18
• LTS or better: 11
• LTS+: 5 (best)

BP representatives:

December 28, 2013.

MTS representative. 3-5" tall, trunk shows hard brown bark at the base to about 1" of height, no significant branch volume, i.e. smaller than diameter of container:

#112, December 28, 2013. 11 month old.

LTS representative. 5"+ tall, trunk shows significant hard brown bark to 2", significant branch volume beyond 6" container rim:

#42, December 28, 2013. 1 year and 1 month old.

LTS+ representative. 8-10" tall, brown trunk to 3" followed by a strong lead, large branch volume with branches hanging down from the container rim:

#104, December 28, 2013. 1 year old.

Once seedlings reach LTS stage, only extreme environmental factors can kill them. Last extinction phase happened when all sequoias were left outside in extreme heat of 100-105F, which lasted for 3 days. About half of the MTS and 20% of LTS died after the event. None of the LTS+ (which had 3-5" leads at the time) perished. 

LTS and LTS+ have one feature in common: very loose soil. There are several MTS that still have denser soil but show clear signs of decline. They are not expected to survive.

MTS with heavy soil representative:

#106, December 28, 2013. 1 year old.

To address the apparent role of soil, last five MTS were planted in 6"-wide containers with addition of 1-1.5" river rock throughout the volume at 6-8" interval and a 2" bed of pure rock at the bottom of the containers.  The problem with having just very loose soil is the gradual compression of the soil and plants getting lower inside the tube as time passes. Trunk base of several LTS samples is now 4" below the top rim of the containers, making it difficult to apply water and fertilizer.

MTS planting with river rock:

#111, December 28, 2013. 11 month old. River rock was added throughout container to improve drainage. Note that rock and perlite in this picture were mixed with cactus soil that was poured on top. This picture may be potentially misleading to indicate that there were layers of pure rock and perlite throughout the volume, which was not the case.

MTS planted in such a fashion have strong structural support allowing formation of a pronounced hill and a moat around the base, without eventual sagging of the plant down the container. This allows for water and fertilizer to be applied around the seedlings and simplifies carrying for the plants:

#118, December 28, 2013. 11 month old.

With river rock added the containers are much heavier than the successful LTS, but the hypothesis is that dramatically increased drainage with be beneficial to the sequoias.

In addition to the seedlings that are growing from seeds, my wife has purchased a 1 year old sequoia, which was grown and shipped from California. I planted it in one of the 6" containers alongside other seedlings. This sample has much more yellow color, compared to the bluish color sequoias that were growing in Iowa:

#CA 1,  December 28, 2013. Approximately 1 year old.

  The same soil technique with river rock was used for planting of the #CA 1.

Happy New Year!