Great weather, good growth and a cautionary tale

Things were going great for sequoias over last two weeks. Warm but not hot weather (70-85F) with regular intense but not flash flooding rains (1-2" over 4-8 hours) let the trees grow nice and steady.

Here is a chart of the last three measurements from last fall before snow, mid May when first vertical growth became apparent, and the most recent sample at the end of May. My younger daughter assisted me with collection of the height data this weekend:

There were no changes in the first top eight in the last two weeks, with nine and eleven trading spaces and the bottom ten fluctuating widely. On average 20 sequoias added 1.6" for this period. Local variations are quite large, but they are due to the two trees (#15 and CA1) that lost significant height and are now bouncing back with their lower branches. The current leader #34 is struggling due to still barely recovering top branches but lower branches are catching up.

As stated before, #38 is growing fastest. Although it still ranks number five it will most likely outgrow others over next 4-6 weeks given that it was planted in a much larger "container". It's closest rival is #31, which grew even faster than #38 in last two weeks, but it remains in a 6-inch container for now. Another advantage of #38 is that it gets 2-3 hours of more sunlight than the rest of the samples because of its new less shady location.

Other samples to watch are #118 and #63. They are both over 1 foot tall now and added over 2" over last two weeks. There is also a handful of samples in 208-215 range that grew reasonably fast for their still young age, with one #215 posting a very strong 3" growth. This placed #215 above all 200-range samples, which are one year younger than 15-118 surviving older samples.

A new member of the tracked trees was added to the line up. #208 was migrated from 3" container to an 6" one. Unlike other 6" container samples, this one was placed outside of the 4x5 patch. At the current observed growth rate and as reported elsewhere on the Internet, the current trees will outgrow their 2 feet spacing between containers this summer. The distance between some of the existing trees is beginning to shrink to just a couple of inches:

There is sufficient amount of space available at this time to move some of the bigger sequoias away from each other similar to #208:

Finally, a cautionary tale of a promising sequoia that was grown in Iowa. I discovered it a few weeks back and finally got detailed pictures that "Hardy Jim" posted on forums and Photobucket. Amazingly, this sequoia was grown just 80 miles south west from my location. I am very grateful that Jim posted these pictures over 5 years given very close geographical conditions to my experiment.

It appears to be a 7-8 year old sequoia that was planted in Fairfield Iowa in 2010 at the age of about two. It had its share of trouble over the years but was able to bounce back with some moderate branch loss:

Hardy Jim sequoia, about 3 years old, showing some damage after winter

It grew steadily for the next 4 years, turning into a beautiful 10' tree:

Hardy Jim sequoia in 2013, 10' tall at 5-6 years old

The cold winter of 2013-2014 severely damaged the tree:

Hardy Jim sequoia damaged by the 2013-2014 winter

If there was any hope that it would bounce back from the lower trunk and branches, all hope is gone judging by this picture taken this May 2015:

Hardy Jim sequoia, 2015

It appears Jim put about 4-6" of mulch around the tree in attempt to keep the temperatures higher. Apparently it did not work and it's likely that additional mulch would not make much of a difference by itself. Judging by its planting location it was on a flat surface and constrained on two sides by a road and a sidewalk. The root system probably was not able to expand enough to get access to sufficient supply of water during winter. There was likely little of the underground water flow during those cold winter months given flat location and freezing ground levels in Fairfield Iowa.

To combat unforgiving Iowa winters, my approach was to create a very deep planting hole that would penetrate approximately 4' Iowa freezing line, giving the tap root a chance to grab on to some of the liquid water. This was the reason for 4.5' overall depth of the hole and a foot of river rock at the bottom. Second strategy was to place sequoias on a reasonably steep slopes that facilitate flow of water from higher elevations. Finally, currently planted #38 will also be able to reach into a very small stream that goes approximately 50' from the planting location. I did not place the tree any closer to the stream since there is evidence of flash floods cutting pretty deep into the ravine created by the stream.

For the next few winters I also plan to place about a foot of mulch in 10-12' radius of the trunk as soon as the ground starts to freeze in December. In the spring I will remove most of the mulch to allow rain collection and water flow once again. My main bet is on the tree roots reaching into the stream, which should keep it alive.

It's all about #38

This entire post is dedicated to the new growth leader, #38.

As it was stated in the previous post some plants shot new strong branches with #38 showing strongest growth. Although in overall height it ranks only fifth, it's overall volume, bright green color and massive number of new branches shooting along the entire length of the trunk made it the prime candidate for the next phase.

A 5 foot wide and 4 feet deep hole in the ground was dug. The bottom 1 foot was filled with 2" river rock with a drainage pipe positioned down the slope:

The entire volume (approximately 40 cubic feet) was filled with a mix of sand, 0.5" gravel, composted manure, top soil, peat moss, perlite. More sand and gavel was used in lower layers. Premium potting mix and tried and true cactus soil were used in the top layers. Two full 2 cubic foot bags of peat moss were used throughout. This will make the soil fairly acidic and some neutralizer will be added at a later time. The top level containing potting mix contained some fertilizer (green pellets), which was deemed sufficient for the initial planting.

Lower 2 feet of the mixture were thoroughly drenched in water to create consistency of clay slightly sticking to hands, but not muddy.

#38 was removed from the temporary location by attaching two bungee cords through pre-drilled holes on top of the container and pulling it out of the hole:

The wire mesh at the bottom along with the synthetic filter material were removed:

This last part looked somewhat disturbing as the lower roots were snapping off very easily. The hope is that it will not affect the tree too much. In the future plantings the wire mesh will be cut out but the white synthetic material will be left alone in place. The roots penetrate synthetic material very easily and it does not appear leaving it should have any effect on the tree.

The container was placed in a 1 foot deep hole in the center of the new location. Each PVC half side was removed and the gap filled with more cactus soil:

This placed the base of the tree about two feet above the ground level. The reason for that was because a significant soil compression is expected over next several years, which will eventually lower the tree base closer to the ground level.

Finally, more vegetable planting soil (with fertilizer) was added around the base of the tree creating a mound and a "moat" area for watering. The plant was immediately watered with about a gallon (4L) of water:

A net was placed around the planting area and baseline measurement taken:

The first permanent move has been completed:

Since this pant will monitored closely, here is a few detailed pictures:

top

middle

bottom

Finally, here is #38 journey so far:

Going in high gear

The dormancy is over. Every day now adds visible changes of sequoia growth.

First of all, the patch has transformed into bright vivid green. Even compared to last week, the brightness of green is superb. This week also heralded the first time when some plants increased their overall height as compared to the last Fall measurements.

The four younger plants didn't show any new additional needle or branch growth. However, they got completely green, looking like they were before winter. 

38 became the fastest growing plan over last few weeks. Although it stands only at 15" it added over 2" in last 10 days. One reason for success was that it sprouted a new branch very close to the top. 

Some of the plants are growing old fashioned dense needles like the example of #34. Some grow very different long needles like the above mentioned #38. Dense needles occur at the bottom of trunks and on the ends of the broad old branches. 

Long needles appear always on top and represent new forming branches. Long needles also appear lighter colored compared to the darker green dense needles growing at the bottom. 

Prev Rank	Name	9/6/2014	5/11/2015	New Rank
1	34	20.5	21.5	1
3	31	18	17.5	2
4	104	17	17	3
5	72	16.5	16.5	4
8	38	12.5	15	5
7	63	14	14.25	6
6	24	14	14	7
9	39	12.5	12.5	8
10	71	12	11.5	9
12	33	10	11.5	10
13	118	10	10	11
14	112	8.5	9.5	12
15	65	8	8.5	13
16	212	5	5	14
17	214	5	5	15
18	213	4	4	16
19	215	4	4	17
2	15	18	4	18
11	CA1	12	2	19
20	218	4	0	20

Conclusive evidence

The warm weather stayed for over a month now. Daily temperatures are in upper 70s, lower 80s (20-28C). Most trees clearly showed new growth while one was pronounced certainly dead with another two having slim chances of survival and another four in hibernation. Out of 20 that went outside for the winter, 13 are the survivors.

The dead one was #218. That's what the "certainly dead" one looks like. Absolutely no green, from root to the top:

#218 Dead

The two with slim chances are the oldest #15 and the Californian.

#15 shows quite a bit of the green on the bottom, with a mini-forrest near the root. The #CA 1 shows minimal amount of green but at least it has some:

#CA 1 after first winter outside 2015

The four hibernating ones are all "one year olds". They all look very similar, being pale green with some damaged brown needles:

#214 after first winter outside

The rest show various amount of growth, mostly starting from the bottom. One particularly interesting case is #34. It was the tallest one to go into the winter. It was hit hard with the top part of the trunk turning dark brown. However, there is a very clear evidence of some brand new growth. Not  all the way on the top, but pretty high. This is a very good news, showing that the growth will pick up not from the bottom:

#34 in March 2015

#34 in May 2015

A close examination reveals a strong new branch appearing on the left (second from top), just about where the trunk starts turning brown.