The Map v1.0

The trees are growing well for the most part. There are a few exceptions. In order to track the growth a little better and in general provide a better overview of the experiment, here is a very rough map of the habitat. When Google Maps updates the image to include the cleared area it will be possible to create a more precise map. So, here is the map version 1.0:

Iowa sequoia park map 1.0 June 2016

The hill was cleared in such a way to provide most protection from the strong Iowa winter northerly winds. The area was cleared of the trees deep enough to the south so that the sun could easily reach all trees in the middle of a day. The only trees that get sunlight after noon and into the evening are #71, #39 and less so #118 on the east end. #215 on the west end gets morning sun, which lasts till about noon.

It's too soon to make strong correlations but the trees that got more sun grew a little more that the ones on the east and west ends of the park.

Most of the growth this past week came from the trees that are still staying behind in the old nursery. The conditions in the old nursery are such that the trees get direct sun starting at 9AM and till about 3PM. Some of them are also illuminated by the late sun after 7PM from the west this year after two huge trees were taken down on the west side.

The permanently planted at the old site #38 keeps growing very fast both in height and volume. It added 2.5 inches and exceeded 40" mark. It is really quite a nice looking tree:

#38 approaching 4 years. June 24, 2016

The absolute winner for this period was #212. It grew a very long lead by astonishing 5" in 12 days.

#212 approaching 3 years. June 23, 2016

Another very strong growth happened with #207, which grew 3 inches that amounts to 125% growth for the season.

#207 approaching 3 years. June 23, 2016

The percent winner for the year is #219, which grew from 6 to 14.5 inches this season. It represents almost a 150% growth:

#219 approaching 3 years. June 23, 2016

In other news, 4 germination containers were forgotten for almost a month after a a period of a week with no additional germinations. They were stored in the shade but the temperatures over last several weeks were into mid and even high 90s F. One way or another it was conducive to shaking up the dormancy:

June 2016 germinations

Since there was too little time to place them in the individual containers, all 20 of them were put in one large pot:

June 2016 germinated seeds were placed in one large container