The oldest #15 sequoia died. The demise was fast - from the first signs of trouble to complete death about one week.
There was a hole in the ground about 3 meters from the tree. The likeliest hypothesis is that an animal dug a tunnel under the tree and destroyed the roots.
The vast majority of the trees continued strong growth throughout the second half of the summer. Most have doubled in height and some younger ones tripled.
The leader #38 exceeded 4 feet currently standing just shy of 50 inches. It added a little over 20 inches, which corresponds to 70% growth. This is a permanently planted tree. It is not surprising because at the time of the moving from a container into the ground it was one of the strongest and it continued it's growth with a much large root volume available. It does show the signs of trouble. The inner volume of needles turned rusty brown and dozens of branches were removed. It is not as healthy as it was at the peak of its growth in June-July but the top continues to look very healthy and growth continues into the Fall.
The leader in absolute height gain is #212, a three year old sample, that added 22.5 inches. #212 is firmly among strongest even in the 4-year-old tree camp standing at 36.5 inches. It has absolutely no damage throughout its entire volume, completely green.
From the percentile growth #219, a struggling last year sample more than tripled, currently standing at 18.5 inches. It started this year at 6 inches. Although some old damage is still visible it is definitely turning into a contender.
Next step in the saga is replanting of the 2015-2016 winter germinations into larger pots. Small 9cm containers have very high rate of seedling dying. The hypothesis is that the very small root volume does not provide enough buffer for water and close proximity of sick samples to the healthy ones leads to the deceases quickly jumping across and spreading. Two seedlings from this year batch that were separated and moved in larger containers away from two main trays are doing significantly better than the rest.
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| September 2016, #15 is dead |
The vast majority of the trees continued strong growth throughout the second half of the summer. Most have doubled in height and some younger ones tripled.
The leader #38 exceeded 4 feet currently standing just shy of 50 inches. It added a little over 20 inches, which corresponds to 70% growth. This is a permanently planted tree. It is not surprising because at the time of the moving from a container into the ground it was one of the strongest and it continued it's growth with a much large root volume available. It does show the signs of trouble. The inner volume of needles turned rusty brown and dozens of branches were removed. It is not as healthy as it was at the peak of its growth in June-July but the top continues to look very healthy and growth continues into the Fall.
The leader in absolute height gain is #212, a three year old sample, that added 22.5 inches. #212 is firmly among strongest even in the 4-year-old tree camp standing at 36.5 inches. It has absolutely no damage throughout its entire volume, completely green.
From the percentile growth #219, a struggling last year sample more than tripled, currently standing at 18.5 inches. It started this year at 6 inches. Although some old damage is still visible it is definitely turning into a contender.
Next step in the saga is replanting of the 2015-2016 winter germinations into larger pots. Small 9cm containers have very high rate of seedling dying. The hypothesis is that the very small root volume does not provide enough buffer for water and close proximity of sick samples to the healthy ones leads to the deceases quickly jumping across and spreading. Two seedlings from this year batch that were separated and moved in larger containers away from two main trays are doing significantly better than the rest.
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