Monster needles

2017 crop continues to do very well under the artificial lights. Since last time the weather remained very warm outside with high humidity for this time of year. The plants were watered for the first time in two weeks this weekend. All were watered from above at least 20 ml each and some were soaked from below as well. All got about 5ml of a feeding mix with a source of magnesium. About 10 ml of the same feeding concentrate as in the past and 1 g of MgSO4 were mixed with water in a 250ml flask.

Right side of tray. Feb 26, 2017

Left side of tray. Feb 26, 2017

Some of the plants developed extra long needles. About a quarter of all sequoias have 1 inch or slightly longer needles. Here is a comparison of a "normal" sequoia with the monster needle sequoia:

#395 0.5 inch needles. February 26, 2017

#395 is a normally developing sequoia with a fairly high needle density, average height and needle length.

#397 1 inch long needles. February 26, 2017

#397 on the other hand has lower density of the needles, a little above average height and one inch long needles.

The previous leader #394 started developing brown tips on the needles No other strong sequoias show this condition:

#394 with brown tips. February 26, 2017

The reason why I said that it's previous leader is because several other samples have as much of a volume as #394 but without the brown tips. Also, one sample, #354 has grown above the rest, standing at just above 2 inches.

#354 at 2 inches. February 26, 2017

But the winners of the vertical growth are not sequoias, it's the Doug-fir, tallest ones standing at 4 inches:

Doug-fir at about 3 months. February 26, 2017

Back to the sequoias. #303 is currently at 1.75", being one of the most average samples on the patch:

#303 at 1.75". February 26, 2017

The patch is being finally cleared of the hopeless failing sequoias that were named here before. None made it.

Failed sequoias 313, 319, 345, 347 February 26, 2017

Gallery of the weak

In this post I will talk mostly about the weak seedlings living in the basement. Most of the 100+ plants are doing exceptionally well but there are a few that are not developing as fast as the majority. It is not clear what is stunting their development especially given the fact that identical conditions exist for all. But before that, here is a new curious addition to the patch. I brought a sample of Arizona succulents from a recent trip:

New "neighbors" Feb 11, 2017

And a shot of the majestic green greatness:

Winter 2016/17 new crop of sequoias is doing exceptionally well. Feb 11, 2017

Three out of four weak sequoias have yellow-grayish needles with the problem starting from the tips. One seedling has the "purple menace" that was taking out a great number of sequoias in the previous years. The growth has stunted. In the past some plants affected by the purple disease fully recovered while some got much worse over time and died.

#303 with yellow needles on top. Feb 11, 2017

#313 with gray needles. Most of th plant is affected. Feb 11, 2017

#319 has significant damage with needles turning gray and thin. Feb 11, 2017

#350 has top (secondary) needles thin and gray. Feb 11, 2017

"Purple menace" started appearing on #345. Feb 11, 2017

Two sequoias from the back up patch were moved to the larger container. No particular reason other than to observe a comparison of seedling development from this stage forward.

#398 immediately before the move. Feb 11, 2017

#398 moved to a large container. Feb 11, 2017

In addition to this "gallery of the weak", here is a complete gallery of all sequoias taken from different angles, or as it goes - if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing:

The reason for this excessive photo shoot is the difficulty with finding pant development over longer periods of time. As I am looking at the pictures taken four years ago it is surprisingly hard to find early stages of development. And it's absolutely unpredictable which plants would thrive and which would perish. So, this is a message to myself 5 years from today :D

I have also moved 4 final Norway spruce to a large pot. These spruces look very unassuming above the ground, but the roots keep growing vigorously under the surface. The last moved ones the plant above was about an inch and below was in excess of 4 inches:

Norway spruce at about two months old. Feb 11, 2017

Signs of Spring

The temperature started spiking. Clearly after the wolf ate the ground hog.

Next week it will go to 51F (+10C). I checked the trees outside today and although sequoias did not have any hints of budding just yet, both the Norway spruces and the ponderosa pines certainly had some buds. Again, this is nothing like last year, but still substantially a beyond normal warmer weather.

Inside the house, the sequoias continued to do amazingly well. No dead sequoias and the speed of growth seems to pick up. Here is an updated video with another week of growth. I shifted the viewing angle a bit but it's now a more sturdy mount, so the video should get a steadier in the future:

Yesterday I watered all sequoias (and doug-fir and norway spruce) using top-bottom method. Then today I sprayed them with chlorotholanil. And finally I added a diluted feeding mix, about 10ml to each tree. I made the feed by mixing about 10ml of concentrate with about 500ml of water and about 2g of MgSO4.

Liquid concentrate used for feeding

#394 continues to rock:

#394 Feb 5, 2017

2016/17 sequoia crop on Feb 5, 2017

I continued moving Norway spruce to large containers. In addition to moving I added a few sticks and attached the ones that were almost laying on the ground to be a bit more vertical. I know that the roots are developing very well but the concern is that the needles in contact with wet soil may start develop some rot.

Before:

Norway spruce leaning on the ground. Feb 5, 2017

And after:

Norway spruce with stakes to hold plants above ground. Feb 5, 2017

Doug-fir also continues to grow strongly. I believe it's no different than in previous years. Overall, they develop faster than sequoias and much faster than the Norway spruce.:

Doug-fir. Feb 5, 2017