Summer 2021 update

Hard to believe but it's already August. This year is exceptionally good for sequoias in Iowa. It is not very hot nor too humid to cause fungus. Elsewhere in the USA the weather is extremely hot and dry but Iowa so far has been spared. Several very warm weeks in the low 90s, interspersed with a few cooler rainy days so far this summer. 

All sequoias continue to grow at a fast pace. There are total of 4 "patches" with 3-12 trees per patch. Some are doing better than others, specifically Exceptionally Blue ones. The tallest one of them was 54 inches on July 20 as depicted below. Today, on August 1 it stands at 60 inches. It is the tree in the middle of the subsequent picture.

July 20, 2021

August 1, 2021

Some regular (not cold hardy) sequoias are growing very large volumes. The tree on the picture above on the right looks almost like a ball, with side branches going practically at 90 degrees to the trunk. Each branch looks like an individual sequoia only weirdly growing parallel to the ground. I have not seen it so clearly exaggerated before with other trees. This depicted patch is starting to look like a mini-forest. 

Here is a typical Hazel Smith. Not as tall or full as some others but still very very respectable growth.

All sequoias have irrigation system installed now. Water is turned on once early in the morning 4-8AM and another time 4-8PM. The 0.5 gallon per hours sprinkler heads distributed between the trees on the patches with roughly two heads per tree. Very roughly, each tree gets 8 gallons (30 litres)  per day. This seems high as compared to previous years of the experiment, but the results so far speak for themselves.

Blue 0.5 gal/hour sprinkler head

Here is a very nice bright orange bark of one of the sequoias 

All tree have been treated with Daconil once a month since the growing season started.