In this batch there are 2013, 2020 and a few seeds collected from King Canyon in 2022. All seeds continue to germinate splendidly. Seeds were placed on wet coffee filters on Dec 6, 2023. After 10 days 13 seeds germinated and today after 15 days, another 15, for a total of 28:
Some of the seeds from last week cleared the soil and now have 4-5 green leaves standing vertically. About half were able to shed the light brown casing they were in. The other half was helped by gently pulling on them with two fingers. To have less manual casing removal it really helps placing newly germinated seed white root AND the casing in soil, forming a loop. As the seed tries to push up, casing has a much better chance of staying behind in the soil:
Warm, super El Niño winter will make sequoia survival easier for any growing outside for sure
ReplyDeleteI have a on eyesr old sequoia that is developing some dark spots and the lower branches are turning brown. Any idea what to do?
ReplyDeleteOne year old sequoia is still a very young sequoia. You should expect a very large percentage of them to die at that stage. Dark spots are a very common fungus symptom. Treating with Daconil helps a lot but unfortunately for your case it works so preventatively, not after spots already clearly visible. You may still apply it and it may survive. I had several cases when visible fungus didn’t lead to death but I’d say 90-95% died. Good luck
DeleteHave you ever considered growing them in teams/clusters with 5-7 seedlings of varying ages in a dense group like you mentioned they grow in the wild? Could this improve the chances of at least one surviving?
ReplyDeleteYour blog is the most comprehensive test of Sequoia cold hardiness I've seen anywhere. Hats off to you, and thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI'm in Zone 5a in Minnesota and I'm going to try this, with the goal of getting the roots below the frost line and irrigating them all winter.
Trees are in 4' tall air pots. The roots have reached the bottom. I will dig a 5' deep trench on a hill and lay an irrigation line that stays below the frost line to the house. I'll be able to run it all winter.
Trees are a mix of ebay seedlings, my own seeds from the southern range, ordered seeds, and Hazel Smith from a Nursery in Oregon. I'm making cuttings of the Hazel Smith to try lots of experiments with.
Please, keep posting!