Giant Redwoods - My story / growth from seed

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to say this place looks great - been reading through the pages and you all know your stuff! Gained some awesome tips for future reference. Very inspiring to see what everyone is doing.

A quick introduction - Im a keen tree grower with mainly the past year growing giant redwoods. I started these in April by stratifying them in the fridge for a month - then experimented taking bunches out at different dates to see which germinated first. After everything - even seeds that had been in 1 week germinated within 7 days! They are quick to germinate.

Heres my story.


24th May I took this photo - seeds had broken out and at this stage the seed husk had been pushed off and the first series of needles/leaves started to grow. This essentially becomes the trunk.


4th June just 11 days from the previous photo - the main needles are starting to put on growth alot quicker


19th June things really start to speed up with this one - the others out of focus in the background are catching up but some of these started a little later. Notice the redness of the trunk.


22nd July - crazy to think this is ust 1 month later! I did feed them a little and had a mix of feed using bat guano and my own little mix of nutrients.


19th August - Branches are getting longer and the tree is really starting to take shape.


24th Nov - the growth is slowing down at at the moment - nights are getting colder so I presume this has something to do with it. I kept checking on them all and noticed a few started to wither away. I lost 2 at this stage.


24th December - Losing the one far right but its hanging on - main one is really starting to strenghen the branches.


2nd Feb 2019 - Fighting on. Ive left them exposed for winter - although they are behind glass the elements can still get in. The trees are coping pretty well and the one i thought was dying is fighting back. Others though have dropped in numbers. I lost 5 at this point.

 

I really don't have any knowledge about the ins and outs of giant redwoods but from tv programs I've seen they are an awesome tree and must be a hotbed for indigenous wildlife and really spectacular to see.

 

Giant Redwoods? That’s a first on here! What do you plan to do with them, eventually?

 

A boundary hedge...?



@Aden Priest , thanks for sharing, what inspiring plants! Where did you get the seeds from?

 

I have a few plans

1. My local village and a local farmer are allowing me to plant an avenue of them - not sure how many im going to plant but until Im old ill maintain them for them.

2. I have an acre and im planting a few on my own land. The one in the photos is one going in my garden. I will document its progress for years to come

3. I plan to grow more each year and possibly scale up to a nursery. I have land to store thousands of seedlings - so thats something im very interested in. Although ill plan this for a while.

I just love how old and giant they live to - I want to give my son and his son to look at and remember that I planted it.

 

Just a thought, and please don’t take this as a negative. Is it permissible to plant these in this country? With all the rules and regulations we have here, just wondering?

 

I grew a few years ago from seed gathered in my local park.
I only kept one, and it was in a pot for many years, stunted, eventually I planted it out on my allotment, me being crazy, it has had the top taken out of it a couple of times, but it just forms a new leader and heads for the sky again, its about 20ft at the moment and due a trim.

Having seen them years ago in Sequoia National Forest California, I kind of wanted to grow one, but they are fast, perhaps a bit slower than Leylandii though.
Just a PS, I dont think they do much for wildlife in the UK, so not considered eco friendly, but magnificent trees.

 

Hi Aden, great to meet you. I also have a great passion for trees and great admiration for the giant redwoods. These beauties live for over a thousand years. In the Americas some have grown so large that roads have been cut through them. However I doubt that any of us will be around to see your seedlings grow to full maturity. Hey what part of the globe are you living in and apart from your natural love of trees, what are your future intensions