In my experience dawn redwoods don't want that much water. Cottonwoods and willows like that much water. I'm trying Heritage river birch in 0 - 6" of water and hoping for survival. Please post your results. If I could put a dawn redwood in a crick and have it thrive I would!

I've seen them growing successfully planted in water, but not that deep, maybe 10-20cm depth, and close enough to the pond edge for a large part of the root system to be above the pond level if need be.

Resin

Why do you want all your trees in water? I would suspect if your pond stays full year-round, that most trees wouldn't stand being grown in 1-2 feet of water. I know cottonwoods wouldn't last in a situation like that. As pineresin said, dawn redwoods along the edge should survive. I'm trying a hybrid willow in 7ft of water in the pond. We'll see what happens to it.

Good to hear there has been some success with planting them in shallow water. I have planted some at the waterline and some a couple feet below the future waterline.

lkz5ia - 99+ percent of my trees are planted out of water. I have planted about 8000 seedlings and counting the last 3 years as part of my reforestation project. I am simply trying to add features to make my pond more appealing to the eye - plus I'm guessing the fish will like the structure. I have planted the bald cypress / dawn redwoods in a corner of each pond. Am interested to see how they grow once the water comes up. Will let you know - hopefully we get some runoff this year. We've been dry as a bone for about 18 months now.

Here is a link from erniew posted on gardenweb of the cypress trees just down I-70 from me. Pretty cool looking - I am definately going to visit next time I'm in St. Louis.

John

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:351749}}

John,
Do not expect seedling cypress to "grow" underwater. When seedlings are totally covered with water, they sort of hibernate. Once the water level falls below the seedling they sprout leaves and begin to grow. Have seen them hang-on for 3-4 years like this, only emerging above water level in August/Sept. and growing, until they finally grew trunk/branches above the water level.

scotjute- Yea, I had read something along those lines as well. I purchased some 6-8' trees that I planted at the 4' to 5' depth portions. Not sure if they will survive with the roots that far below the waterline, but I thought I would try it out and the trees were fairly cheap. The remaining seedlings from the MO Dept of Conservation are all 3-4 feet tall and planted no deeper than 3-4 feet below future waterline. Therefore, the tops of almost all the trees will be at or above water level once the pond fills. I'm guessing they will put on a some additional growth before the pond fills if this year is anything like the last couple.

John

Hi John,
I've never seen or heard of Dawn Redwood in standing water, that doesn't mean its not possible though.
If you'd like to visit a couple parks in Missouri where I know Bald Cypress grow in standing water go to Big Oak Tree State Park in Southeast Missouri and Mingo Wildlife Refuge even further SE in Missouri. I've been to Big Oak Tree State Park and took lots of photos. Mingo is much bigger and I think I've seen photos of the water bodies with Water Tupelo and Bald Cypress in the water. If you go to those places in warm months have mosquito repellent on hand!

I can vouch for about 3/4 of the 8,000 trees John planted, I helped plant them!
Will

Here is a link that might be useful: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v243/w4i0a/BigOakTreeStateParkSEMissouri/

So what came of all this, if you're still around, @johnstaci?

How old is your DR?

I see up there I was going on about Baldcypress. I was a bigger idiot then than I am now..lol. It's a different tree. 😂

is that Dawn Redwood planted underneath power lines in that photo? If so that is unfortunate because the power company will almost assuredly come along and hack the leader off

There is a park in China with a forest of dawn redwoods that is flooded in the summer and dried out in the winter. It’s called Luyang Wetland Park