Are they mature trees? Where exactly in the SF Bay Area are you? Redwoods do best in areas that receive summer fog. If you are not in that microclimate, you're starting in a spot that is tougher for them than they prefer. If they receive adequate moisture from irrigation, are not near a lot of pavement with reflected heat, pollution, etc (they are distinctly unsuited to be planted along freeways around here, despite the fact that they do it all the time), they can do ok. However, even if the weather seems like it hasn't had any drastic changes to you, if the fog has been absent or the temps just a little higher (and it's been warm here in Sonoma Co the last week or so) that could have them a bit crispy. All of the ones around here are losing their inner leaves - that is normal - and they have an orange look, but you specify tips so something else is going on.

Thanks for the response. I looked at them again and the orange parts are not on the tips, more random throughout the trees. I live in Atherton, which is near Menlo Park/Palo Alto, so we don't get a lot of fog. The trees are old and huge, maybe 100' tall. I have some in the backyard that don't look as bad. Thinking back, we have has a few hot spells.
Do you think this is normal?

Yes, sounds normal. It sounds like it is mostly the older foliage, which the trees normally shed at this time of year. They will often hang on until the first rains, when you will see the ground littered with the dead foliage and then the trees look sparkling green again. Big wind will take them off as well. You are borderline for where they are really the happiest, but you can grow them there. One problem with redwoods is that they are planted in more inappropriate places (either due to eventual size or microclimate) than almost any other tree in this area. If you can irrigate them, them will appreciate that - a few very deep waterings during the summer. They may also pick up more moisture up at the top than you are getting at ground level, too, remember.

Yes, sounds normal. It sounds like it is mostly the older foliage, which the trees normally shed at this time of year. They will often hang on until the first rains, when you will see the ground littered with the dead foliage and then the trees look sparkling green again. Big wind will take them off as well. You are borderline for where they are really the happiest, but you can grow them there. One problem with redwoods is that they are planted in more inappropriate places (either due to eventual size or microclimate) than almost any other tree in this area. If you can irrigate them, them will appreciate that - a few very deep waterings during the summer. They may also pick up more moisture up at the top than you are getting at ground level, too, remember.

Thanks for the response. I looked at them again and the orange parts are not on the tips, more random throughout the trees. I live in Atherton, which is near Menlo Park/Palo Alto, so we don't get a lot of fog. The trees are old and huge, maybe 100' tall. I have some in the backyard that don't look as bad. Thinking back, we have has a few hot spells.
Do you think this is normal?

Thanks, This probably happens every year but I never noticed. I have never watered them, but they are surrounded by the lawn that does get watered.

My understanding, and someone from Cali please correct me if I'm wrong, is that a key aspect of favorable redwood habitat is plentiful groundwater-from glacial and high country snowpack melting on into the dry summer. Plus the fog drip.

+oM

Yes, +oM! They are not summer-dry trees for the reasons that you mention. But for various reasons (partly because they are one of our state trees, I suspect) they get planted inappropriately way more than not. And due to their eventual size, they are not suitable for most suburban plantings on our tiny subdivision lots out here. The big box stores sell them by the truckloads in #5 and #15s and you can imagine where they end up..makes me want to weep...

So F&F, roughly how many of those carelessly sited redwoods make it to uh, semi-maturity? Can't say outright maturity with a tree that can live 1500 years!

I guess what I'm asking is, does the poor siting result in a significantly shortened lifespan? In a way, given the enormity this species can achieve, that could be a blessing in disguise!

+oM

It's not so much the shortened lifespans as the horrible condition in which they live on! Many of them just look like hell - tops die back, no new growth, huge dead areas, generally dull and listless. And they don't do well with pollution so where do you see them around here? Along the freeway...

Here is a link that might be useful: Redwoods in Sonoma County

Thanks for the info. About as I expected to learn-lots of substandard trees in substandard locations.

One thing jumps out when discussing such trees-the inaccuracy in thinking that no fast-growing tree can be a long-lived tree. Such clearly does not apply in the coniferous world. Beyond the obvious case here, many eastern species-white pine, red pine, hemlock, Norway spruce, many larch, all have fast growth and long lives as part of their genetic potential.

+oM

Nice point - and of course our lives are, relative to many of these trees, short indeed. So I do try to keep in mind that what I am doing will affect those that come after. One reason that I like to be involved with botanical gardens who have institutional lives that outlast any one person.

Sara

Here's a couple of Sequoia sempervirens in Payson, Arizona.
Waay out of their natural environment. They look terrible! A nearby Sequoiadendron looked much better.
Mike
{{gwi:421323}}

Yikes! That is even worse than the mis-planted ones look around here! Why on earth does anyone DO that? Grrrr.....

I agree they look like crap, but also find it interesting that they've been able to attain good size, given that they're obviously misplaced!

+oM

It looks like they were fed enough water to attain some size, and now it looks like they aren't getting enough or any.
I was real surprised to see them there.
Here's a Sequoiadendron in the same area. You can see the Coast Redwood with the dead top on the far right.
{{gwi:421324}}

Redwoods do fine in the east where its warm enough.

Its all about keeping the soil moist through the summer...

In the East the air is humid in summer, out here it's bone dry unless you're in a fog zone. My hygrometer reads anywhere from about 8% to 15% humidity in summer if no fog. I suspect it's higher in the SE! But you're correct - they need water and they gotta get it somehow. I'm interested that the Sequoiadendron in the photo looks so good. And I bet you're exactly right, Mike - someone cut off the water at some point. Poor things.