Here is one I didn't know about. Looks like they LOVE the high summer rainfall, and deep sandy soils of southeastern Virginia! The best Cryptomeria I've ever seen on the east coast (probably, anywhere! I've never been to JP or CN) was somewhere in Norfolk but I doubt I could ever find it again. http://bigtree.cnre.vt.edu/detail.cfm?AutofieldforPrimaryKey=660 Time for those folks to install a lightning arrester for that tree! Or make sure the church spire is well grounded so that it diverts the charge LOL.

Low forking of coast redwoods is frequent this far north. Whether there is a connection or not, coldest winters (example: 1990) here burn them. Although coast redwood, Oregon myrtle and tanoak make large specimens in cultivation here, and the first two even reseed, all three may get singed when temperatures bottom out - showing one of the reasons their northmost wild populations are all well south of our area. An interesting thing about the northernmost wild redwood grove, on the Chetco River is that dense growths of western hemlock seedlings are preventing it from reproducing. A forest ecologist friend seems to think it may be the hemlock rather than the cold that keeps it from occurring farther north, on its own. I'm not sure I buy it.

Conifornia: I was waiting for someone from your own area with a litle more day-to-day experience with redwoods to reply, but seeing your post hanging out here for a while, I will help as best I can. I have always been fascinated by the redwoods and have visited the parks often. OK, as for your damaged little guy. If the bark has been stripped off all the way around and all the way to the cambium layer, the top will die. But sometimes when bark is "stripped," it is not completely stripped, in spite of appearances. Sometimes a thin layer of inner bark is left, and if enough of this is left--something like half way around, the bark will re-grow, the little trunk will "heal," and the tree will be fine. Maybe a close examination can tell you if what you see is indeed exposed sapwood where the buck rubbing was done, or if there is a substantial area where there is some residual bark. If the top has been stripped so it will die, redwood trees are prolific sprouters, both from cut stumps, and from trunks stripped of foliage. Redwood is unlike most conifers in this respect. So if the top dies or is so clearly completely stripped of bark that you decide to cut it off, the tree will sprout from the trunk below the damaged area and re-grow rather rapidly. As for deer protection? What are you doing? How did this buck get to your tree? I make cages about 3 1/2 feet in diameter out of the heavier grade of woven cattle fencing. I secure it with either stout metal fence posts, or by placing heavy rocks on the bottom rung of the wire. Very rarely does a buck manage to rip this away and get to a protected tree--it may have happened once in 30 years of my experience with several hundred protected trees. I keep my trees protected until they are between 4 and 5 inches in diameter. I wish I could grow redwoods here! I do have a young giant sequoia, however. It is now large enough to go unprotected! --Spruce

As someone who root prunes EVERYTHING (except mayyyybe edibles, but that depends) if it's been in a pot for more than a year or two, I think your plant will be fine. If you take off that much of the bottom and leave the whole top, some suffering is to be expected. :) When I first joined GW, it took me a couple of WEEKS to understand what Al was talking about lol. But then I did, and then I seriously repotted every single one of my plants into GM OR 5-1-1 over the course of a couple of days with no regard for weather or season, haha. A few plants did what yours is doing...."OMG WHAT HAPPENED TO ME," and others shined from minute one, but I didn't lose a single plant to the business. I had one croton that quite literally flopped over immediately that Al had me bag (since it was small), to increase the humidity to and even that came back. And don't be hard on yourself. I had been gardening for years when I first came on board with GM so it wasn't like I didn't have "experience," and had no idea I was doing anything wrong; just thought a 50% survival rate was normal, lol. I expected and hoped for slightly better but it's basically 100% success at this point with anything I put into a gritty mix of some sort. I can't quite say the same for things I still use regular mix for, like veggies, but it is really up there in that case, too(say, 85% lol), just because I understand more about a plant and the root system, though water movement is still not checked off solely because there is too much to read, haha. Here was my first foray into gritty mix. Hope it helps! http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1378652/taking-on-gritty-mix