Odds on Dawn Redwood Needle Damage?

15 years ago

My "big" Metasequoia has about 1cm needles coming out and what doya know, we're in the middle of two straight damp nights last night windy with rain and snow with temps in the mid 20's F, tonight only about 30F and dry.

This really shouldn't kill my healthy and happy lookin 5 year old but I think I see some tan coloration on the end of the needles. How much damage do you think I can expect? Will it have to rebud entirely?

I'm in zone 6 St. Louis and the tree is rather alone in a low spot at the bottom of a gentle 600 foot slope. Does have "some" wind protection from a line of trees on the other side of the street about 100 feet or so away.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
15 years ago
well.. if you already see damage.. then i guess the odds are high ... that you will have damage ....

beyond that.. i dont know what you want us to tell you ...

mother nature is a cruel mistress ... keep your fingers crossed.. make a sacrifice to the pagan dawn redwood gods.. and good luck ....

i had one.. that for 5 years straight .... got blasted.. twice a spring by frost/freeze [completely denuded of growth] .... and grew bigger than its twin sister [which never frosted].. 6 feet higher on the hill ... then the main trunk died at 3 feet ..... no clue if related to frost issues ... and its still bigger than the other from new growth ....

if plain old.. plain old... [not some foo foo cultivar derivative] .... you are going to have a hard time killing the thing ... and a little cold weather isnt going to do much to it ... other than make it not look pretty soon enough in spring ...

ken
kman04
15 years ago
I've watched many of the Dawn Redwoods around here in Eastern Kansas and they seem quite frost sensitive when their foliage is emerging in spring. I'd expect if you got down to the 20's and had a good amount of frost that all the new growth will be killed off, but the tree will rebud and push out more new growth a little later. I have however seen a few that had very significant die-back from late freezes before, even dying back several feet. On the other hand I've seen others during the same event which just had their current new growth killed off and minimal twig damage. You couldn't tell anything happened to those individuals by the end of the summer.
Related Discussions
Ogon 'Gold Rush' Dawn Redwood: is it smart; or what?
Q
Comments (13)
Horseman, your question about the growth rate is similar to what I am wondering. My tree has not added any height at all since it was planted last year. Neither does the trunk seemed to have thicken enough for me to perceive, if at all. If the late winter freeze issues had not distracted me, I would have been posting questions about the slow growth rate. Yesterday, I read on a website describing the cultivar, that the 'Gold Rush' cultivar does grow slower than the species. My 'Gold Rush' has a clean trunk about 3 feet up before the trunk forks of into two thin, flexible and arching, but still slightly branched and well leafed out trunks which makes up the canopy of the tree. It looks to me that the only reason the trunk is not branching out lower on the trunk is due to the way the grower pruned and trained the tree prior to shipping it to me. I planted mine in mid May of last year, and yes in the heat and drought of the summer the leaves did tend to want to turn brown. Whenever I saw the slightest amount of browning in the leaves, I would water the tree well, and each time, the leaves responded quickly, by changing again to their nice bright healthy color. Currently the leaves of my 'Gold Rush' look golden, and I can see some of the healthy bright green of the cultivar's normal spring leaf color trying to emerge from the base of those golden colored leaves.
...See More
Dawn Redwood is dying?
Q
Comments (22)
Not sure what you really expect. You have gotten the trees to do quite well in the pots. The potting soil probably dries out totally, and the summer heat doesn't help. Seems like the trees will start to get too big anyway soon. Trying to find the balance of wet enough but not too dry or wet is a probably with many "houseplants". Since you have two you could experiment with bonsai type ideas. But that may be with some radical top and root prunning, if you can stand to mutilate a tree like that.
...See More
Dawn Redwood growth questions.
Q
Comments (18)
Argh. No way to edit posts, is there? Anyway, I took it up for a bit tonight to check out the roots. It was pretty root bound, but most of the roots were either thick, spongy, and pliable, or fibrous. I'd actually say the majority were fibrous. There were some thicker, woodier roots, but not all that many, and only a few had started wrapping around the pot from what I could tell. Some were at oddish angles, but growing mostly normally. As for the ones that were wrapping, I cut those back to where it looked like they were straigtening out, which wasn't too far. Other than that, I just used the guidelines about making one-inch cuts down the side of the rootball, then tried to shake stuff loose a bit. Don't know how much it'll help or hurt, really. From what I could tell, it didn't look like there were any thick, wrapping roots growing near the trunk, in any case.
...See More
Current Opinions of Dawn Redwood
Q
Comments (21)
I am near Cincinnati OH in zone 6 and have a redwood in my yard- I bought it about 5-6years ago at a reputable garden center. It has done very well. Unfortunately I let a nearby weigela get out of hand and it damaged the tree at the bottom where it was being crowded. Now I am a little paranoid- it is leafing out but looks sparse. Is it still early for the redwood or should it be looking fairly full by now? I forget from year to year!
...See More
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
Original Author
15 years ago
Go figure, its leafing, er needling out quite nicely with no sign of damage. Don't know where the brown from the ends of the needles went.
bengz6westmd
15 years ago
That's surprising, kman. I just have one DR (17' tall), but its early growth resists frosts here quite well. Couple yrs ago, a rather severe frost in early May darkened the shoot/needle tips to brown, but turned back to green w/o damage. The same frost did substantial damage to many other budding trees.

Odds on Dawn Redwood Needle Damage?

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

kman04

Related Discussions

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
Original Author

bengz6westmd

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Odds on Dawn Redwood Needle Damage?

Comments (4)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

kman04

Related Discussions

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St LouisOriginal Author

bengz6westmd

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
Original Author