please clarify

you are getting a dormant plant that is ready for winter...

and going to pot it and force it out of dormancy to try to grow it as a house plant ....

that is going to be tough ....

if its a $6 experiment to see if you can succeed.. go for it ... but dont be surprised if you have problems ...

if you want a 100% chance at success.. plant it outside like it should be at this time of year in z5 ....

i know hosta.. and i know that the have a requisite 60 day dormancy period ... i DO NOT KNOW IF TREES HAVE SUCH .... hopefully you will get an answer from the tree nuts ....

good luck.. and have fun.. and live your dreams ...

ken

ps: i cant tell the difference between taxodium and meta cones ... resin will tell us which you have.. if there is any question about that ....

I have no problem planting it outside if that would be best.

I was just hoping to help it along by not planting it in this kind of weather. But if outside it must go, I'll take that route. I'm looking for guidance. I have very little conifer planting experience. I know with bamboo you can't plant this time of year around here, it just dies.

The cones looked so different, I just wanted to make sure they were both dawn redwood.

Here are some more pictures of the taller, zoo tree.

{{gwi:841159}}

{{gwi:841162}}

{{gwi:841164}}

"You would almost think they came from different species"

They do! Even different genera ;-))
In post #1, the first pic is Taxodium, the second pic is Metasequoia.

In post #3, all Taxodium.

Resin

Beautiful!

As far as the tree's range, it doesn't appear to be native to Pittsburgh, where this one is located (at the zoo).

This may be yet another tree that I like/must have. Although I'm guessing it's much older than a dawn redwood could possibly be (which I believe now is about 61 years old).

Very cool. Thanks!

Both great trees!! If the ground isn't frozen yet you may want to plant it outside. Or leave it in a garage near a window, or some place that is cold, but not to cold to freeze the roots. Watering thru winter. I am actually trying to force a dawn redwood out of dormancy right now... we'll see how it goes..

J

I can't ID either by cones but can by foliage. The needles and buds on Metasequoia will be arranged opposite from eachother on the branches. Taxodium looks random to me but I've read it called spiral.

Generally Metasequoia also gets arm pit type looking depressions "buttresses" under large branches.

Both are some of my favorite trees. If you plant a Metasequoia in the open and leave the lower branches on you get one of the best trunks in the plant world!

Here is a link that might be useful: Uconn Database on Metasequoia

"I can't ID either by cones"

Taxodium cones have spiral scale arrangement, with large, nearly square scales.

Metasequoia cones have opposite scale arrangement in four rows, with narrow, horizontal scales much wider than 'long'.

Resin

Thank you Resin. I think I can see it. Identification is NOT my strong point in hort. I'm better at digging holes and not killing things with "too much" love.

Keeping a dawn redwood inside during the winter is a very bad idea for two reasons...first, without winter dormancy induced by change in photoperiod and especially temperature, your d.r. will simply stop grwing around january and begin to look sick and ugly. You can remedy this by throwing it in the fridge for three weeks once it has stopped growing, and then taking it out and placing in a sunny window. If it is already dormant, it will need a good three to four eeks of cold temps and low light levels.

However, experience dictates that unless you have a brightly lit greenhouse or expensive sodium light, than growth indoors, with low indoor light conditions (even a bright sunny south facing window is still pretty low on light energy required for growth, light drastically tapers off as distance from the window increases) is always going to be far inferior and unhealthy looking to full bodied light outside. The seedling will only grow on the side that faces the window, will be weak and leggy and more susceptible to croaking in the first year, etc.

My advice is to just plant it out, mulch, maybe some grate fencing, and wait for spring. Then water non stop. It is IMPOSSIBLE to overwater this species and it will thank you for it.

Well, I went to plant it today, and I just couldn't find a good spot that I could be sure would not get bothered. So I potted it, and stuck it upstairs. The room gets light from three 4-foot florescent plant lights that are on 12 hours a day. It's a north facing window. It's room temperature.

Really, I figured what could I lose besides 9 bucks really. It's November, and I can't imagine the tree growing roots any better from now until April. So I'm just going to give it a try this way. If it fails, I'll just buy another in April. I really only want one tree anyway. I might even buy a taller one as well. This one is only 18".

The tree has no leaves left on it. Only buds. Which is strange, as the tree in town is still almost completely green. The tree I bought comes from North Carolina, at least 300 miles South from here.

The Bald Cyprus cones are completely dried up and split apart. The dawn redwood cones open up after 3 or so days. I've collected over 30 cones, I'm going to try more from seed over the Winter. I'll post a picture of the tree soon.

Thanks All!
Clint

The first Dawn Redwood seeds came to the US from China in 1948. How can we say the tree is "native" to the US? Can we ever make that claim?

Not trying to argue, but it isn't a native tree.

When I mentioned native earlier, I was talking about the Bald Cyprus.

Thanks for clarifying. Good luck with your little tree and your seeds.

RE: The Dawn Redwood "native" or not.

One might argue it is native to north America since it exists in the fossil record. :-)

Only the genus was ever native to North America, the North American fossils are a different species, M. occidentalis, quite distinct from M. glyptostroboides.

Resin