hey... welcome ... i had a DR ... hit by hard frost or freeze.. twice in one spring ... it would leaf out ... then get zapped... leafed out again ... and got zapped again ... it recovered.. but it looked sparse that year .. just like yours... any recollection of such this year for you ..??? this is one of the few conifers.. that have dormant buds along the branches... which means it can fill in over the years ... we had a real bad winter in MI ... z4 at least.. in my normal z5 ... my plain green DR.. looks fine ...my jack frost.. looks a bit like yours ... i am not going to do anything... but let them do their own thing .... they are well established TREES .... as is yours at 5 years ... in addition.. spring was so late this .. my pines are not even fully budded out yet.. meaning summer is late this year... and if you are about the same... then this might fill out.. this year also ... at 5 years in the ground.. there is not much you can do.. nor need be done ... i am not one to 'feed' trees .... and if its anywhere near a fert'd lawn.. its getting what it needs ... ken

Ken, we seem to be bucking heads lately. Maybe it's in the water one of us is drinking that is causing this. Aside from that I respectfully disagree. Correct the lean by pulling it back into vertical at the bend. If you do nothing it will correct the lean on its own but on the top side which you want to avoid. The saw is a mute point. I could have used a hack saw with a 24 tooth blade to cut off that small leader and accomplished the same look he did .LOL The man of action did a good job because he got expert advice and knew it. A great looking specimen it will be. We also have Edwin giving him the correct cultivar name 'Snow Flurry' which all of us so called experts didn't pick up on. Great post and follow ups. Dave

I would plant them soon. Fall is good time to plant. Plant a few since you've got them, one might be a genetic dud, or break under ice or something, you never know. If you search under bonsai on the net, there is info. Dawn Redwood has been bonsai, as well as Bald Cypress. Involves alot of multilating the tree and roots, if you have the stomach for that sorta thing. They need to be kept outside all year long, they would need some sort of winter protection, a good spot to keep it both summer and winter.

Jal, even the presence of fruiting bodies (mushrooms) emanating from near or on the roots is not necessarily evidence of something amiss. Again, I would refer you and any reader to mycorrhizal fungi-what they are, what they do, and the bewildering prevalence of these relationships in nature. Fungi are responsible for the greatest percentage of plant diseases, but the reverse is definitely not true-most fungi do not cause plant diseases!