Growing Dawn Redwoods from seed like a BOSS part #1
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2024
- Dawn redwoods are notoriously difficult to grow from seed, but I have finally figured out the best method for getting them to grow. follow this quick and easy guide which will definitely help you out!!
1. Get seeds, make sure they are very fresh.
2. Wet paper towel method.
3. Cold stratification in fridge for 30 days. People say longer but 30 days works.
4. Refresh the wet paper towel and leave them to sit at room temp for 2 weeks. They will sprout periodically, so don't give up them right away even after the first few sprout.
5. When potting, use a nice light medium. Amend potting soil to make it more airy (sand, perlite, etc.) The seeds don't go deep at all, make sure root side goes down. Cover it up slightly.
6. Make sure the soil stays wet until they are stronger!
I now know how to get coast redwood (Sequoiadendron Sempervirens) seeds in the thousands. You wait until a giant storm knocks the cones down onto the road, if you see cones on the roads the seeds have also been knocked out of the cones onto the road. Just take a leaf blower or a broom and sweep the whole road and collect the seeds. It's magic.
I bet you can collect a huge amount. Hopefully they grow for you good luck
Just an update on growing seedlings from my Dawn Redwood seeds. Last fall I collected them and put some in bags in the refrigerator and some in bags in the garage. Then I had another set that I put on wet paper towels before putting in ziploc bags and put some in the refrigerator and some in the garage. As I said earlier, I have thousands of these seeds on my deck so a month ago or I just scooped them up along with the dry leaves and pinecones and put them in some plastic lunchmeat containers. I sprayed them regularly and kept the lid halfway on. I know I had one or two germinate from the dry bags but I don’t know if they were the inside refrigerator or outside garage bags. I have now had several germinate so far from my dump in a Lunchmeat container method. In fact, every few days I look, I see a few more seedlings growing.
Thank you for your suggestion about keeping them in a humid environment. I spritz some daily with water spray and have them loosely covered with plastic tops. I wish I could add pictures to my comments so you can see my experiments. Hopefully out of all these I will get at least one or two trees that I can plant Eventually.
That’s an excellent update! I’m working on growing some Hemlock trees now to add to my forest garden. Hopefully your dawn redwoods continue to do well.
Wow! Excited to see what happens with these little tree babies!
It's gonna be a long journey
Great system to get those trees started. Going to be a good minute till they get grown but a fulfilling and great grow. Thanks for the share!
Thank you! It will be rewarding for sure once they really start to take off this spring when it's safe to get them outside
Great 'How To,' Dave! Very cool plants! Excellently edited video too
Thanks a bunch I'll show the progress as they grow. Stay tuned!!
Great video. Ive been growing bald cypress for 2 years and they have low germination too. Got about 20% to grow from 50 seeds. I need more seeds for this winter
I’ve grown bald cypress from seed as well. They didn’t survive the first winter so I’d protect them for a year or two until they’re mature enough to handle a winter outside. Depends where you live of course
awesome! i bought a 7" dawn redwood back in april, its only may and put on a ft of growth already
Wow that's impressive!
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener i bought 100 dawn redwood seeds online. i did the paper towel method for germinating and ended up with 50-60 sprouted. planting today hopefully i get em to sprout. heard it was 3-5% to germinate and 3-5% chance to sprout
I'm also feeling my way through getting dawn redwood seeds started and came to the same conclusion about the bag on top !! looking forward to more updates. thanks for this content ! I have subscribed
They are growing great! Thanks for the support
i have a couple dawn trees growing in the woods near me, they were some of the first ones planted in this country from seeds that were harvested in china back when they were rediscovered there.large trees and seeds are free. this is in southern michigan..
That's amazing. How big are they now?
I bought a giant sequoia grow a tree kit from the store for $15. It’s got a 35% germination rate it says on the bottle and it’s over a year old. And on top of that these cheapskates only give you two seeds. Unfortunately I can’t get fresh seeds in Massachusetts. I’ll never buy one of these grow kits again.
I'm sorry to hear that. If you can remember send me a message next oct/Nov and I'll send you a whole box full of fresh cones
I live right outside of Boston and I was able to get Metasequoia seeds from Amazon. As of right now, I have 6 seedlings out of 12 seeds planted. I get all my seeds from Amazon, both trees and veggies, and I have never had a bad experience.
Just checked my we paper towel and I got about a 70% germination rate. I used hydrogen peroxide water mix with some willow tree water. Left them in the fridge for 2 weeks and then 2 weeks in a drawer. Just put 100 of them in soil. See how they go.
70 percent is a great germination rate. I’ve found that a bunch of the seedlings will just die one day but that is normal from what I’ve read. Way she goes
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener Do you mean while the seeds are in the paper or after they are sowed and pop through the soil? Cause all mine that have germinated are growing like little champions lol.
Usually when they’re 2-3 inches tall and before they start putting on true leaves
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener gotcha. Mina airnt that far along yet.
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener how are they looking today?
When you say fresh pine cones, I’m assuming you don’t mean the green ones that fall off? Also do I pry open the pines cones to get the seeds or only get seeds from the cones already open? If I recall here in SE Michigan all the cones fell off the tree in Spring. (I may be wrong but as of now, in August, my tree doesn’t have pine cones on it yet.) If its spring, that’s doesn’t match your comment regarding starting in November?
I have a big Dawn Redwood that I planted many years ago and I get a ton of pine ones off of it now, and really want to start growing them. I tried several times doing it from cuttings and none of those worked.
I gathered the opened cones on the ground, not super old mind you, I shake out the cones and you can get quite a few seeds. Usually around the first of November for me. I’m in zone 6b7a so maybe a bit sooner for you?
I have another question. I have not successfully been able to propagate from seeds, but I’m trying again this fall. I actually found two 1” seedlings while looking for good pine cones. I brought them in the house and put them in a container with the mixture. You mentioned in your seedling video. My question is should I put them under a grow light or just keep them by a window? Also, how damp should I keep the dirt? Thank you.
I had mine under LED grow lights. I’m just worried that you will dry it out so maybe keep it moist but not damp and go with 12/12 light cycle.
Update- I tried your chilling method and have gotten at least 2 seeds to sprout, which I’m excited about. I’m hoping I’ll see more soon. Question- after a big storm I lost 2 large branches. The MI weather has been so warm the new small 6” branches had buds on them. I dipped ends in rooting powder, stuck them in a small planter, I’m misting them daily, and keeping them by my grow light. Do you have any suggestions to help me turn these into trees with roots please?
@lauradinsmoor9620 humidity dome is key. Find a way to make a “greenhouse” around it and keep the humidity 70-80 at all times
Awesome video :)
Thanks !! Much appreciated
1 what time of year did you harvest the cone?
2 what time of year did you stratify/germinate?
Harvested November and started around January in zone 6/7 USA. 60-90 days of cold stratification seems to do the trick
Like a boss!
Thank you!!
I believe that you can also easily grow them from cuttings.
That will be a good experiment for the future
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener True. I saw a video on it. Technically you can make many cuttings from a tree.
@@howtogrowdragonfruitplant7849 dawn red woods are super sensitive so cuttings might not work well, I feel growing them from seed is truly the best way to grow strong healthy trees
I've never tried from cuttings but I may try for an experiment
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener definitely worth doing an experiment but also risky, I've grown a lot of sappling the past 2 years and notice they go into shock easy and die easily
How long do you think these seeds are viable, if say..dry in an envelope inside a sealed bag in the fridge? 2 years?
Man the first year I really even tried using a seed tray I had bought a bunch of coast redwood and 50 gold rush dawn seeds and I figured the germination rate would be low, so I put two in each inside a 72cell tray but it seems like every damn one sprouted. I was not prepared. I totally botched it though when I put them outside..not enough water, too much sun and fertilizer too soon. But it blew my mind when so many sprouted, and they grew fast just by the window sill. I've had some luck with dawn cuttings, even had some survive winter when other trees died.
I’ve had horrible luck with purchased seed. It seems fresh and moist is the way to go. I’ve had good luck germinating them but damping off is a real problem. I keep all my baby trees on my shade table for the entire first year. Kinda like a forest floor so the sun is not too harsh.
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener Shade seems to be a must. I really underestimated last years hear. It was an ungodly heat over here. Partial shade is probably more powerful than my cheap 5watt grow lights.
Yeah I have fans over mine right now and I've been dusting them with cinnamon. I hear it helps with rooting but also helps with damping off and gnats-i shoulda boiled my coir. I am dealing with some damping off though but more at the bottom root area and with my pine seedlings. I'm guessing it's a root disease but this is after I potted up slightly and added castings and slow-release fertilizer to the mix. Maybe my fertilizer mix was too strong when I watered them. I only bottom water. They seemed healthy in the cells but the cells I used were too small. I think it's best to start small though or the more soil used the lighter it should be.
Yeah the seeds I purchased were straight from guys with trees in their backyards. I've bought from Sheffields and Schumacher-treeseedshrub and they seem okay if buying in bulk. I think most people on Ebay and Etsy are just re-selling their seeds. I really hope I can get these gold rush's to prosper.
Is there a indoor growing light that works best and how long should they have light daily?
I typically used LED lights that are made for seed starting. 12-14 hrs a day
@Dave The Hillside Gardener Thanks for answering I have always been intrigued on trying to grow some Redwood trees. I am in Boise so not sure if it would make it here.
Your climate is pretty dry. Make sure you keep them well watered
There were 3 of these about 3 ft tall at my local grocery & I went to get them the next day & they were all gone !!😩
Oh no! That would be terrible, hopefully you can find some soon
@@DaveTheHillsideGardener I found 4 approximately 21/2 feet tall & snagged them ! Growing happily still in pots in my yard but making large bonsais out of them so will keep them in pots.
Good luck! I'm trying out some bonsai as well but not with these
Shit I got 4 online wish me luck lol
Good luck dude
I bought 800 seeds lmao
Hopefully they are fresh enough to get a good germination rate. You will have quite a forest one day!!
Seeds are a very slow way.Cuttings in July root in just water
Don't have to do any of this. I didn't and I have two .