It's been a while since I've posted - look how much my seedlings have grown! From my original April batch, I only have five sequoias left. I'm confident that these remaining will stick around through next year, so long as I make sure to keep them out of the frost this winter.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Seed #6 - Looking Good
It's been a while since I've posted - look how much my seedlings have grown! From my original April batch, I only have five sequoias left. I'm confident that these remaining will stick around through next year, so long as I make sure to keep them out of the frost this winter.
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13 comments:
Hi Blake!
What a wonderful log of your experiment on growing Giant Sequoias in pots!
Reading your blog is like a revisit to all the things I experienced while growing these magnificent trees :-)
I started a similar project 1,5 year ago. The only problem is, I am living in Norway - not really a Giant Sequoia-friendly climate...
Like you, I tried growing Coastal and Dawn Redwoods and Bristlecone Pines as well - but decided to focus on GS because of the limited space in my growing room.
How are your sequoia's doing? I hope you will continue to blog every now and then.
Emile.
Hi Blake!
What a wonderful log of your experiment on growing Giant Sequoias in pots.
Reading your blog is like a revisit to all the things I experienced while growing these magnificent trees :-)
I started a similar project 1,5 year ago. The only problem is, I am living in Norway - not really a Giant Sequoia-friendly climate
Like you, I tried growing Coastal and Dawn Redwoods and Bristlecone Pines as well - but decided to focus on GS because of the limited space in my growing room.
How are your sequoia's doing? I hope you will continue to blog every now and then.
Emile.
Oh Emile! So you're the guy behind this impressive gallery! What about your sequoias? Are they doing well? Do you have a website to explain your experiment in Norway?
Blake, I don't know how I did'nt find your wonderful blog before, must be Google's fault... Just like Emile, I'm trying to get some giant sequoias to survive in our very cold, almost impossible environment here in Quebec, Canada. Something like a superhero cultivar. If you don't mind, I'll show some of your pictures on my website. I've got a pretty much complete website and a blog on my experiment and how to cultivate a giant sequoia, but in French. Someone has to choose... At least you can take a look at some pictures. And yes, when are you adding some pictures and infos on your blog? Don't let us down. :-)
Very interesting. I am from the same general area as you (Chester County PA). I have grown a few sequoia's as well and will be attempting the exact same thing as you very soon. I've had a seedling that we bought in California in March 2006. We still have it although this winter may have had its way with it already. I have 4 more that I had purchased in December 07 that have grown tremendously. Now it is time for me to start from seed. Is there any chance you will update this blog? Or that I can e-mail you on thoughts?
Thanks
Jim Coarse
jim@jimcoarse.com
www.JimCoarse.com
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Hey Blake,
Very nice blog on your journey with Giant Sequoia growing. Are they still growing well?
I am inspired to give this a shot myself, Thank you.
Sincerely,
Silent Wolf
Hey Rob -
Sadly, all of my sequoias, except one that I gifted, have ceased to be :). I neglected the 5 or so I had left over the winter outside for a little too long, which was just enough to kill em. I'm left with a 4-inch tall, 4 year old bristlecone pine which refuses to die, and a coast redwood that I thought was dead, but it had green at the base. I chopped 90% of the shoot off, and am going to see if it'll start growing again, something that coast redwoods are known for.
Good luck with your growing - it's a fun hobby, but kinda takes over in that you are constantly worried about making sure they have enough water, heat, etc. A couple days of neglect during a hot summer will be the end of it, ya know?
Blake, can you please talk me through the whole process? Pick it up from the point you get the germinated seed into the pots. I had approximately 30 seedlings die on me this winter. IT IS EXTREMELY FRUSTRATING. I get the seeds to germinate, i plant them, they grow to their first set of leaves and a height of approxiamtely 2 inches and then they wither and die. I tried direct/indirect sunlight, the room is warm, i tried watering quite often, i tried not watering them that often, my soil is a mix of a quite fertile local black soil (I'm from Eastern Europe), a bit of sand and very organic soil bought from store. What is your recipe, how do you do it? Is it because I started them in winter? I don't know what to think, not even one of the tens of seedlings I've had ever got to acquiring the second set of leaves. Please share some of your way of doing it. Thank you
@narator - All of my trees are dead at this point. I haven't written in this blog in quite some time. I believe if you read through the history, you'll see exactly what I did, though. I started each batch with a couple hundred seeds in wet coffee filters in the shade, then planted those that germinated in potting soil, under two different type of fluorescent lights to simulate sunlight the best I could.
It's frustrating indeed!
And how are they now? I hope they are doing well!!
Dead.
Hello Blake since July of this year have you tried again at growing any Giant Sequoias and if so how are they doing?.Did you manage to find out what you were doing wrong concerning the dead seedlings?.
Ernst - They all died about 5 years ago. I've decided against doing this again. The trees really aren't meant for my climate here in Pennsylvania. They died because I didn't water them for a weekend. Two years of raising these trees in pots, and they all died in a weekend.
Since them, I've planted a couple large maple trees in my yard - I don't think I'll have any problem keeping *them* alive!
If sequoia roots dry out, the tree dies. In the wild, these trees tap into underground snow melt water during the summer. So, all I did wrong was leave them alone for just a couple days. Raising these trees where they don't belong is an unforgiving hobby!
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