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.

Tree Seedling #11 - Two Days Without Water

About a month ago, I thought my older sequoias were okay for a couple of days without watering... Apparently I was wrong. One of my three two-year-olds started turning brown. I was hoping that only parts of the tree had died, and that the tree would bounce back - no luck. Within a couple of weeks, the whole tree was gone. I had read that if sequoia roots dried up, the tree would die. Apparently that is the case. My wife's calling this our Charlie Brown Xmas Tree...

Oh well, 'makes for a pretty desktop wallpaper.

Seed #14 - Growing Fast

In the past week, the branches have more than doubled in size and are now growing branches of their own.

Tree Seedling #11 - The Superstar

Here's tree #11, my favorite of seedlings purchased from Welker's.

Makeshift Greenhouse

I spent tonight putting together a little greenhouse for my seedlings. This should diffuse the hot summer sunlight but still allow airflow through the sides.

It basically consists of a 2'x4' table, bent rigid wire, 1/2" wood dowels, 1"x2" board, 3mil translucent tarp, and a bunch of staples and duct tape. I'm going to have to find a more permanent solution than duct tape - it'll fall off within a couple of days, but the staples should - for the most part - hold it together until I find that solution.

Seed #14 - Branches

Seed #9 - Branches

Seed #6 - Branches

I couldn't be happier with this little guy. You can make out at least two of the branches in this photo. I was a little concerned about the wind blowing it over, but so far, it's handling it like a champ.

Moving Day

I decided it was time to stop coddling my little sprouts. At this point, all of my seedlings had a good amount of secondary leaves and seemed ready to be moved out of the grow lights.

I had originally planned on keeping them in the lights for a long time, but changed my mind when I saw how the lights treated two of my older seedlings. I had a two-year-old and a one-year-old under the lights for three weeks. At the end of the period, the leaves had turned a deep blue-green color, and the trunks didn't seem as rigid. The color is an indication that the leaves were adjusting to find the best color to absorb the artificial light.

The color of a leaf shows the light waves that its chlorophyll reflects, and thus, doesn't absorb. Since the leaves were a little more blue than the ones outside, I can deduce that my lights are lacking in (at least) the blue spectrum.

As for why the trunks seemed less rigid - that may be due to there being no wind in my garage, that the light may not be bright enough, or that it's only really reaching the top parts of the tree, giving too little to the tree overall.

Anyway, the tree seedlings have spent two days in full sun with nothing but positive signs. The soil mixture is well-draining enough that I'll have to water these every day, possibly twice when it's really hot outside. I'm going to play it safe and keep the trees close to the house to protect them from heavy wind and rain.

In this photo are my coast redwoods, giant sequoias, and bristlecone pines.

Seed #13 - Transplant

This was my last of five sequoia seedlings that has made it this far. I transplanted it into the same soil mixture previously mentioned.