Redwood Bonsai Specification and germination

About growing two species: The coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), and the dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides).

The giant sequoia is monotonous, which means that the male and female parts are located on the same tree.

SPECIFICATION OF REDWOOD BONSAI

Botanical Name- Gaultheria procumbens Redwood
Light Requirements- Half Sun / Half Shade, Full Shade
Mature Height- 2-4" tall
Mature spread- 12-16" wide
Foliage- Evergreen
Soil Moisture- Average
   

INSTRUCTION

Growing a giant redwood or a giant sequoia from seed is not the easiest thing in the world, but it’s certainly not impossible.

More fun to do as a home gardener is to collect the seeds yourself.

Bought seeds should originate from mature trees in the natural range of the trees, the Sierra Nevada range, and are most likely to germinate.

So when you collect seeds yourself, try to collect cones from trees that are as old as possible.

It can take only a couple of years to a number of decades before a giant redwood starts producing cones.

Fallen green cones are also ideal to collect when they open after a couple of weeks in a dry place, they are loaded with small, winged seeds.

GERMINATION

Before sowing, it is useful to place the seeds a couple of days to a couple of weeks in the fridge. When you sow them at last and place them in a warm place (like on the radiator of your heating system), the seeds “think” winter’s over and the time to germinate has come.

Try to sow the seeds at different depths and don't put them in the ordinary compost, but on the soil, that too slightly covered. They also need light to germinate. But be aware! The seeds need to be in contact with the moist soil, so you need to press them softly into the compost. The seeds are quite susceptible to drought. You can put a glass plate or some plastic foil over the pot, but you have to be careful not to kill them by making things too wet. Small germinated sequoias die easily because of overwatering.

To keep the ground moist but not wet, it’s ideal to use a garden sprayer instead of a watering can.

When a seed germinates, the first thing you see is a tiny, rhubarb coloured stem, loop-shaped. After a couple of days, the plant erects itself and the dried seed skin falls off (if it does not look like it’s going to do that by itself, you could help a little bit). You see four seed leaves, although there can be three or five.

Use a flat tray container about 10 inches by 15 inches (biggest or smaller your choice) 1.5 to 2 inches deep. Make sure you have plenty of holes in it for good water drainage- put the seedling mix you prepared up to almost top leaving about 0.5 inches space- now evenly spread the seeds over it after that cover the seeds with seedling mix only about 0.5 cm (half a centimeter)- water it by watering can - place the container in semi-shaded place.

FERTILIZING

Fertilize this bonsai from late spring to late summer with a well balanced organic fertilizer.  Do not feed in the fall.