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coastal redwood digging
Posted: June 25th, 2012, 6:59 pm
by Gareth
Hi Guys,
Just wondering what the best digging proceedure and potting up proceedure would be?
Do these guys do best in a wet mix? maybe even a water tray?
Im thinking that i might incorporate mroe zeolite into the soil mix to make sure it holds more water?
Any advice with this species would be great, Alpineart, im looking in your direction!!!!!!
gareth
Re: coastal redwood digging
Posted: June 26th, 2012, 6:56 pm
by alpineart
Hi Gareth , mate i'm going around in circles , that's not a good direction .
Been having a lot of OH BUGGER moments with my leg , not my bonsai.
Seriously the coastal redwood loves water but not wet feet . I grow quite a few in plastic pots sitting in scoria wet beds . These are basically black plastic liners filled with 50mm of marble scoria and the plants are sat on that . The actual water table is 50% of the height of the scoria , so the scoria is always moist but not wet .The roots source water out the bottom and when removed and trimmed the wilt quickly , however in a day or two the stand up again . Due to the bike accident i sat my big Redwood in a water bed and it rotted and died . It was a case of not keeping a close eye on things as has been the case here for quite some time .
They can be dug in most climates and seasons , but John Costa's grew hundreds/thousands of them on his tree farm and always maintained Winter was the best time to dig even though they grow through the winter period .When digging try to dig around 600mm from the trunk and at least 500mm down or you may end up witha very poor root ball . This was recommended for 1.5 meter ground grown stock tree . They can be bare rooted for a couple of days and will survive , but i wouldn't recommend letting the root mass dry out . My potted young plants 3-4 year old thrive on little care under 70%shade cloth, no ferts and water from the run off from plants in the wet beds .
If the get too wet they die off and in most cases re-shoot from the base if left alone .I have quite a few that were in sand trays "too wet" they died and have re-shot from all the bases , these were group planting . Hope this hepls .
Cheers Alpine