Dawn Redwood after Two Growing Seasons. 10.29.18

Dawn Redwood after 2 Growing Seasons.  10.29.18

I planted this tree on 11.17.16.  Based on recommendations by Linda Chalker-Scott, of Washington State Horticulture (I think), I washed off the nursery soil, bare-rooting the tree.  I cut off crossing or binding roots before planting.  During the first year, I watered it about once weekly.  This year, I watered about every other week.  It was a hot, dry summer.  The tree has grown nicely, and now it is starting to show fall color change.  I keep the fence around it to reduce deer damage to the trunks, which happened to nearby cypress trees of similar size.

The tree is mulched, but I did not fertilize.  I've buried some dead chickens nearby, and my beloved dog Charlie, whose atoms will nourish my spirit in the leaves and growth of this tree.

Tree at planting: 11.17.16.  It's hard to believe that a tree with so roots, compared to the top, survived.  But it did, and flourished.  I did not prune the top.  Planting in fall may have allowed significant root growth before Spring.   Im certain that mulch and keeping it watered for the first year is also key.

Dawn Redwood, One Year Later. 10.1.17

Dawn Redwood Tree at One Year.  10.1.17

Dawn Redwood Leaves.  10.1.17

 Last year we planted a Dawn Redwood (Metasequois glyptostroboides) tree.  I followed the recommendation of Washington State Horticulturist Linda Chalker-Scott, and washed the soil from the roots, pruned crossed or damaged roots, before planting.  It had so little remaining root, I wondered if it would live.

It did nicely, leafed out nicely, and grew about a foot taller.   I didn't expect much. The adage is First year sleep, Second year creep, Third year leap.  I think the second year grown is at least "creep"  so maybe next year it will leap.  These trees have the potential to grow 5 feet per year.

Dawn Redwood when planted 11.17.16

Planting a Dawn Redwood, Metasequia glyptostroboides. 11.17.16

Dawn Redwood with ball/burlap/clay removed.  11.17.16

Close up of Root Ball.  My finger touches a girdling root that will be removed.

 Today we planted a Dawn Redwood Metasequia glyptostroboides tree.  Dawn redwoods are deciduous conifers, related to Bald Cyprus and redwood trees.  They were known in the fossil record long before living trees were found in Southeast China.

I wanted to plant a tree for a memorial for my aging dogs.  Planting a tree gives me peace of mind and a focus for my thoughts.

To the best of my ability, I followed the bare-rooting method described by Linda Chalker-Scott of WSU.  I had done that before with a Gravenstein apple tree in full leaf, so far so good.  It looks radical, but the logic is sound.  This tree was in last week's shipment at Portland Nursery, balled and burlaped and placed in container with compost yesterday.  Because it was so recently dug, there has been no chance for roots to fill throughout the container.  It looks scary, seeing so few roots, but this feels like a good chance to catch it before roots grow in bad directions, setting the tree up for future girdling and early failure to thrive, or death.

As Chalker-Scott notes, fall planting is an excellent time to plant trees.  They have the remainder of the fall rainy season, plus late winter and early spring,  to add feeder roots, before starting to produce leaves next year.

When I removed the ropes and burlap, most of the clay just fell off.  I hosed off the rest.  This is the tree inside that pot, that you can't see unless you remove the burlap and wash of the roots.  It looks so drastic.  I've planted lots of fruit trees that were as drastic looking, and they did great.  So I think this is OK.

The girdling root is removed.

Holding another deformed root that crosses through others.  I removed that one too.

 Three photos illustrate the root pruning that I did.  Even though it seems this tree already has almost no roots, I removed the ones that looked like they might lead to future troubles, such as girdling.  One appeared to have auto-grafted onto another.  I removed the smaller of the two.

In the end, my root removal was very minimal.

I also followed other recommendations by Chalker-Scott.  Her two books, "The Informed Gardner" series, are the best that I have read.  In this case, I planted the tree much more shallowly than the burlap would have indicated.  It was too deep.  All  of the roots are fully buried, but the root flare is still at the soil level.

Second, I did not amend the soil with anything extraneous.  The tree has nothing between it and the native soil.  The roots are in full contact with the soil that will nourish and support the tree.  As I discussed with the Gravenstein tree, I also did not want to attract moles and voles to this tree, which I suspect to be an issue if I include compost additives in the soil.

This is the area that I cleared of blackberry brambles and some fallen Douglas Hawthorn trees, over the past couple of weeks.  The soil has been nourished by fallen blackberry leaves, rotting brambles, and tree leaves, for unknown number of years.  But even if that was not the case, I would not be adding compost or other amendments to the soil.

I did tie support to the tree, very loosely.  The intent is not to prevent swaying, but to keep it from falling over if there is excessive weather.  The main thing holding the tree in place, is the soil and root interaction.

The tree is planted about 6" shallower than the burlap was.

There were daffodils on sale at Home Depot.  I planted a wide circle outside of the planting hole area.  Those are for my benefit, but I like to think the bulbs deter underground rodents. There is no proof, that I know of, that daffodils do that.

Ning with the tree.  He's about 5'10".  Temporary deer fencing.

 Finally, I provided hardware cloth vole protection, and fencing deer protection.

This week I will also add some wood chip mulch, and check the support.  The rope is very loose, by intent.  This makes me a bit nervous, with such a tall tree - about 8 foot.  However, the trunk is thin and the top is not very heavy.  I've had posts that were heavier and not any deeper, and they stayed in place just fine.

As an after thought, I looked at those pruned roots and wondered if Metasequoia can produce shoots from roots.  I can't find any such info on the internet, but there are trees that grow from root cuttings.  So I planted those in my ginkgo seed raised bed.  If they grow, fine.  If they don't, nothing lost.

I think this will be a beautiful and healthy tree. 

Prunings saved for root cuttings experiment.

Bare-rooting and Planting a Containerized Apple Tree. 10.3.16

Gravenstein Apple Tree in Container.  10.2.16

 This is a containerized Gravenstein apple tree that I bought on Fall sale at a local nursery.  I wanted a Gravenstein after tasting some neighborhood apples identifed as that cultivar.

A few of my orchard trees have been killed in their first year, by gnawing rodents that remove virtually all of the roots up to the graft.  I strongly suspect voles, which are gnawing herbivores that do eat roots and bark.  I have read that voles use mole tunnels to travel around and access roots.  Often, my small trees have been surrounded by mole hills and therefore mole tunnels, from shortly after planting.  I suspect the voles have used those mole tunnels to do their dastardly deeds, murdering my baby fruit trees.

What is the attraction for moles, to the roots of these trees?  Moles are predatory carnivores.  They eat bugs and worms.  Again, I don't know for certain, but my guess is that the rich planting compost in the tree containers, is a boon for worms and bugs.  Which then attracts moles, who eat the bugs, leaving tunnels for moles who eat the roots and bark.

For entirely different reasons, horticulturalist Linda Chalker Scott strongly recommends bare-rooting new containerized trees prior to planting.  She also recommends bare-rooting balled-and-burlapped trees.  Doing so, allows correction of time-bomb flaws that can kill a tree several years down the road.

Apple Tree Roots in Conntainer Medium.  10.2.16

 Those flaws include girdling roots, deep within the root mass, not visible when the tree is pulled from the container.  That's in addition to winding roots that grow around and around against the plastic of the pot.  Bare-rooting also removes a transition between the container medium and the native soil, which can adversely affect tree root growth.  When replanted, the tree's roots are now in full contact with native soil, no artificial transition between clay (balled and burlap trees) or planting compost (most container trees) or worse, both (often box box stores have trees which are balled and burlap, placed into compost in containers to sell - 2 bad transitions for the roots to deal with). 

I've always cut off winding roots, and often make incisions deep into the container soil, but almost never bare-rooted a tree.  What's more, this tree is in full leaf.

This being fall, today was rainy and overcast, temperature in the 60s.  I thought, not bad for a brief period of naked tree roots.

Roots After About 5 Minutes of Hosing Off.  10.2.16

Roots After About 10 Minutes of Hosing Off.  10.2.16

Bare-Rooted Apple Tree.  10.2.16

 Roots had not wound too much around the pot.  The tree was not root bound.  I set the hose on "jet" - not a bark-removing strength, I hope, but strong enough to wash most of the medium from the roots.  I did not use garden tools to unwind roots, just water and my fingers.

The washing process required about 10 minutes, wash, turn, wash, turn, wash, etc.  I don't think the roots need every last scrap of soil removed, just the best that I can do.

After some minor root pruning, I planted the tree in it's selected spot.  The level is the same as in the container, with the graft a bit about 3 inches or so above soil level.  I watered the soil in around the roots, with the hole about 1/3 full, 2/3 full, and finally when fully filled.  The goal was to get the roots all well blanketed with native soil, as best as I could.

Vole guard (1/4 inch hardwar cloth) and deer cage (larger mesh fencing) are all in place.  I've learned not to delay those protective measures.

Tree Planted with Graft a Few Inches Above Soil Line.  10.2.16

Mulch will follow.  I'm thinking it will be grass clipping mulch, which packs down significantly during the winter and does not seem to provide warm dry fluffy homes for rodents.

Not a single leaf fell from the tree.  I'll continue checking, but I think it won't miss a beat.

Tree Planted, Vole Guard in Place, Deer Cage in Place.