GYOR Grow Your Own Redwoods
Redwoods are thirsty for water but do not require artificial watering
if you plant them with lots of rich soil / compost / aged horse manure / humus / or other nitrogen rich soil mix; can be 3-6" cover ,
most all animal poo based soil amendments are great for redwoods: Horse, Steer, Rabbit, Chicken manure, etc.
Do take advantage of your local compost soil offerings from your local city Soil days etc where they offer back the well aged compost they create from gathering green waste all year round
then cover with wood chips and / or leafy mulch, can be another 3-6" cover.
BAN LEAFBLOWERS: Leave all Leafy Matter where it falls. Especially for RedWoods.
Leafy Matter Protects Soil, Keeps SUN off the Earth, then Breaks Down into Rich Nutrient Dense Humus.
This is why mother nature nature does not need sprinklers, hoses, pipes or artificial irrigation
Unlike Oaks and other Trees, Redwoods are NOT as Vulnerable to rot from too much water or too much duff / mulch / leaf or humus gathered up at their base.
Plant after 1st Rain would be your 1st Choice. 2nd Best Choice would be to plant them early in Fall / Winter so they can catch the Fall / Winter Rains.
Then be SURE to water them the 1st Spring / Summer So they Don’t Dry Out! Keep adding more wood chips every chance you get.
The More Rich Earthy Dark Brown Nitrogen Rich Soil you plant Redwoods with, and the MORE WoodChips/ mulch you cover them with,
The More Winter Rains they Can Catch, Absorb, and Hold and therefore
the sooner they will be self sufficient and / or require less human artificial Watering
MOST important:
Redwoods like SUN, WATER, Nitrogen, acid mineral soil. iron etc.
Nitrogen from animal and / or plant compost sources. See above, 1st Paragraph
Wood Chips / Mulch / Humus / Leafy Matter to protect Soil from SUN
Extra Credit: You need not worry so much about these:
Acid comes from Coffee Grounds. Lemons, Citrus, Redwoods, etc all LOVE Coffee grounds
Mineral Soil can come FREE from rock dust or Discarded Sand Bags around Your Neighborhood. Keep your eyes open for Trashed SandBags on Sidewalks or put out with garbage
iron comes from carrot compost, and other healthy veg compost as lots of veggies have iron. ranked last on list, just an fyi
http://PlantTrees.org GYOR Grow Your Own Redwoods 2020.12.04
From Scott / PlantTrees:
Grow all forests outward using local native seed. If we put nature back the way we found it, we can breathe.
Gather seeds in Fall or Seedlings in spring. Take care to leave the tallest Most established young trees as the forest needs those, but,
when you observe 100s or 1000s of new 1 cm or 1” seedlings in spring that may have started on high and dry duff that may NOT survive the dry summer,
you may be saving their lives by transplanting them into egg cartons or solo cups or yogurt containers, milk cartons, etc. with a trowel. so that you may transport them quickly to replant
You want to gather as much soil as you can to collect all of the root, and the soil around it, so as not to disturb either the root or the fragile Mycorrhizal Fungi that connects the roots to the soil
From Ross of Palo Alto:
Here's the process that Ross used to germinate the seeds for the Redwoods :)
Collect cones that are very fresh (green turning to brown) collected in October/November before they had opened up
Dry them out by putting them in a tray in the sun for a few weeks until they are all open and then collect all the seeds fallen out in the tray
From there, soak the seeds for about 2 days in big Mason Jars, straining and changing the water multiple times as the water will change color.
Mix the seeds with sphagnum moss into gallon size Ziplock bags with about a 50/50 moss/seed ratio. Make the mixture moist, but not wet.
Put them in the fridge in the produce drawer for at least 2 months.
Then plant them by putting a pinch of seeds (20-30) in containers with soil that was fast draining (e.g. mixed with sand, perlite, or mulch)
Water once a week, but keep them from drying out. Can grow inside or outside (but if outside protect from squirrels, we used chickenwire and small cages)
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