Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
toronado3800

Metasequoia defoliating in the drought, bet if it will make it?

Yup, .13 inches of rain in six weeks and that is what you get.

Really this fella looked pretty good until that 108 we pulled earlier in the week. This year I have been sprinkler watering the smaller trees in the yard every second or third day and the "big" Dawn Redwood I thought was benefiting from that. It gets about probably two thirds of its root zone damp each time I water and my rain gauge reads 1/4 inch of rain after an each hour long session.

So today I just put out one sprinkler and set it to gentle where it sprays a foot high and am leaving it there under the uphill side of the Metasequoia's canopy.

What do you think, will it pull through?

Pictures as always:

{{gwi:394743}}

{{gwi:394744}}

{{gwi:394745}}

Notice the pile of green needles! No burnt or fall color or anything.

{{gwi:394747}}

what odds do you give it?

Comments (16)

  • hortster
    11 years ago

    Well, seeing as both Metasequoia and Taxodium are in the Cypress family and may have the same drought reactions, I'd lean toward it making it through. Last summer, a summer of 53 days over 100 degrees, my baldcypress went dormant in late August and came back just fine this year. Still looks good in a non-irrigated situation this season after over 25 days above 100 degrees.
    Never grown Metasequoia but would bet that defoliation is their natural protection, too.
    hortster

  • denninmi
    11 years ago

    I suspect Hortster is right. It should be OK. Conditional, though, I would say upon how much water it gets from here on out. Since you're watering it, it should make it. If you didn't or couldn't and the drought and heat stretch on for a couple more months as forecast, then I would say it would be a lot more "iffy".

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    are any other deciduous trees losing leaves???? a lot of leaf litter around my area ... from all kinds of trees ...

    ignore it.. mine gets hit like that by hard frost twice each spring.. and just keeps on going ...

    surprised you dont like the conifer peeps enough to ask over there ...

    ken

  • subtropix
    11 years ago

    Betting it will make it assuming you get a return to more normal precip in the the coming seasons. Dawn Reds are of course related to Bald Cypresses but DRs are probably somewhat less tolerant of climate extremes at least in terms of temperature, doing best in areas of fairly heavy annual precip and moderate seasonal variation. Still, they are tough trees and hope it makes it for you.

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you all for the optimism. I will leave that sprinkler on trickle until I go to bed this evening and revisit it Sunday to see if the ground has dried.

    Ken, quite a few trees around town have been losing leaves. After the last bout of 100+ degree days the redbuds and dogwoods on my street began stressing so it is not the only one.

    I guess I posted here instead of the Conifers forum as it was more of a general question. Luckily it seems you, Whass and most of the others browse them both.

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I was just thinking about this as I am soaking the ground around it again and thought I should give an update.

    While more needles actually fell off and the tree looks worse now than in the pictures it has a large number of new green buds on almost every branch I can get to so my mood is guardedly optimistic.

    Once nice thing about my damp soil loving trees in the drought, it is soo dry I feel I can water the Metasequoia to my heart's content with little chance of damage where a fussy Acer palmatum or Cornus florida needs to dry out a bit more and might complain about wet feet.

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    {{gwi:394749}}

    Hortster, guys, you were right. Here it is late June this year and things do look ok for the fella. There are some dead foot long twigs hanging out on the tree still and I swear the foliage is not as thick as before, but it looks ok.

    You should have seen it last year by August. I couldn't bring myself to take any pictures. 90% foliage loss. Of course looking back the grass was 90% dormant also and it has come back.

    Oddly, a ten year old Acer palmatum of mine and a Syringa vulgaris (Lilac) of greater age picked this year to succumb to verticullium wilt. Guess the drought weakened them.

    Oh, the pile of dead sticks in the background is from my neighbor's yard. The county is picking up limbs and trees from the tornado a few weeks back.

    Oh and Ken, no offense to the conifer folks lol. I browse both forums so I just ASSUME everyone does.

    Here is a link that might be useful: KTVI Tornado Track

    This post was edited by toronado3800 on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 2:50

  • arktrees
    10 years ago

    toronado,
    IMHO, the thinner foliage is probable a response to the drought of last year. Responding as a new transplant extending the root system to help compensate for the next drought.

    As for weakening trees/plants so that they then succumb to other maladies, that is almost certainly what happened. John and I have had two horrendous years in a row (as has hort), as a result, there is much tree death (at least in my area, and I assume the same is true for John). What's more, even with moderate weather, this will continue as a result of the droughts for several more years. Follow the link for information on a specific disease of Oaks that kills Oaks after droughts. Similar end results are likely for other groups.

    Arktrees

    Here is a link that might be useful: Drought effects on Oaks

  • fireweed22
    10 years ago

    Nice. My Ogon and another cv which I forget the name (white spot??) both defoliated last summer and actually came back. They aren't perfect but betting they'll be stronger for it... Hopefully seeking water now that they didn't tap into last year. They are new.

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Just dug up the old thread to link to in the Conifer forum.

    Its still alive and growing quite well. There are a number of small dead twigs low and in the interior. Probably a combo of the drought and getting shaded out given when I started noticing them.

    My plan with them is to let them continue to fall off a their own pace. Or do you think I can possibly prune them all w/o causing more harm than good?

    Some pics from earlier with the kid for scale:

    {{gwi:394752}}

    Check out them cool surface roots bottom left! and the dead twigs :(
    {{gwi:394755}}

  • gardener365
    9 years ago

    I just snap them off. They're brittle. It's actually more work with a pruner (takes a good squeeze to get er done.)

    Nice tree.

    Dax

  • lou_spicewood_tx
    9 years ago

    Looking great! I had not realize it was that much bigger. Having the little boy there sure made a huge difference on just how big the tree was.

  • whaas_5a
    9 years ago

    Buggers grow fast don't they...both of em!

    Its cool to see these updated threads with the older pics.

  • gardener365
    8 years ago

    They're amazing trees. Good spacing.

    Dax


  • jalcon
    8 years ago

    Wow, I can not believe how much size that put on in two years. Amazing.