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| 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:
Notice the pile of green needles! No burnt or fall color or anything.
what odds do you give it? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| 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 |
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| 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". |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 27, 12 at 19:05
| 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 |
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| 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. |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Fri, Jul 27, 12 at 21:42
| 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. |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Sat, Aug 4, 12 at 0:54
| 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. |
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