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| I don't have a camera yet,but will soon. Just picture a Small sequoia tree, about 6 ft tall and with orange needles. It hasn't put out much growth this year. I pruned a lot off this spring, because it had 2 leaders. It's been in the ground for 3 or 4 years at least, maybe more. We have only recieved a light frost. All my trees are still green except for a few leaves here and there and another tree I posted about on another thread. We have had great rainfall this year. It hasn't done this before, maybe a few branches last winter, then turned green in spring. Maybe it's reacting to less daylight more than frost, and going dormant, but it's not usually this color in fall. It's near a peach tree. Maybe there is some alleopathic thing going on. I've never heard that but I'm trying to guess what is going on, if anything unusual is going on. Could be nothing, could be bad news to my tree. This is a Sequoia Giganteum, not dawn redwood, my DR is still green. The Sequoia is not in a colder area of the yard. I just think the color is weird compared to the past years color in my yard. |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Giant Sequoias usually get an orange reddish color during the winter months, but can't be sure with out a picture...They also tend to show more die back in the eastern states, then its native lands out west.. J |
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| Thanks for the reply, I don't remember it being so extreme in past years. It should be back to green in spring. |
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It's probably no big deal but I have a picture now anyway.  |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Sun, Nov 20, 11 at 11:37
| That does not look good to me. I've seen winter color on many a Sequoiadendron, and that is not what I'm seeing in the pic. How brittle are the needles? Have you done a scratch test to determine if the branches are still viable? I'd be considering a replacement.
Josh |
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| Unless it is a Taxodium mis-labelled . . . the pic is too small to see the foliage clearly enough for identification. Can you get a close-up of the foliage? Resin |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Sun, Nov 20, 11 at 12:37
| After three or four years in the ground, one would think the needle-drop of a Taxodium would be conspicuous. If it *is* a Taxodium, that would be very good news (as far as the imaged tree is concerned). Josh |
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| That does not look good, my friend. In fact, assuming it is Sequoia, I'd think it was dead. |
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| It is not a Bald Cypress, it is definately a sequoia. I'll check it out better tommorrow, and see if there is still green. The needles aren't soft like Dawn redwood and bald cypress. They are sharp and closely clustered. I'll get a close up pic as soon as I can. |
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| Yeah, that's a dead tree. |
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| There is no need for a close up. I scratched the bark and snapped a branch and it's brown and no green at all. It's gotten lots of water, NO fertilizer. I used pine needles under it for mulch, but I doubt that hurt it. The neighbor dog that used to pee on it died in 2010. And it looked okay this spring. Go figure. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 26, 11 at 9:32
| classic case of extreme zone pushing ... regardless of claims that it is zone appropriate ... always think about the magical claims of the marketers .... it lives for a few years.. getting you all excited that it has 'made it' .. too only 'unexpectedly' die .... and i swear ... being an evergreen ... it might have been basically dead.. since last fall .. with the suspended animation of winter ... did it extend in spring .... was it normal length ??? anyway.. i feel for you.. i hate when experiments fail ... personally.. i blame the marketers .. lol.. cant be me.. that is for sure ... i had the same issue with crytomeria .... thrived as a smallish babe.. then got to about 4 feet .. and took 3 years to finally give up the ghost.. shedding about 1/3 of its mass for 3 years.. until i put it.. out on MY misery ... ken ps: and keep in mind.. its a PNW mountain tree ... winter might not been the issue .... as much as summer heat .... or drought ... when i think of the differences between the PNW.. and the midwest.. its heat .. not cold that is the major difference .... [mere speculation for a boy who never gardened outside MI] |
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 Pictured here is Pennsylvania's champ Sequoiadendron giganteum at Tyler Arboretum. Nice specimens can been seen at Longwood Gardens, Hagley Museum, Barnes Foundation, Nat'l Arboretum, grounds of the US Capital and the arboretum nr Morris Plains NJ (name escapes me) which has an exquisite blue specimen. The concept of "zone pushing" doesn't figure into it. Perhaps the greatest threat to these trees is the squirrels that strip off the spongey bark. OP should search for diseases which effect this species to find out what pathogen killed your young tree. |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Sat, Nov 26, 11 at 12:10
| Ken, Sequoiadendron is more of a dry Summer mountain tree than what one would typically think of a Pacific Northwest tree. The Coast Redwood is much more susceptible to drought conditions. Ken, if you click here, Sequoiadendron distribution at Calflora.org, you can see the main range Josh |
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- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 26, 11 at 15:10
| you guys seem to miss my point ... she is pushing the envelope ... she knows that.. i know that.. YOU know that ... sometimes it works.. most times it doesnt... dont you find it significant.. that you can ONLY list some of the greatest gardens on the east coast ... what i am trying to suggest.. rather poorly i admit... is that if some neophyte or newbie comes along.. and is dreaming about having a giant redwood in their yard ... in all reality ... it aint gunna happen ... sure.. it can be done .. odds are it wont work ... there is a vast difference between theory and reality ... when you try to grow things outside their native range.. ken |
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| It had no new growth this spring/summer. It is in a pretty exposed place, where any winds from the north hit it. I never thought of zone pushing with this tree. Maybe some others in my yard but not this one. I've never seen it listed as any higher than zone 6. I had pruned alot of it in fall 2010, that may have made it open for attack of a pathogen or bug, but I see no evidence of anything like that. |
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| I just wanted to repeat drought wasn't an issue for this tree. We've been lucky for the last 7 years, with no bad drought and the times we didn't get rain for short while I watered my small trees. |
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- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Sat, Nov 26, 11 at 18:44
| I'd venture water extremes of some sort are at the base of the problem. While giant sequoias dislike dry soil (insufficient watering is the priamry cause of landscape failure), too much water could be just as harmful. And PA, as well as much of the eastern seabord, received record rainfall amounts this year, with August exceeding all previous records. Excessive amounts of rainfall - especially with plants that are genetically accustomed to drier summer periods - can produce potentially fatal root issues despite how well-draining the normal soil conditions might be. |
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| Since you stated it didn't grow this past spring, perhaps it was too damaged from the past winter, but just took a while to die. Another possibility, check and see if a vole has girdled it at the soil line. I've lost a number of small trees and shrubs to this, including a 6-7 tall Dawn Redwood just this past September. The voles often chew such a small area that unless you move aside some of the mulch and soil, you'd never know that's what happened, yet underneath, girdled all the way around, a fatal wound. |
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| I wouldn't necessarily chalk this up to a tree being pushed to extremes. A variety of natural causes that might kill any new tree could have killed it. We just don't know. Getting more specific to Ken's concerns: Sequoiadendron has trouble with the excessive summer humidity in the Northeast and Midwest, specifically the increased risk of some species of bacteria infecting the foliage. Otherwise, so long as the soil is kept relatively moist, it should do alright. The forests which are inhabited by Sequoiadendron aren't like the rainforests of northwestern Washington... they're actually rather dry, with little summer rainfall and no summer fog. However, Sequoiadendron tends to grow best near streams or other perennial moisture sources. Typical Sequoiadendron forest... |
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- Posted by toronado3800 Z6 St. Louis (My Page) on Sun, Nov 27, 11 at 1:16
| I have killed two here while a half dozen metasequoia will generally live in a bucket filled with my clay soil. Something makes Sequoiadendron die here |
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