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j0nd03

Metasequoia glyptostroboides 'Ogon' coloring question

j0nd03
10 years ago

Both my Ogon and species dawn redwood grew a mere 4-6" last year, nowhere near the reported growth here and other places!!! They were both mulched and watered regularly. The Ogon is smack dab in a drainage area where I thought it would flourish. Droughty and warm spring/summer, though. Hopefully they will do better this year.

I had my Ogon protected by shadecloth on both the east and west sides and it never developed any gold/yellow. The leader was in full sun but also stayed green. It did have a very pretty light green color. I have removed the shadecloth and it will get full sun this year. It was a 3' tall tree in a 3 or 5 gallon container with very workable roots longer than the tree was tall.

Both the species and Ogon are both leafed out now and look nearly identical to each other, again.

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether it (Ogon) will color better this year?

I was questioning whether I got the real deal by the end of summer, myself. I bought from a reputable seller located in Great Lakes region and paid a premium to get it.

John

PS - I was going to include a pic of the foliage from last summer but it must have been so lackluster, I didn't take any!.. well, at least I can't find any...

I can take a pic of the current growth if anyone wants it

Edit: both trees were planted, dormant, late fall/early winter of 2011*

This post was edited by j0nd03 on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 11:49

Comments (14)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    how big jon???

    some of the yellow things.. dont really 'pop' .. until they get some foliar mass...

    flip us a pic .... i know you have the technology ...

    shall we presume proper planting techniques.. from your tree forum background????

    ken

  • j0nd03
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Ken, I ended up makeing ~3' diameter hole for the tree and planted it slightly above grade, maybe an inch or two - no amendments. As I planted it and spread the roots out (I washed a lot of potting soil off to examine and manipulate the roots), I dug shallow trenches for the longest roots that were too long to fit in the hole. I remember one trench in particular extended about 2'+ out of the planting hole.

    As I mentioned in the OP, the tree was around 3-3.5' tall or so and didn't grow much at all.

    I'll go ahead and take a pic when I get home :)

    John

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    10 years ago

    Huh. My Ogon is smaller than my main species metasequoia so I was mire easily able to keep up with its watering needs despite the drought.

    In St Louis it keeps almost perfect looking foliage in mostly sun and a decently well drained area.

    This spring I was thinking it looked more lime green than bright yellow. We will see as both are still leafing (needling) out.

    FWIW my regular metasequoia 90% defoliated last July in the drought and heat after loosing its leader yet again and selecting a new one. I guess it put on 8 or 10 inches or top growth.

  • j0nd03
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for input, Toro. Lime green is an excellent description for mine, too. Darn near impossible to tell from the picture, but it does have a nice shape to it.

    Seems I made topic last year with an identical title. How's that for consistency? I also never saw any replies beyond March 5... some good reading ahead of me. And yes, I have checked to the box for the email alert in this topic lol

    Pics of Ogon today:

    {{gwi:687762}}

    {{gwi:687763}}

    {{gwi:687764}}

    And the species about 20' away:

    {{gwi:687765}}

    {{gwi:687766}}

    Here is a link that might be useful: 2012

  • Garen Rees
    10 years ago

    I hate to break it to you but in my opinion your tree is definitely not 'Ogon'. Sorry for the downer. New growth should be chartreuse and if it was the real thing you wouldn't have a question about it. I've had both the species and 'Ogon'. I had a small 'Ogon' (12") that I gave to my mother in law and then bought a 5 footer 3 years ago and both were unmistakably different in color from the species even when young.

    It's still a nice tree. The upside to the regular species is that it develops a really nice thick, flared, fluted trunk with more character if you don't limb it up. 'Ogon' tends to have a thiner smooth trunk but the gold color makes up for the lack of trunk character.

  • arktrees
    10 years ago

    John,
    I'm sorry that you don't have what you paid for, and wanted. Have you contacted the seller? Might contact your card company too if they don't make good on it. I would think a "reputable" seller would send you what you ordered, in the size that you ordered, for no additional cost. Hope that is exactly what they do.

    If that doesn't happen, then contact your card company to see if you can't get some satisfaction that way. But I'm sure you already know all this.

    You have certainly had some crappy breaks with the trees. Again, I am sorry.

    Arktrees

  • j0nd03
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Some great pics in the topic I forgot about from last year. Mine definitely has never looked like the one in Toro's pics. I also saw one in person at abciximabs's place that looked like a golden statue with some minor burning (first year in the ground I think) and he is located SE of me in zone 8a.

    I appreciate the input, Garen and Ark. I would like to get a couple more experts to chime in in agreement before I call.

    John

    Edit: after comparing pics to mine and the ones I have seen in person certainly not matching the look of mine, I am nearly positive mine is not the real deal. I called them this morning and then emailed pictures at their request. We'll see what happens...

    This post was edited by j0nd03 on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 9:43

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    i dont think thats Ogon ..

    it will be a week or two.. for me to give you a comparison ... dont let me forget

    ken

  • j0nd03
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The owner called me back himself a moment ago and could not have been more pleasant to deal with. I feel it was an honest mistake as the plant was shipped dormant which would make positive ID next to impossible. A tag most likely became misplaced sometime in their busy season. They have already issued a refund and if I ever move near their nursery, I will certainly give them another try. Really, what more could I ask from them? I get the feeling I should have called first but I wanted to make sure I was correct before I made the call since I have next to nil experience with conifers.

    Ken, I will make sure and remind you ;)

    John

    This post was edited by j0nd03 on Tue, Apr 30, 13 at 11:50

  • arktrees
    10 years ago

    Nothing to feel bad about John. You were simply trying to be sure you were correct before contacting them. And yes things do happen. I agree it was handled fairly, and that's all you can ask for. Credit to them. Thanks for coming back and sharing that info.

    Arktrees

  • davidrt28 (zone 7)
    10 years ago

    Interesting tale. I've been mail ordering plants for 25 years and I really feel like nursery standards have fallen in the past 5-7 years. How hard is it label a group of plants as one thing and not another? Some at least try to make up for it when they are caught making mistakes. But for example a nursery recently admitted to me that I got a fully dead plant, that the entire crop was a failure, but they are still touting it on their website, which I know they frequently update, 2 weeks later. It would not have been hard to know it was dead, I could tell the instant I took it out of the box. And this is someone with good Dave's garden feedback. No, I'm not going to say who.

    Ellen Hornig was the most straight-up nurseryperson I ever dealt with, and she's no longer in the biz.

  • abciximab
    10 years ago

    I'm sorry that you received the wrong tree! Don't buy another unless you can get a great deal. I'll give you an 'Ogon'.....and 'Kool's Gold' this fall if you want?

    Patrick

  • j0nd03
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Uh yeah I'm down with that Patrick!

    I know the intentions of you conifer people. Do whatever it takes to get the poor conifer newbie addicted. Even the owner of the nursery I contacted tried to sell me on joining the ACS lol... you guys...

    John

    ps - the Taxodium's are looking great so far! The acrocona still hasn't broken bud yet though. I thought it would be moving now for sure

    This post was edited by j0nd03 on Wed, May 1, 13 at 12:40

  • Garen Rees
    10 years ago

    So sorry about getting the wrong tree. I'm glad you were kindly refunded.

    Now take that extra money and go get yourself some more conifers. All the cool kids are doing it. =)

    I know it's a little late but here's a photo of the new growth on my 'Ogon' taken yesterday.

    This post was edited by garen59 on Wed, May 1, 13 at 15:52

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