Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
jfacendola

Pruning Metasequoia

jfacendola
11 years ago

I planted a 5gal sized dawn redwood in May of this year. I got it as the last one on the discount rack at a big box sore, so it didn�t really have the nicest branch structure. I am going to prune out the crossing and the lowest most tier of tangled branches. My question is, should I do it this fall after leaf drop, or give it one more year to get a bit more established before I prune?

Comments (24)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    hey

    welcome to GW conifers.. hope to see more of you ..

    the top bender.. is it scraping on the trunk.. if so.. get it out of there... and leave the rest for next year ...

    every leaf/needle is a food making machine.. with transplant and all .. it needs every leaf for a few years .. to grow the roots.. for faster 'establishment' ... especially with a conifer that loses its leaves ...

    there is really little hurry.. when pruning a young tree.. there is always next year ... except for injury .. or the avoidance of such..

    do you know how to prune properly?? branch collar and all that????

    good luck

    ken

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    hey +om.. did you miss the forest thru the tree????

    if it is injuring the trunk.. what would you do???

    worry about timing..???

    or get it out NOW???

    i have no argument with his science.. but as a backyard pruner.. i have never taken TIMING into account..

    now.. if i had 5000 acres of my 401K/IRA in trees ... i might darn well think timing is very important ...

    what should he do.. if the branch is harming the trunk .. and when????

    ken

    ps: i bet it isnt.. and if it isnt.. then do it later... timing and all

  • wisconsitom
    11 years ago

    Hehe Kenneth...sure, if damage of any consequence is being done, get the loppers out. And now, to offer balance, the Forestry Dept. where I live and work manages something like 40,000 trees and they indeed do prune whenever the saws are sharp. So the difference between the best and worst times to prune are generally of minor proportions, a few exceptions aside, like not pruning oaks when the picnic bug is flying ( Or landing in your beer). Stuff like that.

    +oM

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    cool ...

    just like the doctor ...

    yeah.. yeah ... i should get an annual checkup on time..

    but otherwise.. when i am injured .. do it now.. [or in this case.. preventing future injury as the trunk expands] ...

    ken

  • jfacendola
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks.

    I took off the small crossing branch, it was rubbing a spot on the trunk. I will wait one more year, and prune the lower branches off in early early spring. I know it's almost a sin to limb this tree up however, it is in my front lawn and I would rather cut some of the lower branches off now and not have some future home owner butcher it later. Attached photo from web is how I would like it to look someday...

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    11 years ago

    I know it's almost a sin to limb this tree up however,

    ==>>> sorry.. but that is BS ...

    its your tree.. on your lot.. in your garden.. do whatever you want with it ..

    i prefer mine high enough that i can walk.. and ride the lawnmower under them .. frankly.. my eyes are more important than some politically correct nonsense that you cant limb up your own tree ... if it knocks my hat off.. i go get the pruners and limb that sucker up ...

    and i would suggest that your dream tree is pruned precisely for that goal ...

    dont get confused by arboretum ... park.. or golf course rules.. on pruning trees ... i presume you live in suburbia.. not on a 50 acres tract of free range tree ...

    good luck

    ken

    ps: in a native forest.. they limb themselves up.. and the stand grows taller.. shading out the lower branches ...

    Here is a link that might be useful: link

  • poaky1
    11 years ago

    I hope you have better luck than me. I prune mine and it sends out more offensive branches. Crossing and rubbing branches that is. {{gwi:365465}} You may not be able to tell with it in leaf.

  • jfacendola
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    This will be my second attempt at a dawn redwood, my first try was with the cultivar "ogon" but it ended with the hurricane last year. I had the gold cultivar growing at the back edge of my yard, about 30 feet from a small stream where it got at least 6 hours of sun a day. It was in the ground for 4 years and over that time, maybe grew a foot taller but kept geting wider. It sort of had a leader since it was only one stem, but looked like somebody cut a branch off a mature tree and stuck it in the ground. The side branches only came out on a horizontal plane, and the leaflets were even all oriented vertical, as if it really was a branch that should have been horizontal and was cut off and stuck vertical. It never thickened above the graft, and just finally cracked and spilt with all the wind of the storm. After its injury I just lopped the grafted yellow part off, and let a small green shoot from the rootstock start growing. When I got the regular green one this spring (to replace a tree that blew over in the storm in my front yard) I just ripped out the stump and little sprout from the previous ogon attempt and called it a loss. I assumed maybe I bought crappy grafted tree, or it just really hated the spot it was in. I hope the one I have now will keep its leader and take a conical shape, and not grow into a tangled ball. There is a row of Metasequoia that I drive by at a strip mall where most of the trees are growing in the "normal" shape that you would expect a dawn redwood, except for one that is about half the height of the rest and is kind of a tangled mess.

  • jfacendola
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Looks like my DR is insisting on growing into a lollypop shape. It must be inspired by all of the lovely Bradford pears my neighbors have. No sign of any vertical leader growth this year, right now it looks like 4 or 5 branches are thinking about competing for that spot.

  • mikebotann
    10 years ago

    Maybe needs more water to get closer to it's potential. Don't worry, it will sort things out and have a good leader over time.
    A water loving Dawn Redwood and drought loving Yuccas are a strange combination.
    Mike

  • Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
    10 years ago

    jfacendola, tbat is an interesting shape. How rapidly is it growing and if you said earlier I missed it, where are you geographically? It "seemed" the more exposed ones I saw in Ohio were shorter and thicker as if wind or frost affected them.

    Because of my mowing pattern mine has a bit of a teardrop shape but is still pyramidal.

    Oh, and I have seen great looking pics of limbed up ones so don't feel bad at all.

  • bengz6westmd
    10 years ago

    jfacendola, sometimes an oddity can be an asset. Could be your sub-tropical climate. My opinion would be NOT to force it into what you want. Let it grow however it wants. I've seen a huge baldcypress w/a spreading, oak-like form, and it was magnificent. Yours may still "take off" & become more upright.

    I wouldn't be against limbing it up slowly over time, but I always prefer to have at least some leaves/branches low enough that you can handle & appreciate them. Ken has issues running eye-first into branches, but I just duck....

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    10 years ago

    hey

    i am confused ...

    and too lazy to read this whole thread ...

    but that isnt going to stop me.. lol ..

    is this the same tree in the last pic.. from the first pic???

    so its in situ ... 1.5 years... and you already limbed it up????

    thats now quite what we recommended oh so long ago ... way back in tyhe olden days.. one year back ....

    the ONLY problems with this VERY LONG LIVED TREE ... is your need for instant gratification ...

    IGNORE IT for 3 years ... it will leader.. AND THEN IN 3 YEARS.;.. you can do some pruning ... some guidance pruning ....

    there is simply no instant gratification with trees.. of which conifers are ...

    there is a leader in your tree.. it will assert itself when the large transplant is fully established.. my guess is.. it isnt yet ... and that is why the leader SEEMS to be lagging ...

    please.. put down the shears.. lower your need for instant gratification .. and step away ... part of the whole beauty of growing trees.. is watching how they respond.. over the .. wait for it.. DECADES ... [not 1.5 years] ...

    i know.. its real hard.. lol ... and a lesson it took me 5 years and 100 conifers to learn .....

    ken

    ps: as founding member and charter president.. i can send you an application for the 'weirder the better' conifer club ... many ... well>??? .. some of us.. dont mind oddballs .... and truly do like watching how the tree works on getting their act together ....

  • outback63 Dennison
    10 years ago

    That tree was grown in tight quarters with no sun to speak of. It also had poor care in developing as evidence of crossover branching. A typical big box store offering.

    As a result a leggy unsorted specimen that will probably never make adjustments for correct form.

    Dave

  • jfacendola
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yes it's the same one in the first pic, and I'm guilty of chopping on it. The update pic was taken by me sitting on the ground and the first pic I was standing, so I didn't go as topiary on it as it may look. Despite previous advice, this spring I decided to address the knot of branches that is visible on the lower left of the first pic. There were 4 branches all originating from the same spot. I thought that I would take out half, so in a couple of years the wound would not be so major when I did some more pruning. Well, half quickly became all, then the other one on the front looked weird and I did have the saw in my hand... So, now it has 3ft of trunk before it branches. The tree has probably tripled in volume, except the top 4 feet refused to do much more than leaf out. It actually got shorter, as the leader got a bit floppy. I know I got a crappy big box discount tree. I'm a sucker for discount plants, but I should have maybe not put one in the VIP spot in my front yard. I have warmed up to the idea of having an oddball DR. I have also seen a few huge low branched spreading bald cypress that were shaped almost like a live oak and they were awesome. This tree had lots of rain for most of the growing season, also the under planting is Sabal minor palms (they love water too). I'll lay off the trimming and see what this beast can turn into.

  • Sue Hughes
    5 years ago

    I would not cut off the overlapping limb. Just bend it gently in the right direction and hold it there with string, wire or a thin stick taped to it. It worked for me on a one of my young Dawn Redwoods.

  • poaky1
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    jface- your Dawnredwood has better shape than mine does. I posted waaaaay up above on this thread/post. My Dawn redwood has many leaders, no particular main trunk, so I will just say, just forget about yours and let it grow how it will. WELL, if you only have room for a few trees in your yard, I DO understand about wanting those you have to be just what you want them to be, so YES, you will want to do what you need to do to make your landscape what you want it to be. So either deal with the Dawn Redwood or try another tree in that area. I've come to be okay with my DR and it's strange form.

    I had pruned mine years ago and used "sucker stopper" a spray that is supposed to stop branches from growing where you spray the stuff at. I was trying to avoid a "spray" of branch growth where I didn't want it, but, the crap didn't work. I just have given up, and like my DR's weird growth form.

  • jalcon
    5 years ago

    Would love to get an update on this tree, although I doubt that will happen. Ii wish people updated their threads more often in...'tree time" haha

  • poaky1
    5 years ago

    You of course mean jfacendola's tree right?

  • Joe
    5 years ago

    Update: I gave the tree until summer 2015 to show some evidence that it would sort out it's leader/form issues. It did not. I wish I had a photo of it in the summer before I gave it the axe. I had mixed feelings about cutting it down, but It just grew into tangled branches and stayed lollipop shaped, not even thinking about growing a leader. Below is a photo from fall 2014, not the worst looking tree, just not what I wanted for that spot.

    I atoned for my sins by planting one with a perfectly straight leader in another spot (which has already surpassed what the funky shaped one as) and went a different route in my front yard, as I already have a couple of bald cypress out there.

  • poaky1
    5 years ago

    Wow, Joe, you really got rid of your tree because it hadn't gotten a main leader? My Dawn Redwood has been here in my yard for many years with a very unruly form, but, I had tried to tame it when it was young, I used a spray bottle of stuff that was supposed to stop branches from forming on some parts of the tree, but, I had pruned the tree and tried to control where the branches would come out, vs where I had pruned the tree at, and in the end the tree just grew branches where it damn well wanted. My DR has been where it is now for many years over 18 years for sure. But, I will add that this Dr has been moved at least 2 times, i had grown it in a pot from those "trees in a box" kits, and i had sown the seed on a windowsill, and after that I planted in the ground in my yard at that time, then i had planted it in it;s current place, and it has been at it;s current place from 1999-2018, so this tree is doing great.

  • Joe
    5 years ago

    Yeah I was a little brutal with my pruning.... pruned it right flush with the ground. There is a row of dawn redwoods in front of a local shopping center, one of them has the same no leader problem mine had. They have been there around ten years, and the scraggly one still hasn't figured out how to grow a leader. I gave mine a couple of years, but I didn't want to waste the space in my front yard or the time on a tree that I wasn't happy with.

    Google streetview of the row of shopping center Metasequoia from a couple of years ago. The third from the left is the leaderless one. As of yesterday, it is now at least half the height of its neighbors, as they continue to grow vertical and it grows into a shrub.

  • poaky1
    5 years ago

    Hey Joe, I have just given up on trying to make my DR have a main leader, the tree is really a nice tree, but, I will admit, I do tend to like a tree with a nice form, meaning a tree with a main trunk with nice branches that grow to the side of the tree, and they will be straight out to the side of the trunk, but, hey, I only have a couple trees that have that perfect form. And I do know that my Dawn Redwood will never have that nice form. I started this tree from a "Tree in abox" kit on my windowsill, so it didn't form a nice main trunk from the beginning, because it was on a windowsill, so that light hadn't come from right above. But, as soon as possible I planted it in the ground, but, it had many leaders. So I had pruned it to have 1 main leader, a nd I used this stuff called "Sucker stopper", it was supposed to stop suckers from sprouting along the trunk after I had pruned the tree trying to make it have a form with just 1 main trunk and making it branch where I wanted it to, but, the tree has grown just where and how it wants to, and that spray didn't stop any branches from sprouting where they want to, so now, to this day, my Dawn Redwood grows how it wants to, and I don't do anything to change it's branching. It's a nice tree, but, it has many branches growing sideways, upright , wherever.

Sponsored
Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
Average rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars254 Reviews
Northern Virginia Design Build Firm | 18x Best of Houzz