If the ones with the best fall color ate pkanted or situated differently than the rest then it is environmental. Assuming all is the same take some cuttings when ya can. There is just so little to loose.

Would you try rooting or grafting? I notice my Ogon was grafted so I assume there must be an advantage with that

Many of the dawn redwoods around here turn a rust color in the fall. As for the fiery red color, that is pretty interesting.. have pics on just how red we're talkin..
If the tree is a couple feet tall, I would definitely take cuttings.. A really unique tree would be sought after by many conifer enthusiasts/nurseries, and a cool way to possibly make some money. : )

J

Mine are all rust colored. Never seen yellow.

It's worth taking cuttings. It seems to have the extra gene for anthyocyanin pigment. I had a Metasequoia I watched over a span of about six years depending upon the rainfall totals for the summer (~and fall) go from a rust color(some yellow always) to a couple times a bit better than rust - but never have I seen a fiery red color on any Metasequoia. I've seen some that are decent (botann's for example)- likely due to his 'dry' Pacific Northwest summers.

If it rained like heck where you lived this summer and it still turned red, you've definitely got a genetically-plus gene.

Dax

The tree I'm speaking of is located in the humid midwest, where it got plenty of rain. I will post photos later when I get a chance. It is about six feet tall. When is the best time to take cuttings of metasequoia? March I assume?

About mid-April thru end of May... but not March unless you have a heater around. I'll include a link. Everything is the same except the time of the year. You can also take dormant hardwood cuttings from Dec-Mar in a closed poly-tent, preferably with bottom heat.

Dax

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation of Spring Conifer Cuttings

Hello fellow midwesterner!

Here in St. Louis we had a wet spring then a dry summer and fall after the 4th. Neither my Metasequoia nor the big ones at the Missouri Botanical Garden are doing anything out of the ordinary for fall color this year. Maybe turning a little late thanks to our warm October.

only my taxodium disectum turn deep orange ... not the metasequoia ....

are you sure on the ID ????

otherwise i would love to see a pic

ken

Here are two photos, unfortunately taken at night. If it matters, I will take photos during the day. I just haven't seen a metasequoia THIS red in the fall before. It is about three years old, and turned the same color last year.

I will happily pay for any cutting you get!

Do you all thing taking some opportune cuttings in the spring would be ok on that small of a tree? My guess is do some selective pruning of branches which are growing too close together and get your cuttings from there. Not entirely ideal bit I wouldnt top my tree.

I'd like to see a photo in the daytime.

Thanks Shastensis,

Dax

Here's some daytime pictures:

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This wouldn't be a spectacle if the species were taxodium, but it seems this type of fall color in metasequoia is relatively rare.

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Hmm, looks a bit more red than normal.....
If you do take cuttings.. you can do it the way instructed above.. or
sometimes I take cuttings of the new growth around june or july.. basically each individual branch has opposite arrangement of short shoots (pic 2 shows the shoots I am referring too, just at take the cuttings at the beginning of the season) Each of these shoots can be cut at the start of the branch, dipped in rooting hormone, and planted in a shady area, with dappled sunlight.. they should root within a few weeks. I have always had success this way.

Best of luck!

J

You have a 'nice' tree. I'd say to watch it over the next five more years to see how it does each fall.

Thanks for sharing!

Dax

ya know.. conifers are as bad as kids...

all you have to say is ... that would never happen ....

anyway.. my jack frost [12 feet tall, or so] has the same coloration as yours .... but the old standard does not ...

JF is on irrigation ... OS lived thru 10 weeks of drought.. and high MI heat ...

maybe if they are too well tended.. they turn orange ...

ken

Shastensis, yours is a lot more red than mine. I checked my other Metasequoias and they are the same as this, except for the 'Gold Rush, of course.

{{gwi:393616}}

shastensis,
Did it color the same way again this year?

You hoo...where are you shastensis? How is your Metasequoia doing?

"You hoo...where are you shastensis? How is your Metasequoia doing?"

Obviously, old Shast is on his private island, having retired early with the earnings from his new Metasequoia cultivar!

+oM

Too bad he/she doesn't have their email listed. Definitely more red than most.

Mine has been on the rusty orange side.

{{gwi:484887}}

My hybrid larch get a little of that red/purple thing going on with the golden yellow in the fall.

+oM