| I have two small trees about 1 1/2 foot in height i have not planted them yet but I plan to keep them in some kind of bucket to see if I could keep them growing. I am not sure but I think the remedy is less sunlight (till it matures a little) and alot of water. The soil that is in the bucket is from the spot where I am going to plant it in the future. How would you recommend I care for these small beauties? |
| Sounds like you're on the right track. Instead of planting your trees in a bucket, how about finding a nursery pot or other container with lots of holes in the bottom for drainage? The roots of your trees will be much happier. Redwood trees can grow very rapidly. Young trees develop a narrow conical silhouette--the highest branches reaching upward, the lower ones drooping. This shape changes with age. Young redwoods use sunlight so efficiently (3-4 times more than pines) that they can grow even in deep shade. But with full sunlight and moist soil, a redwood sapling can grow more than 6 feet in a single growing season! Redwoods are a hydrostatic marvel. They can siphon water upward to great heights, fighting gravity and friction every inch of the way. And during the dry summers in California, the coast redwoods actually create their own "rain" by condensing heavy fog into drenching showers that provide welcome moisture to the roots below. In addition, scientists believe that redwoods take in much of their water directly from the air, through their needles and through canopy roots which the trees sprout on their branches. Lofty "soil mats" formed by trapped dust, needles, seeds and other materials act like sponges to capture the water that nurtures these canopy roots. Moisture from fog is thought to provide 30% to 40% of a redwood's water supply. Pretty amazing, don't you think? |
