Hi there,

I was given a giant redwood sapling as a gift. I've followed all the instructions as best I can and it's growing pretty well, but only from the top half. The bottom half is pretty stunted and the whole tree is beginning to get a bit top heavy. For a while it had very brown, dead tips and I pruned these off (because I thought they might grow better without this) and now they're just stuck in a sort of no-grow mode. I don't understand, the rest of the tree is growing on overdrive, so if anyone had any tips I'd be hugely grateful! The last thing I want is for it to die (being a gift from my other half) but I'm just so un-greenfingered.

Thanks!

PS - see image below

Just on a guess - without looking it up at all first - I'd say that redwoods are supposed to do that. They naturally drop the lower leaves and branches - I think it is a defense against fire. I would not expect it to be showing that nature so soon but... maybe?

I think it looks great! Don't worry about the lower branches, the new growth looks extremely happy.

There are three trees known as redwoods:

Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) grows in the fog belts along the west coast of the Americas.

Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) grows in the Sierra Nevada and, at one time, was the dominate evergreen species.

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) looks a lot like Coast Redwoods except they are deciduous. Native to China.

Your redwood is a Giant Sequoia.

Daisy