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Dawn Redwood Sapling, Forked Top, Keep/Remove?

Started by lxskllr, March 24, 2019, 10:02:25 AM

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lxskllr

I noticed my one dawn redwood has a forked top. I should have paid more attention when I was buying it. Should I keep both sides, or clip one off. I don't care too much what it looks like I guess, and if a forked top will make it more interesting I'll keep it. If it makes things worse, structurally or otherwise, I'll get rid of it. What says FF?



Woodpecker52

Woodmizer LT-15, Ross Pony #1 planner, Ford 2600 tractor, Stihl chainsaws, Kubota rtv900 Kubota L3830F tractor

lxskllr

Yea, I'm leaning towards clipping it, and sooner's better than later. I'll do some image searches to see if there's any big guys with a forked top that look good, but these things get too big to be reasonably forked I think.


edit:
Changed my mind already  :^D I typically have a pretty laissez faire attitude with my yard, and trees in general. My yard's full of trees the birds left, and for the most part. I leave them alone. I trim stuff that gets in my way, and remove others that are in problematic locations, but I figure they can take care of themselves. If this tree wants a forked top, it can have a forked top. I found this page while doing my image search...


Metasequoia Glyptostroboides - Dawn Redwood Mature Photo's


None of them have the typical conifer shape. They look kind of maple-like, and they look fine. The one I planted at the side of my house has one stem, so I can see how they compare as they grow up  :^)

gspren

That doesn't look like any of the Dawn Redwoods I've seen. I have one about 15' high with maybe a 5" dia trunk so not old enough yet to compare.
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lxskllr

I was thinking that myself. Since I've taken an interest in them, I've been seeing them all over, and they don't look like my linked page. I'm assuming the guy knows what he's talking about. The pics aren't good enough for me to make out the bark. Could it be aggressive pruning? The leaf litter below the trees looks like redwood droppings.

Ianab

I'd remove the smaller fork now, the smaller the wound you leave the sooner it will heal over, and so less risk to the tree later. 

This page as pictures of one of the nicest ones in our area. It is a normal single  leader conifer, and that's how they "should" grow. If you leave multiple leaders, you get trees like in the link above. 

http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-exotic-botanical-names-m-to-q/dawn-redwood-metasequoia-glyptostroboides.html

The tree in the link was planted around 1950, and is over 28m tall and a 1.6m DBH. They can reach over 60m eventually. 
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

lxskllr

Quote from: Ianab on March 26, 2019, 08:54:30 PM
I'd remove the smaller fork now, the smaller the wound you leave the sooner it will heal over, and so less risk to the tree later.

This page as pictures of one of the nicest ones in our area. It is a normal single  leader conifer, and that's how they "should" grow. If you leave multiple leaders, you get trees like in the link above.

http://www.terrain.net.nz/friends-of-te-henui-group/trees-exotic-botanical-names-m-to-q/dawn-redwood-metasequoia-glyptostroboides.html

The tree in the link was planted around 1950, and is over 28m tall and a 1.6m DBH. They can reach over 60m eventually.
I'll have to get a new saw to prune it...

Either that, or use nail clippers  :^P
Those gnarly bulky trees are kind of neat. They look like they'd be fun to climb. I'll give it some thought. I won't live to see them get full grown, and whoever ends up with the property will probably cut them down, cause people don't seem to like trees anymore. My goal before I die is to make clearing my lot as expensive and irritating as possible  :^D

lxskllr

I decided to leave the fork. The straighter half was the smaller half, and I was kinda undecided. I figure trees can handle themselves, and it'll be interesting regardless of how it turns out. Buried my boy cat below it today. He was a bit of a pita, so it's the perfect tree to put him under  :^)

lxskllr

Update. Tree took care of itself...




Laissez faire works again. My general philosophy is nature left alone can handle itself. It made it before without me, and barring human intervention, will do just fine when I'm gone. The tree selected the half it wanted, and is doing great. I love these trees. Best ~$40 I've spent in awhile   :^)

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