How Hard Is It To Raise Redwood Trees From Seed?

I was in S. Francisco a few months ago, and I took a few Redwood tree cones with me. The cones have opened, and dropped their seeds…I am trying to sprout them in potting soil. Can I raise these trees from seed? or is redwood treecultivation difficult?
How long do i need to wait to get one of these babies to 300 feet high? I’ll be the envy of the neighborhood!

I don’t know much about growing Redwoods, but I imagine that it would be at least a couple of hundred years before they reached that sort of height.

It’s probably not as easy as you’d like. Redwoods exist in only a fairly small geographic range, but I’m sure you can grow them in any compatible climate. Redwoods are really tough trees–they usually survive forest fires just fine, by virtue of their sheer width protecting their inner core from flames. I’m not sure how they’d handle, say, droughts or bad soil, but then again, I ain’t a botanist.

And something tells me those babies take millennia to grow to their heights, so, unless you have pointy ears and forge Rings in your backyard barbecue pit, you’d be long dead before the thing grew up.

Go here to help your little seedling along

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/seed-saving.html

and go here to learn about the mighty redwood

http://www.forestworld.com/public/silvics/conifers/sequoia/sempervirens_c1.html

So if we take 7 feet per year growth, it’ll take at least 42 years to optimally get 300 feet. Your grandchildren would be so proud!!

:smiley:

Some sources I’ve read say that second-growth redwoods grow faster than old-growth redwoods.

By faster, it might only take about 80 years to get to 200 feet in height.

How about those other interesting California species…like the Monterey Cypress trees? I’d like to grow a few of them too…maybe I can get the seeds by mail?
I’ve planted my seeds…I’m eagerly awaiting their growth.

42 years to get to 200 feet? Why aren’t these popular landscape trees? Can I grow them In Minnesota?

My uncle-in-law has a seed cone which he claims he took (illegally) from General Sherman, the largest tree by volume in the world. It may hve been as much as 50 years ago, but maybe as little as 20 years ago. He planted a seed in his (now our) back yard at the time, and it is now about 40-50 feet tall…

hrh

From http://www.ppgn.com/evergreen2.html

There are several century old redwoods, sequoia and wellingtonia grown in the UK…none are more than 180 feet or so.

We do have a Douglas Fir at 212 ft however, which is 175 years old.

This is a dawn redwood bonsai kit.

Yea my buddies grandfather smuggled a small sapling (~6 inches tall) out of California up to Vancouver Canada.

It’s been about 18 years and this badboy is a good 20-25 feet tall. Very cool.

Anyway he’s grown about a dozen or so trees from it’s seeds and has passed them on to as many people as possible to spread the species in BC.

I’m getting one for my backyard!

MtM

“Sprouts are commonly about 60 to 90 cm (24 to 36 in)”

Ummm, aren’t those sprouts just part of the original tree & not themselves from seeds?

ralph, it all depends on where you plan on growing this tree. The reason the redwoods are so big in CA is because of all the rain they get. If you’re living in a place like CO, your tree will grow much more slowly (if at all). There’s a tree by my parents house that was maybe 5 or 6 feet when my dad built the house. Now, twenty+ years later, it’s probably closer to 15 - 18 feet tall. Now, that’s at about the other end of the tree-growing spectrum from CA.

Interesting, but you can buy all sorts of trees from ebay.com

100 redwood trees, $199.00, one year old.

Item # 2305797911

believe it or not :slight_smile:

Two questions:

  1. Wouldn’t that commit a LOT of backyard space? I can’t imagine that root structure shares real well. Feel free to tell me I’m wrong.

  2. Where to the cones grow? Wouldn’t one of those suckers falling from the top be close to lethal?