Should turn out fine. Odd structure for a species Metasequoia, however.

Whaas, only just now saw your question, lol! That question is the very salient point: Nobody knows, beyond vast experience-and for each species-what the proper amount to remove from a subordinated branch is. Generally though, like I said up yonder, more seems to be more. Trees do indeed respond to branch loss with an explosion of new growth, so in a sense, maybe this technique should never stand alone-followup being critical. I live and work in an environment where we have highly skilled arborists and dedicated funding, albeit that is on the edge in these austere days. But we do purposely devote more time to young stock. After all, even within our paradigm, once a tree has reached a certain height, pruning needs do change drastically, and mostly downward in terms of need. That until the tree is old and senescent, of course, but that's a different game.

+oM

Hair, I'm near-certain its top got destroyed at some point.

+oM

See my old thread below. I had the same thing happen and it just outgrew it. These things grow so fast, it just fixes itself on its own. Especially when green and flexible. My tree grew 3' or so that season and you couldn't even tell there were competing leaders. These things are amazing.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1640528/dawn-redwood-leader-pruning?n=12

For sure! Wish they grew better up here, and especially one zone colder still, up where my tree plantation is. Just too cold.

If I was in the Carolinas or somewhere similar, I'd be planting them by the thousands.

+oM

Yup! In a short period of time (3 growing seasons), the species DR has grown to be the tallest of my newly planted trees in the backyard. I haven't had quick growth with my Ogon though. It that same time, it is still under 5'; whereas the species DR is pushing 10'. I'll post pics shortly.

Sounds good jq. Always enjoy seeing those trees. I console myself with the fact we can grow larch like nobody's business up here (And again, especially at my plantation) and I believe that tree would struggle in your heat.

+oM

I shot these photo of the dawn redwood today. The tree seems very healthy and is growing fast. It has grown 20" since I planted it 14 months ago. It is in zone 5b, about ten miles from zone 6a (nowhere near zone 5a.) I did try unstaking it, but it seemed like it still needed the stake. I fastened it higher to the stake, though. Should I be concerned about the tree growing so unbalanced to the one side?

(Reverse angle photo compared to above.)

Before I read this other thread, I did subordinate it again this week. I cut it where the yellow circle is. That new shoot was catching up to the leader. After seeing the photos in the other thread I will likely be lighter with my pruning attempts, but all seams to be well so far.

Bingo! looking good.

Dax

i say its time to take it out completely ... the side one i mean.. not the plant.. lol

ken

I unstaked the dawn redwood yesterday. The tree is about 68 inches tall now.

Also, here is a closeup of the spot I pruned the second leader off at the end of winter.

Steve Gall , that is a very nice tree now.

Absolutely perfect. You'll be giving advice now, Steve. :)

Dax

Looks great! I would cut that little shoot off on the left ASAP, but other than that, you're in good shape.

I think the trunk is going to look a lot straighter in a couple years - by the time it's 2" in diameter, you won't notice all those bends and zigzags.

I did cut the little shoot off in August of 2015. Now in August of 2016 the tree is 93 inches tall. It has good form and is my favorite tree.

Steve, thanks for the update. That is a very good looking tree you have there.

This photo was taken in October 2017. The dawn redwood is now 123" tall and has a much larger mulch ring. The background looks different because a house is being built on what was the empty lot next door.

Nice. How is the trunk looking? Being limbed up a bit am Ibseeing right that its pretty straight?

Yes. The trunk is good and straight. Probably straighter from various angles than it looks in the photo even.

October 2018. The dawn redwood grew 40" since October 2017 and is now 163" tall.

Man, its on its way! You doing anything special with it?

Mine loses its leader every so often but always sorts itself out. How about yours?

It has never lost its leader. I'm not really doing anything special. I water if it gets dry and the lawn starts to turn brown. I feed it some in late spring and early summer with regular plant fertilizer and some Superthrive vitamin mix. They're fantastic trees!

September 2019 - The tree is now 175" tall and has a 9" circumference.

using you as a scale.... if its 175 feet tall .... then youre looking at being 70 to 80 feet tall or so .... lol ...

its looking great ... good job...

ken

That tree is a beaut!

That’s inches not feet

Its like watching your little kid grow up!

You've got impressive calves, are you a runner? I feel proud when I see how big my American Beech is getting. MY Dawn Redwood is quiet large now also, BUT, it's form isn't as nice as yours Steve. The trunk on mine is getting big more than the height now. Your DR has a perfect shape.

I really enjoyed seeing all the tree photo updates!

Here is our Ogon now. Probably around 15’

Very nice looking tree, jqpublic. I tried clicking on your earlier link but I can't see your other photos.

That Ogon is gorgeous! Here is a collage of our Ogon, which was 127" when planted in 2015.

2016 = 131"

2017 = 143"

2018 = 177"

2019 = 188"

Thanks all, it struggled in the strong NC sun for a couple years but it finally is doing well. By the end of the summer the most exposed branches do have some burning on the leaves. But overall it’s such a beautiful tree. This tree is starting to have lots of cones too. I’ll try and get a shot of the cones soon.

Adri, not sure how to get my old gardenweb thread to load in Houzz :(

We have another DR and it is the standard variety. This year the inner and bottom branches are pretty bare. Any thought as to what is impacting the tree?

Jqpublic, from the photos the tree seems healthy overall. It looks like it gets some shade with the taller trees around, maybe that's causing lower limbs to not leaf out?

That was the hope. But I read something about a DR canker so wanted to be sure. The trunk looks super healthy. This year we didn’t get a ton of cones either.

Thanks for the update.

tj

Becoming a monster

jqpublic, my DR had relatively sparse foliage one season for no apparent reason, and the next season it was back to normal. The nearby large sugar maple had a similar "sparse" leaf-season a couple yrs earlier than that. Again, the next season it was fine. No idea......

Sometimes trees do things that are hard to make sense of. I had a Pecan tree whip ( I know, it's NOT a DR) and it had seemed to die. For a whole year it had NO signs of life at all, and THEN the next year (this year) it shot up a new sprout from the lower trunk with nice big swollen buds. So I have a now growing Pecan tree that I was so sure had been dead.

Good luck with your DR. I have one that I had dug up and moved 3 times before I planted it where it is now. It was dug up 3 times with a few years in between movings. It is doing great now.

Hi, Really enjoyed this thread!! I was wondering if anyone here could advise me with another young DR.

As you can see here, at the top of my tree, the only true "leader", to the far left here, which dwarfs the other possibilities in both girth and height, is jutting off to the side at a substantial angle. It is growing a ton at its very top and is the tallest part of the tree by over a foot.

My concern is how much of an angle it is growing at, & that it is not in the true center of the tree. (The bamboo stake is aligned to the center). (There is a lot of shade in the area where this is planted, though the tree catches some sun).

Here you can see more of the whole picture...the angle in question is even more pronounced that comes through in the image. Should I just stake that thick leader to straighten it up? Would anyone recommend pruning something you can see in the first image? Should I just leave it alone? Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

If it were my tree, I'd either prune off that sideleaning branch, OR I'd fine a way to make it lean even more to the side, so that it will grow as a side branch.

But, maybe somebody here can put in their opinion that may be better than mine. MY DR has bad form and I couldn't get it trained right, but, mine started out growing on my kitchen windowsill from a "tree in a box" kit, so, maybe that is why it has so many leaders. I had tried with a ,lot of pruning and putting sticks up and wrapping some branches around the sticks to force better form, but, it just had eventually chose what form it wanted to have. BUT, your tree really looks fine. Hopefully somebody else who really knows alot about pruning will post.

I would probably prune off the thinner branch (which looks like the one on the right in the first photo.)

I think you could then stake the remaining branch to straighten the tree out a bit. I would keep it staked for as short of time as possible. Keep in mind the tree really doesn't need to be perfectly straight and a small bend will mostly disappear over time as the trunk thickens.

It looks healthy! Good luck and I hope you can keep it limbed low!

Me again. I am thinking that it is POSSIBLE that with it growing in shade, that could determine it's form over time. The branches MAY grow in a way so that the branches are stretching out for the light, and it MAY change the form it MAY have had if growing in full sun.

But in some cases, the tree will look good anyway. When grown in full sun, some trees will be more compact, and when grown in shade, they will have branches that are stretching out in many directions. And, in MY opinion, THAT can make for a much nicer looking tree. BUT, I am NOT sure about how your tree will look. I am GUESSING.

Thanks a bunch for the thoughts, folks! I will likely go with staking via an updated, much longer & sturdier bamboo stalk & perhaps a slight "shave" on that 'lil branch. Poaky, I am interested to see how the shade environment influences the form...major tree canopy above for the most part. All Best, -Stephen

& Steve, just to be sure, is it this one you were recommending pruning?:

(Or the one going up the middle in the fork?)

Nope. In the photo it looks like the staked "leader" is quite a bit thinner than the branch going off to the left. Should the thickest branch perhaps be the leader? Maybe just let it go for a while and see how staking alone works?

Thanks; & staked now! With the thick one now upright, it's standing at 9.5 feet.