i would not fert a stressed plant...

i would also recommend a soil test thru your county extension office.. so you will KNOW ... rather than be guessing about pH ... they might also know.. offhand.. if its a local issue for a fast reply ....

do you have that famous OH clay ... if so.. how did you plant it...

unless you have experience with trees in pots.. i suggest you plant the others also ...

though small.... your plants are not babies.. most likely. .their best shot at winter.. is in mother earth ... there they belong...

metasequoia gyp. was one of the few plants.. that ignored my horrible past winter.. where it dipped into z4 rather than the norm z5 ... i am not sure it could be all that bad in z6 ..

you might find more info on your plants.. if you search the latin.. since the common name involves other plants ...

ken

Dtipton, we would like pictures please!

Metasequoia grows LATE into the season. Early frosts are something that can kill back its fresh growth. As such do not fertilize and encourage new growth late in the year. If your soil test shows some deficiency deal with it in the spring.

Your Ogon will want to be the thinnest of the bunch. It is an eye catching fella amd mine grows faster than I thought a yellow leafed tree ever would.

Pots are difficult to get right. I would just plant them now. First tree I ever planted was an Arbor Day foot tall Metasequoia stick. Bare root in November. If you must pot them a non compacting soil mix and some shade on the pots and soil seem mandatory in my yard. I have tested them in a bucket with no drain holes but in the shade with prooer pot soil. They live even if the ones in pots with drain holes do look happier so I rank soil compaction and hot roots as threats.

Just picked up the ogon yesterday, planning on planting later today. The small guys are on their way, have not received them yet. I had planned to pot them and put them in my not heated sun room that faces south, but after some reading on the forum sounds like this might not be a good idea as a really warm spell might bring them out of dormancy early. Maybe put them in an empty flower bed I have for the winter and then move them to their permanent spot in spring. The nursery gave me some generic planting instructions for the ogon, I'd appreciate any feedback if there is something special I should be doing for it.

conifers are trees... treat them as such ... see planting guide at link

they are not babes.. that need a sunporch ...

yes.. heal them into a holding bed until spring ... protect from rodents ...

ken

ps: you asked for feedback on planting instructions we cant see ... lol ..

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Sorry I was not clear. The feedback I was looking for was any specific instructions for this type of tree. Thanks

Dawn Redwoods do pretty well in Central Ohio. They are not difficult. The soil is generally not a big trouble. They do appreciate water, though they won't die being left alone. They can grow over 3 feet a year in height. Avoid Miracle-gro products with trees, you may not be helping at all, or just wasting your money.

The Ogon "Golden" Dawn Redwood seem to have some trouble looking good since the yellowish needles can burn some in full sun, especially in the first years of planting. The younger trees also can grow awkwardly because of the way they are propagated, so they look wimpy. Yellow needles are unnatural, may take a few years to grow decent. You might want to plant the tree where it will get some afternoon shade, or water regularly.

Planting trees now is great. just stick them in the ground on a dry day, they are probably better off, even if it is just a temporary place.

Now if the 18" babies are bare root, that might be an issue. Not sure you can do better than just planting them.

This post was edited by noki on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 23:01

"From my research it appears they like acidic soil"

Perfectly fine in our soils here at 7.5 in weathered limestone clays. Not overly drought tolerant and would prefer a consistently moist location which are rarely very alkaline anyway (due to leaching of alkaline salts to lower soil horizons).

Frankly, in my climate where they are a little too happy, I'm glad I planted the "slower" growing 'Ogon'. It still has managed at least 4' a year. I can't imagine what the regular one would have done.
Next year is going to be the first I fertilize a # of things: a couple of my redwoods (but not the smaller ones), my Abies firmas, and the bigger Abies pindrow. Also a bunch of non conifers that have been in the ground for a while now, like Quercus variabilis. 'Ogon' is in theory in this group too, but I actually don't want it growing any faster. Will be interesting to see how some things respond. Then I will not fertilize them again for a few years.

Thank You!

While there's a thread about it and I'm a gardenwebby mood (and it's too cold and windy to want to do anything outside today) here a progress update on my "Ogon-zilla"...

hopefully postimg doesn't delete after a few months like imageshack did

spring 2010, bought from the Ladew Garden Festival:

Good Grief!! That much growth in 4 years? I thought the Ogon was a slower grower than the regular dawn redwood?

I'm hoping I get good growth. It's a relatively moist area that gets full sun. I do have some power lines along the front of my lot, but my neighbor has a large (maybe 50-60 feet tall) Buckeye tree with a pretty broad spread that isn't overly close to them and I planted the Ogon further back in my yard than his tree.

This post was edited by dtipton on Sun, Oct 19, 14 at 18:06

The species D redwood gets big in a hurry, but at least it's relatively upright. Trunk of 10th season tree from a mail-order bare-root stick:

How tall is that 10 year tree?

dtipton, below is the whole tree. Getting close to 30'. I notice the top isn't growing as fast as earlier, as more energy goes into the side-limbs:

I saw the first or one of the first 'Ogon's in the country at the former Asiatica nursery in central PA. It looked at least 60' tall, probably more, and was only planted in the early 80s. That was in 2010...so...yes, even the variegated one is very fast. There used to be a website all about US Metasequoias, in the early 2000s. Many of the ones planted in the 40s were already 100' or so by the mid 90s, with the first, according to Jacobson, in Williamsburg VA, 100' by 1981...so an average of 3 ft. per year. He says they are known to be 200' high in China.

I took a trip out to cox arboretum in Dayton Ohio over the weekend. Several very nice dawn redwoods and they just planted three ogon near their observation tower.

Got mine planted. Looks a little ragged but looking forward to seeing it grow!

Good deal. Ogon is one of the few trees I had to stake. Yours is planted at the right time. Soon it will shed its foliage and lessen its wind load.

Metasequoia bark seems tender to me. I used a lady's nylon panty hose tied in a 4" ish circle around the trunk of my tree and then anchored that to three green metal stakes which were in a triange around the tree so the nylon ring touched the trunk as little as possible normally but would be there when the tree swayed.

What I am saying is watch the ties from that bamboo stake and see if they are rubbing on the trunk. Then when you remove it pay attention this spring and see if it needs staked.

Thanks!

Wow. Must be really small container. I usually make 3-5 ft circular free of grass whenever I plant trees. Yours looks really small.