I have not grown them from seed, but from bare-rooted saplings through eBay. They transplant easily and grow very, very fast. You will need space to accommodate it. They leaf out kind of early, so late Spring frosts can be an issue. Early Spring heat can also scold young leaves before they have matured. So, guessing they prefer somewhat milder coastal. They also are very sensitive to salts. Otherwise they are bulletproof.They are very tolerant of WET soils, and hold their foliage longer than Bald Cyprus. They also seem be pretty much neglected by deer (if that is the issue). I would say, overall, they are somewhat less tolerant of extremes (unseasonal cold, drought,excessive heat, etc.,) compared to Bald Cyprus, but grow faster.

treeseeds.com is where I got mine from. I have several in my basement right now. They are 6-8 inches after 2.5 months. I am growing them as part my experiment on the effects of dormancy time on 1st year growth. Otherwise I would would until February to start seeds indoors. I soaked the seeds for 24 hours then put them in a container on a wet paper towel. I put plastic wrap over the top and then put the lid on. I put the container on a heating pad I use for my seedlings. After 7-10 days most of the seeds had germinated and I put them in a potting mix that I made fro several different things...

F.W. Schumacher.

They sell two different lots of Metasequoia seed. The 80% cut is selected for better germination. More expensive but you can still get a $3 packet that contains around 100 seeds with good germination rates.

I sowed them outdoors in containers in April 2014, and got over a dozen seedlings 18-24" tall by this fall with plenty of seed left!

Trent, I saw your Wisconsin tag and just wanted to let you know, our state is where the limiting factors for this plant kick in. I live in Appleton. We've got a few DR's around, some even look to be doing quite well, if not on par with the best of what you see on this board. But in Z4 location where my tree farm is-Oconto County, to be exact-DR looks to not be a winner. I planted three nice ones back in '08. By 2010, one of them looked quite a bit better than the other two, but by spring of 2011, that better-looking one was stone dead. The other two languish on, but I doubt they'll ever amount to much. It just gets too cold up there.

So I don't know where you are in the state, but be aware, this species is just barely suited for our southern counties, and based on my admittedly small sample size, not well-suited at all to more northern areas. Maybe your luck will differ from mine. And I'm not a bad tree grower! We've planted some 8 or 9 thousand trees up there so far, with overwhelming success. Some of the seedlings we installed in the spring of 08, from a size smaller than a pencil, are now upwards of 20 feet tall. Just not the DRs.

+oM

the pic is out of focus ... did you take it ...???

if so.. you know precisely.. where a DR WILL grow ...

you should be able to buy a 2 or 3 year old seedling VERY cheap ...

i would not mess with seed... unless you just want to learn about such.. which is always good ... knowledge is power ....

after germination .. growing a tree in a pot.. is all about the media ... and water management ...

ken

Easily one of the fastest, easy to grow trees I've ever encountered.

I had a species tree, two Gold Rush and several other dwarf cultivars.

The species tree was by far the largest at 15' and 5" calliper trunk after 4 years in the ground. It was about 6' and 1.5" calliper at planting time.

All of them where wiped from life last winter. I now understand why its rare to find this species in WI.

You'll get some enjoyment but certainly a gamble depending on your location.

DRs hardiness is often overstated as zone 4. Realistically its a zone 5b plant at best, as whaas can attest.

However, there are large specimens in Canton, Ohio, a z5B/6A area, that appear to be at least 35 years old, that survived a few wicked winters in the 80s, 90s, and last year.

That is probably the realistic limit. The ones in Canton looked fine in May 2014 when I was there. Much colder that that (they've hit -20 a couple times in the past and -15 last winter) will damage them or kill them.

They really seem to hit their stride in the Mid Atlantic and Upper South.

Hairmetal, I remember seeing a grove of tall (maybe 80 foot) thin metasequoias at Seecrest (spelling) arboretum back a few years. That was the day after I went to the football hall of fame in Canton. Same general area. At least in that area they are well suited.

Oddly, the ones at Dawes to the Southwest were more squat and somewhat short but obviously living well.

Further to the Southwest at Rowe arboretum by Cincy they had some very tall thin ones and Cincy seemed to have more Ogons planted near the zoo than I had ever seen if I ID'd them right from the car. I am not an expert on Ohio's microclimates though.

I realize that this post is a few days old, but just had to comment on hairmetal's comment regarding hardiness of metasequoia. I live in Grey county, Ontario, in the upper region of mid-western Ontario, approx. 45 min. S of Georgian Bay. I have an 'Ogon' plus two species bald cypress that I purchased and planted in June 2013. Last winter we had temps of -27F that I recorded (with very strong winds), and days of high temps of -20F or -18F, ongoing, and none of these trees suffered as much as a single twig dieback. These trees range in height of 6-7' for the 'Ogon', to 4' tall for the BC. Other trees were not so lucky. I would also like to point out that our current property has very little wind protection, and these trees in question were only very lightly shaded by deciduous trees.
If you like something, go for it, even if it is only marginally hardy for your area, or even one zone out of your area, but do so with the understanding that success is not guaranteed. If it works, and it may, enjoy it for however long you have it. This winter will be the true test for these trees, as we are moving in late January. The gardens have been dug up, and everything potted and balled and burlapped, and stored in an area out of direct sun and protected from strong winds. Spring should be interesting!

Did you mean Celcius in your post?

I'm trying to fathom this...
and days of high temps of -20F or -18F, ongoing,

I inspected the Dawn Redwoods and Bald Cypress at the Chicago Botanical gardens. Most the Dawn Redwoods had damage. Couldn't tell with the Bald Cypress.

I'd consider them zone 6a.

After doing quite a bit of research I found that the lows aren't the key idicator of damage. Its how fast you got cold, soil moisture and how long you stayed frozen.

My DR survived okay too and flourished this summer so who knows. Last fall was too warm followed by a rapid cool down that damaged some stuff. We had very deep snow cover starting in Mid-Dec. and, thanks to the wind my DR root zone was under about 4' of snow so maybe that spared it.

Yes, my 'Ogon' survived as well. It's a small plant in sandy soil, so long term outlook is not good. It's only about 2.5' and was under snow for most of winter. Still, it didn't have any dieback at all. It looks like this winter will be another hardiness test, but it's too early to tell. For those of us in the frozen tundra, pushing zonal boundaries helps us to make it through winter. :)

My 15 footer had a maximum of 2' of snow covering the root zone.

Either you guys are lucky or I had bad luck. I had two close to 10' Ogon that died as well. Tack on a Miss Grace, Northlight and Headhunter to the death toll as well.

I couldn't resist and planted another 'Ogon' this summer. It was a small b&b plant and I gave it a strong tug this fall and it rooted extremely well.

2012 Species Fall Color...RIP
{{gwi:328216}}

2012 Ogon Spring Color...RIP

gardens1,
I am curious to know what types of soil conditions do you have.
We have the worst winter in 30-40 years. All my Metasequoias (5 20+ years DR species, 2 8+ years Ogon, and a few younger cultivars) appeared to survive OK. My friend (who owns a botanical garden) has many more specimen sized Metasequoias (species and cultivars). Most suffered sever killed back to practically the entire top half or more. Our weather pattern is very close (45 minutes apart). The one difference that came to mind is I have very heavy clay soil and is very soggy in winter. He has very good sandy loam. The other possible differences are slight local variation in the rainfall pattern in the prior growing season, or late frost in early spring.

I picked up 25 four inch liners a couple of weeks ago and then potted them in 2 gal. pots right away.
The potting media makes for a good insulator from the coldest of the cold and the two gallon pot gives these fast growers a good start next Spring. They are in mostly shade now.
I'm going to try to graft some Ogons on to them. I've never grafted before so we will see....... I know how to graft. Watched a lot of it from an old Japanese American doing Japanese Maples.
Grasshopper

Garcan,

I didn't mention this but I believe my DRs died because I have a sandy loam. Although somewhat protected, 25min south of me, a 20' Ogon flourishes. Its in moisture retentive clay.

I believe the hardiness is effected by soil type.

I should added that I have some JMs that survived, including an Emperor 1 with minimal damage. Those should have been toast before my DRs. There are so many uncontrolled variables at the end of the day.

Hi everyone. Whaas, I did indeed mean Fahrenheit when I mentioned last winter's temps in my prior post. -20F is about -29C, and -27F is equivalent to about -34C. All I know, is that it was bloody cold! Add to that seemingly unending strong winds, and huge amounts of snow. Our soil is a sandy loam, in some areas we have as little as 2" of topsoil, and then it is like trying to dig in the middle of your gravel driveway, and about as hard packed as that. Where the Ogon and bald cypress are planted, it is near a pond, and the ground is boggy.
Garcan, if memory serves, we had a wet fall last year, and when it turned cold, it turned quick and stayed. At a hort. tour at Whistling Gardens this summer, Darren proudly showed off his developing grove of bald cypress to our group and stated that was as far north as they would grow. (I live a good 2 1/2 hours north of Darren) He was quite surprised when I told him of mine, then smiled and said "if they can grow in the Hanover area, she'll be the one to do it!"

whaas, gardens1, thanks for the valuable feedback. I suppose the common advice of "water them deeply just before the ground freezes" may have some significant survival wisdom for a long and harsh winter.

whaas, I planted 3 1 gal JM (2 rootstock and 1 Bloodgood) at my zone 4b cottage more than 10 years ago. One rootstock was eaten by deer, but the other two still survive even though they remain about about 3-4' tall. The soil is almost pure sand. I have never attempted to water them, and their locations are fully exposed. The survival factor for JM is still a puzzle to me even after many years of observation and growing them.

gardens, sorry I was confused when you said daytime highs of -20. Those where your lows.

Overall your climate is similar to mine with elevation, soil type and temps.

You do have more moist winter winds being surrounded by Lake Huron. Similar story with Lake Michigan and Michigan where they see less damage than across the lake in Wisconsin when those northwest winds come tumbling across the upper midwest.

May want to consider collecting seed if you continue to see winter success.

Whaas, just to clarify, we did have stretches where the daytime highs were in the -20F range last winter. Hoping we don't see that this winter! On a side note, regarding seed, the 'Ogon' even coned last year, though I didn't collect it.

Here's my experience in growing this tree. Ogon to the left and the species on the right with a Bald cypress barely visible in the background. Cunninghamia on the far left and a Lawson Cypress, 'Mariesii' on the right. The DRs are planted close to water in heavy soil above the water table.
Although it may appear I'm a collector, I'm more into making the garden look good with a lot of variety. Groups and drifts of the same plant are hard to come by for me .......so far.
Mike
{{gwi:328228}}

Whether a person classifies themselves a collector or not, I agree that making look good with a lot of variety is the key to a garden that fully engages the senses and is truly memorable... which you do admirably!

gardens, I assumed you where in/near Hanover and the records didn't reflect such (nothing near that). The lowest low I found was -21.

Where the heck are you that you had continous -20 daytime highs?

Hey whaas, I also live in southeast wisconsin. I often drive by a place that has a fairly large DR that survived last winter. I guess it is a gamble, but that won't deter me from planting a few. I'm starting some from seed. I hope yours survives the upcoming winter.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

whaas, I am in a rural area outside of Hanover, in a bit of a pocket of low land, but still higher elevation than Hanover. From Hanover to Durham, it is a series of hills, each one higher than the one before, even though some of the 'pockets' between go lower than the previous hill, the next hill is still higher. As for temps, I go by my own thermometer, mounted on the north side of the house, right where I can see it read it from inside. We are often several degrees different than either Hanover or Durham, and when we get really cold, I mark in inside the cover of one of my design books, so I can keep track of it, and not rely on memory. I don't mark down all the temps, and I've only been doing this for a couple of years, but when it gets colder than anything I marked for the previous winter, then I mark it down.

Thanks, I was just trying to understand your weather a bit further and how it relates to this species.

The daytime highs are what threw me off. The most caustic areas in the upper midwest (outside the great lakes) have records of -25F to -30F for day time highs. Seems odd your area, ecspecially surrounded by the lakes would have come close to encroaching those numbers for daytime highs.

I'm surrounded by seven hills, with a peak elevation around 1300ft and base elevaton around 1000. Milwaukee and Chicago range from 600 to 800 as a comparison.

I purchased mine at http://www.giant-sequoia.com/sites/giantsequoia/cart/coast-and-dawn-redwoods and so far they have been good. I only had time to plant them in 1 gal containers and not long after they went dormant for the winter. They did get some nice growth on them before the weather changed. Joe was really helpful and made buying these trees a no brainer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Welkerâs Grove Nursery in Auberry, California

Dawn redwoods are easy to grow from cuttings. Or pick one up at your nursery in the Bonsai section in 2" pot. I have grown DR and Bald Cypess, Pond cypress side by side in pots; to see which would grow the fastest. Starting with ~14" plants in 5gal containers, moving to 20gal eventually.

It was almost a tie at the end of the season. The plants all reached 7-8ft in one season here in California (east bay side of San Francisco Bay). Or Fremont and Union City to be more exact, zone 9. Two of the trees currently reside in my back yard and now after 16 years are about 45ft tall. Wonderful trees! (Constant moisture, nutrients and Microrhizia) for test. Black plastic Pots in almost all day sun sitting on concrete patio for heat sink. Our weather here rarely reaches the 90s in the summer though. Extremely rare the 100s.