Dawn redwood
Amy Bertrand
Just after 33 decades producing a gardening column for the Put up-Dispatch, Chip Tynan is retiring from the Missouri Botanical Back garden. We are rerunning some preferred columns for a couple of months, but the backyard garden will resume the column soon. Remember to continue on to send out questions to the address under.
Q • My dad and mom are supplying me a few dawn redwood seedlings that have to be dug from their back garden. In shifting them, are there any distinctive preparations for planting that I need to do to get ready the soil or the area in which to plant them? How a great deal soil should be taken up to guarantee the roots are not broken?
A • Dawn redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) transplants relatively effortlessly and grows finest in full sunshine and a deep, moist nicely-drained web site that has been amended with natural and organic matter and has a a little acidic reaction.
If you have a selection concerning large and reduced floor, plant on superior ground to stay clear of “frost pockets” related with minimal ground where cold air tends to pool in winter season.
Decline of some roots is inevitable any time you transplant trees. You really do not say how substantial your seedlings are. A excellent rule of thumb to figure out the dimensions of the root ball for small trees is to make it at least 12 inches extensive for just about every inch, or part of an inch of trunk diameter, measured 6 inches above the soil line. The peak of the root ball is decided by the density of the roots, but for seedlings, the depth of your spade must be sufficient.