Redwood bonsai tree in 8inch pot
Tree: REDWOOD BONSAI
Age: Approx 7yrs
Height: Approx 10-12 inches
Location: Indoors and near window. Can go outside when temps are 40+
Loves to be on wet side.
Level: Beginner.
Watering:
You Dawn Redwood Bonsai will prefer moist, deep, well drained soil. The best way to ensure proper moisture levels is to reach down an inch or two into the soil with a finger. Do not allow this tree to go without ample moisture as it is not drought tolerant.
Fertilizing:
Fertilize this bonsai from late spring to late summer with a well balanced organic fertilizer. Do not feed in the fall.
Pruning / Training:
Using wire to shape this bonsai is possible when the tree is dormant from early winter to early spring. The wires are wrapped around the trunks in a counter clockwise direction and should be of sufficient thickness to hold the branch in place. Once the wires are placed, the tree’s branches and trunk can be gently bent into the desired position. Leave wire in place for 3-6 months, and make sure damage to the bark is prevented. Prune in the summer by trimming back new shoots.
Ideal trained as a formal or informal upright style and works very well for clump, slanting and for bonsai forests.
The Dawn Redwood and the Coast Redwood are both very tall upright trees with soft needle-shaped foliage. The Dawn Redwood comes from China and is deciduous, while the Coast Redwood is native to the coastal regions of northern California and Oregon and is evergreen. The tallest tree in the world is a Coast Redwood. Both species are suitable for bonsai. The extremely strong Giant Sequoia (Sequioadendron giganteum), however, is seldom used for bonsai.
Living specimens of the Dawn Redwood have first been discovered in Sichuan (China) in 1941. Until then they were presumed extinct and only known from fossils. Dawn Redwoods have then been propagated and exported to many countries. They are strong, tall trees with light green needle-shaped foliage that falls off in autumn, a straight, upright trunk and a reddish brown, stringy, flaking bark. The Dawn Redwood is sometimes mistaken for a Bald Cypress, but you can distinguish those two by the leaves, as the Dawn Redwood has opposite leaves and the Bald Cypress alternating leaves.
The Coast Redwood can become even taller and stronger than the Dawn Redwood, some famous old specimens in California are more than 100 m (330ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 7 m (23ft). The world's tallest tree called 'Hyperion' measures 115,60 m (380ft). The Coast Redwood has two types of evergreen leaves, most of them are needle-shaped and on some long shoots scale-like foliage can be found.
Both Redwood species have a similar habitus and small round cones. The Dawn Redwood Bonsai as well as the Coast Redwood Bonsai should be used for relatively large sized Bonsai styles because their strong growth is not easy to control.
