Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) – Bonsai Care Instructions

There are two species of Redwood bonsai, Coast and Dawn, and it is worth clarifying that while they are similar in some ways, such as being deciduous, each kind also has a few distinctions. As this article is concerned with being an FAQ for the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides), we will be focusing on this species, a deciduous Chinese tree that is known for its height and soft, needle-like foliage.

Placement

While the Dawn Redwood is a big fan of sunlight, it does have its limits; when you are staring down the hottest parts of the summer, it would be best to relocate your Dawn Redwood to a semi-shaded area. Redwoods, especially ones that have been planted into a vessel instead of left to grow in the wild, require a great deal of insurance against the chilling frost of winter.

Hydration

The information on hydrating a Dawn Redwood is relatively simple, the soil around your bonsai should always be kept a bit moist. Be mindful that the extra heat of the summer sun will mean that you will need to hydrate the tree more than you would in other seasons. While the summer will take the most watering, there is a point where you can oversaturate your bonsai; when a bonsai takes on too much water, it reacts like any other piece of thoroughly soaked wood and can start to rot, starting with the Redwood’s roots.

Fertilization

When it comes to fertilizing your Dawn Redwood, set the stuff that’s high in nitrogen until the spring season. When fertilizing with a balanced NPK blend in the summer, be extra cautious; sunlight is already a major source of energy for the Redwood to grow and an excess of fertilizer could help the tree reach a degree of growth that escapes your control and cultivation.

Pruning/Wiring

Whether discussing natural redwoods or their bonsai counterparts, the ideal Redwood aesthetic is a tree that grows upright. Redwood bonsai tend to produce many new buds, especially around any scars such a plant may have incurred from pruning. While some buds are appreciated, you should swiftly and decisively remove every bud that you do not desire growing on your bonsai.

If you have any twigs with lengthy internodes, prune them as soon as spring rolls around; you will want to remove them before they begin budding. While you could try and wire the branches to your Dawn Redwood, they tend to be so brittle that a better approach would be using guy wire to lower the branches.

Relocation

You should change out the pot that your Dawn Redwood calls home every other year. This tree is incredibly robust and its strong roots can quickly overfill its pot and send its rootball up over the rim. Expect to perform a lot of pruning around your roots every time to repot your Redwood. Be mindful that your chosen soil must perform two functions:

• It can hold sufficient moisture.
• It can drain well enough to avoid rotting the Redwood’s root system.

Propagation

When it comes to propagating a Dawn Redwood for personal enjoyment or for another person, you have three options.

• Seed – This approach to propagation is the most elementary method of growing any seeded plant and involves caring for the plant at its earliest possible aspect of life.
• Cutting – This approach involves cutting a healthy portion of tree from an existing Dawn Redwood and growing a new one from this healthy source material.
• Air-layering – This is similar to propagation via cutting but involves an entire tree and growing your new tree from that existing one. The air-layering technique involves wrapping the stem of your potential new Dawn Redwood in damp moss and is intended to foster the formation of roots for the new tree.

Pests, Diseases, and Other Malefactors

The great news about this category is that the Dawn Redwood is one of the most boring bonsai you can find. To be blunt, there is little to nothing that can severely imperil the health and vitality of a Dawn Redwood. If you are at all familiar with Redwoods, this makes sense; Redwoods are among the varieties of trees that are capable of living the longest.

General Information and Cultural Notes about the Dawn Redwood Bonsai

The first living specimens of the species we recognize as the Dawn Redwood was discovered less than a century ago in Sichuan, China. Before the early 1940s, botanists believed that this tree, which had once been the most prevalent species of tree in the entire Northern Hemisphere, had gone extinct around 20 million years ago and these scientists were forced to make do with fossils, hypotheses, and theories. Since its rediscovery in the 1940s, the Dawn Redwood has enjoyed a great deal of propagation and exportation. This one tree is regarded by China as one of its greatest symbols of conservation, second only to the iconic panda that calls that country its homeland.

It is a strong, tall tree that is known for three main qualities.

• Needle-like, light green foliage that the tree sheds every fall.
• A straight trunk that grows upright without curving or twisting.
• Its eponymous reddish-brown bark, which is known to be somewhat stringy and flaky.

Some newcomers to the world of trees and/or bonsai may mistake the Dawn Redwood for the Bald Cypress, but there is at least one easy and simple way to tell the two species apart. The biggest distinction between these trees is found in the ways that they grow their leaves; the Dawn Redwood’s leaves grow in an opposite manner, while the Bald Cypress’ leaves grow in an alternating manner. While it is easy to just say these details and leave it at that. We feel it would be in your best benefit to explain what “opposite” and “alternating” mean in the context of plant development. When a plant has opposite leaves, it means that each branch has two leaves growing along it at the same distances; plants with alternating leaves will have one leaf growing off at a set distance, then the next instance of a leaf will appear off to the side opposite of its predecessor, a third leaf extension appears on the same side as the first, and so on.

Of the two species of Redwood that can be found as bonsai, the Dawn variety is the little brother to the titan that is the Coast Redwood; the world’s tallest tree on record is a Coast Redwood named Hyperion. Both the Dawn and Coast varieties of Redwood have a similar shape to one another, known in biology as a habitus or habit, and both are known for possessing small, round cones. When looking to add a Dawn Redwood to your greenery, you should cultivate it in one of the larger bonsai styles. This is because the Dawn Redwood is a fierce product of Mother Nature; it can grow with abandon and demands a firm approach to keep that wild spirit in check and direct it into something aesthetically pleasing.