GardenBanter.co.uk - [IBC] Curved Dawn Redwood

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[IBC] Curved Dawn Redwood

Dawn redwood is definitely a straight upright-growing tree. The curved
trunk is probably the reason yours was up for sale.
If it's not too thick, you may be able to straighten it. If not, be
creative!
Marty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Greg Wilson"
To:
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2003 7:58 AM
Subject: [IBC] Curved Dawn Redwood

Hi,

Bought a 24 inch Dawn Redwood from a local arboretum that was left
over
from a bonsai show they had a few weeks ago. Nice specimen, however it is
curved in the top half, not upright as most I have seen. Is this normal or
was it possibly wired at one time to acheive this curvature? Can't find
any
info on when it is safe to wire Dawn Redwoods to straighten it. Can anyone
shed some light on this? Am new to bonsai and need some help.

Thanks

Greg

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[IBC] Curved Dawn Redwood

At 11:58 AM 6/17/03 +0000, Greg Wilson wrote:
Bought a 24 inch Dawn Redwood from a local arboretum that was left
over from a bonsai show they had a few weeks ago. Nice specimen, however
it is curved in the top half, not upright as most I have seen. Is this
normal or was it possibly wired at one time to acheive this curvature?
Can't find any info on when it is safe to wire Dawn Redwoods to
straighten it. Can anyone shed some light on this? Am new to bonsai and
need some help.

Greg

At 24 inches, I would imagine the trunk caliper would be somewhere around
1/2 inch, so bending it should be a snap. You can either wire it or more
easily, just create a brace with a stiff stake and tie it with green tie
tape or just twine (using a pad of some sort to prevent damage).

I see a lot about when to wire, and I suppose if you are really into it,
you could calculate the exact time for max efficiency, but I wire whenvever
I get around to it. With any wiring job, the key is to monitor it. When the
wire begins to 'bite', you must remove it and rewire, that's why just
staking it may be easier although maybe not as bonsai cool. It will take
about a year for the wire or staking to achieve the 'hold'.

This size is pretty small for bonsai and I would recommend that you grow it
out for a few years to get some caliper. I have a lot of Dawns, Metasequoia
glyptostroboides, and all them under two inch caliper look pretty silly. On
the other hand I have some four to six inch caliper ones that are awesome.
The leaflets on Dawns are pretty big and thus a larger size plant is in
order. There is no hope of decreasing the foliage size. Its cousin Bald
Cypress, Taxodium distichum, on the other hand, has nice small and tidy
leaflets and can be used at this size for specimen bonsai and group plantings.

There is an articles at my website on growing these out for larger trunks, see:

http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/trunks.htm

http://www.evergreengardenworks.com/cedars.htm

Cedars, cypress, redwoods, and similar species can be trained in a soaring
upright form with a broken top. This allows you to get a really
big awesome bonsai in a much shorter time than the traditional shorter and
more tapered trunk forms. In any case, both styles are discussed in the
articles above. Dawn redwoods grow _very_ fast.

Brent in Northern California
Evergreen Gardenworks USDA Zone 8 Sunset Zone 14

http://www.EvergreenGardenworks.com

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[IBC] Curved Dawn Redwood

You'd be better off to start with a straight one, if that's
what you
want.

Yeahbut . . . the curved one is what he has.

So, live with what you've got. Just because every other dawn
redwood has been arrow straight doesn't mean that YOURS has to be
that way.

Look at your tree from many different sides and angles. Tilt it
left, then right, then forward, then back. Turn it an eighth of
a turn at a time and tilt it from THAT side. Do it again. At
some point you will find a shape that attracts you.

In nature, _every_ dawn redwood isn't an arrow-straight, towering
giant. Seeds fell on a shallow pocket of soil in the rocks, in
swampy soil; seedlings were buffeted by wind, washed by flowing
waters, and starved of nutrients, and the resulting tree grew in
a not-typical fashion.

Your bonsai can do the same.

THINK about your trees, folks.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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