Redwood Stamps--------- --------- Dawn Redwood

The information on this page is from Chapter III of the booklet: Growing Coast Redwood Timber in the Southeastern United States.

COAST REDWOOD MYTHS

The main reason there have not been more attempts to establish coast redwood forests in the southeastern United States is the large amount of misinformation related to the required growing conditions. It is still widely held that coast redwood will not survive unless environmental conditions are essentially identical to those found in the natural range. Some of these myths are discussed in the following paragraphs.

Myth #1 - Large Amounts of Fog are Essential for Maximum Growth. This misconception of the last century is still found in the popular literature and even in some current horticulture reference books. The fog in the redwood belt supplies moisture from condensation and serves to minimize leaf transpiration during the dry summer months where total summer rainfall is equal to about one months rainfall in the southeast. Fog drip can add as much as the equivalent of 50 inches of additional precipitation. Worldwide, coast redwood plantations are currently established in many areas which do not have much fog and redwoods are growing as ornamental trees in areas where summer temperatures frequently exceed 100 degrees F and humidity is low. Redwoods planted in hot dry locations require either irrigation or moisture from another source such as lawn watering. The experts of the last century, who concluded that fog was essential, would be surprised to visit the areas around the world where coast redwoods grow with minimum fog (e.g. the 200+ ft. tall trees at Rotorua, New Zealand shown in Figure 1). Dr. Bill Libby who recently returned (5/97) from New Zealand reports: "The tallest redwoods in New Zealand are between 190 to 220 feet. They are still pointy topped and show no signs of slowing down. However, in windy places, their tops are sheared flat and they are much shorter".

Myth #2 - Coast Redwoods will not Grow to Great Heights in the East. Another misconception which is still found in recently published literature is that coast redwoods will not grow to great heights in the east. For example, the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants Their Identification, Ornamental Characteristics, Culture, Propagation and Uses, by Michael A. Dirr, University of Georgia states: "Size: ...on east coast, perhaps 40 to 60 ft." There is at least one 110 ft. tree (1995) within 60 miles of the University of Georgia in Abbeville, South Carolina. This tree, shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3, would probably be much taller if it had not been struck several times by lightning. The height to which redwood will grow on the east coast depends on the site index and whether the location is protected from large amounts of wind.

Myth #3 - Coast Redwoods Grow Very Slowly. Another widespread misconception is that it takes hundreds of years to grow coast redwoods. The fact is that coast redwood is an extremely fast growing tree that can reach heights of 170 feet in 50 years on good California sites. Under ideal conditions radial growth can be up to one inch per year. The Simpson Tree Company's economic model calls for clearcutting coast redwood timber every 45 years for maximum profit. However, California law does not allow redwood timber to be cut until it is at least 60 years old.

Myth #4 - Coast Redwoods Will Not Grow Above 3,000 Feet Elevation. There is a well established grove in Kealakekua, Hawaii at elevations ranging between 2,000 and 6,000 feet. The altitude of these Hawaiian trees provides a cooler climate than is found near sea level at this tropical latitude. In California, they do not grow above 3,000 feet because it is too cold at these elevations.

Myth #5 - Coast Redwoods Must Grow Near the Same Latitudes as their Natural Range. The idea that redwood must grow near the same latitudes (either N. or S.) as their natural range is also disproved by the Hawaiian grove. The natural range is from southern Monterey County, California (lat. 35^o 41' N.) to Chetco River in the southwest corner of Oregon (lat. 42^o 09' N.). The Hawaiian grove is located at approximately lat. 20^o N. Incidentally, the range of latitude in the southeast where these trees are expected to grow best is between latitudes of approximately 32^o N (Savannah, Georgia) and 37^o N (Williamsburg, Virginia).

Myth #6 - Many Coast Redwoods are Over 2,000 Years Old. Writers have often used the cliche: "these trees were young when Christ walked the earth". It is true that Dr. Emanuel Fritz discovered a coast redwood in 1937 that was over 2,200 years old, however trees more than 1,800 years old are extremely rare. In the virgin forest areas less than three percent of the mature trees are over 1,000 years old. There are probably no 1,000 year old trees in the federally owned Redwood National Park where three of the five tallest redwoods can be found. For example, the tallest tree (H. A. Libbey tree) is about 650 years old.

Myth #7 - The Maximum Age of Coast Redwood is Exceeded Only by the Bristlecone Pine and the Sierra Redwood. In the U.S. there are at least seven other types of trees which have been found to grow older than the oldest coast redwood. The other long-lived trees include: black-butt baobab, cedar, chestnut, cypress, oak, western juniper and yew.

OTHER REDWOOD MYTHS

Many of the coast redwood myths also pertain to the giant Sequoia, in particular, the idea that redwoods grow slowly. The giant Sequoia is also a very fast growing tree and is reported to be the fastest growing softwood in Europe. Two other myths related to the Sierra redwood and the dawn redwood are:

Myth #8 - Giant Sequoia has Little Commercial Value. The common belief is that giant Sequoia wood is too weak and brittle to have very much commercial value. Recent testing in the U.S. and in Germany has shown that young growth (trees 60 to 80 years old) giant Sequoia wood is actually superior to young coast redwood in most ways, however, as the trees grow older the quality of the coast redwood improves while the quality of the giant Sequoia diminishes. The categories where young growth giant Sequoia wood tested superior to young growth coast redwood were: static bending, compression parallel to grain and compression perpendicular to grain. Young growth coast redwood was superior in maximum shearing strength parallel to grain. This is the only category where coast redwood degrades with age, but at its lowest strength it is still superior to the highest strength for giant Sequoia. Other recently published data indicate that the early growth rate of giant Sequoia may equal or exceed that of coast redwood growing on an equivalent site. Unlike coast redwood, the lower branches of giant Sequoia must be removed early to prevent knots in the lumber.

Myth #9 - Dawn Redwood Grows to a Maximum Height of 140 Feet. Dr. John Kuser is currently testing Metasequoia grown from seed he received from Dr. Minghe Li taken from 52 different trees in China. Four of the parent trees were more than 150 feet tall with one being 167 feet tall. As in the southeast, most of the very large trees in China were probably cut down many years ago.