Redwood Trees - Transplanted & Dead... maybe coming back?

[Nifty]

Our neighbors put in a pool and part of the process included taking out some redwood trees that had been put in a year earlier. I asked if I could have them and we moved them over.

Unfortunately we either didn't get them in time, transplanted them wrong, or didn't care for them properly, but of the four we got, only one looks like it survived. The others have gone totally brown:

... but then on one of them we noticed some growth on the side of the trunk! Does this mean there may be some life in those dead trees?!?!

 

[catjac1975]

Water them often and mulch to keep moist. They may have a chance. Why is it when we get something for free we do not give it its' worth?

 

[catjac1975]

And perhaps trim them back to reduce the stress on the plants.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

that certainly looks like it is making a come back!

 

[Nifty]

One seems to be doing well, the one above seems to be coming back, and I don't see any signs of life in two of them... but I'd really like to be surprised!!

 

[journey11]

Looks like the tree is at least getting water and nutrients up through the cambium layer to that point in the trunk. What I would suspect is a bug pest of some kind, either sucking the sap out of the leaves, or tunneling under the bark. You can check with your ag extension (usually run through a major state university) to see if there are any invasive pests attacking redwoods in your area. Maybe they'd even send an arborist out to look at it. I don't have redwoods here, so I don't know if you need to prune back the dead stuff or if the tree has a good prognosis or not. Good luck!

 

[Nyboy]

One thing you might want to think about is how visual are the trees? It is going to be many years before they look good, if ever. If they are somewhere you look at everyday you might just want to rip them out and plant new ones in the spring. If they are in the back hidden from view then you might want to baby them alone and see if you can save them.

 

[Nifty]

Thanks for the replies!

It was definitely a lack-of-water / move related problem vs. parasites, bugs, etc.

They are in a pretty visible area, but I think we'll just leave them for now since that whole area may be re-landscaped in a year or two anyway.

 

[thistlebloom]

Nifty, it appears that your survivor will make it, and Coast redwoods have a decent growth rate so it may not be too many years before it starts looking like a tree again. ( I'd guess 3ish ) If the others show no signs of life you should yank them out and minimize the eyesore.
You can tell if there's any viable tissue in them by taking a pair of clippers and cutting into a branch end, near the top of the tree, and progressively getting closer to the trunk until you see living tissue, which will be obvious compared to the dead tan colored wood.
Work your way like this down the tree. If you don't see any life you never will.

Redwoods like cool and humidity, keep the soil moist, not soggy, but don't ever let it dry out completely. A 3'thick mulch around the water basin will help, but don't pile mulch against the trunk.( Mulch deeper than 3" can cause problems for the tree roots) Hose it down frequently, the giant redwoods create their own "rain" from fog collected on their canopy. Your little guy obviously has no canopy, so you need to create a humid environment for it.

Redwoods are wonderful specimen trees and I hope yours comes back and grows well for you.

 

[Nifty]

Wow thistlebloom, thanks for the great info!

I'm happy to report that the 3rd tree has a tiny bit of green peeking out of the trunk about 1/3 of the way up, so I'm hoping that one still has some life to it as well!