RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   wad-@comcast.net
  Apr 08, 2005 19:32 PDT 
ENTS

Today I visited a neat site that was planted in the 1940's. The owner of the property had planted Sequoiadendron giganteum around the outside of a field. There were over 40 trees. This site is about 10 miles from the location of the state champ giant sequoia at Tyler arboretum. There were short squatty ones and tall narrow ones. It was just incredibly interesting to visit the grove here in eastern Pa. Some were two feet thick or better. Gotta love that spongy bark. I was in search of two William Penn trees, that unfortunately have passed on. The property is an old grist mill that still retains 160 acres, which is rare in these parts. They also had several Metasequoia that were planted in the 40's, which was shortly after they were rediscovered in China. 1947 I think. Native to the US through fossils!

Scott
Re: Giant sequoias on the east coast   Don Bertolette
  Apr 08, 2005 22:12 PDT 
Scott-
You remind me that I had a similar fascination with the coastal redwoods that were planted at the National Forestry Institute in New Zealand in 1906...they were over 200 foot high, and walking through them gave the strongest sense of homesickness I'd ever had (had recently come from Northcoast of California). Except the tree ferns were quite abit taller...
-Don
Re: Giant sequoias on the east coast   wad-@comcast.net
  Apr 09, 2005 05:15 PDT 
Don

I haven't tried to grow redwoods yet, but they are on the list. I am waiting to see if the sitka spruce, noble fir, and live oaks are going to make it here in Se Pa. The evergreens look good, but the live oak seedlings were killed to the ground. There are new shoots coming up though. Maybe when they have better root systems, they will be able to make it through the winter in better shape. Looks like my Florida yew made it through the winter too. It will be an exciting spring.

Scott
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   Ernie Ostuno
  Apr 10, 2005 08:24 PDT 

A few years ago I visited the Lake Bluff Audubon Center which is a few
miles north of Manistee, MI on the western shore of Lake Michigan.
Several non-native species planted there were flourishing, including
giant sequoia and ginkgo:

http://www.michiganaudubon.org/massanct.html#8

The sequoia there is the Michigan champion and I collected seeds from
several of the fallen cones. I also have seeds from the stand of
Monterey Cypress along 17 Mile Drive near Carmel, CA that I collected a
couple years ago.

Question to the tree experts: is there any special way to get these
seeds to sprout?

Ernie
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   Darian Copiz
  Apr 11, 2005 06:18 PDT 
Scott,

There's a sequoia on the U.S. Capitol grounds, or at least there was
last time I looked. They have removed a good number of trees during the
new visitor center construction and anti-terrorism construction. The
sequoia is a nice tree, not very large, maybe about 30' tall with about
a 2 1/2' wide trunk. It has somewhat of a bonsai aspect to it.

Darian
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   Will Blozan
  Apr 11, 2005 06:29 PDT 
Darian,

I measured it a few years ago; ~15' X 45' tall- awesomely gnarly tree!. If I
stand on my roof in the winter, I can see the North Carolina State
Co-Champion. It is something like 8' X 53' and another tree where I went to
college is 6'8" X 74'.

Will
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   Lee E. Frelich
  Apr 11, 2005 08:11 PDT 

Ernie:

Go to the Forest Service online woody plant seed manual:

http://www.ntsl.fs.fed.us/wpsm/

Then click on 'GENERA', and it will give you a list from which you can
choose Sequioiadendron and Cupressus, the two genera you are interested in,
and it will give you a pdf document that tells everything we know about
their seeds.

Lee
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   wad-@comcast.net
  Apr 11, 2005 09:02 PDT 
Darian, Will, ENTS

the Pa state champ is at Tyler Arboretum in Lima Pa. It is about 4 miles from me. It is 159 CBH 99' tall and 33' average spread. I have a book with a picture of it from 1919. All of the Sequoias at that 1940's site had the "bonsai" look too, so I know what you mean. It looks like there is a plug in the terminal bud, and all that energy is going to bust out the sides. I guess if you are going to grow as tall as they do, you have to build a serious foundation!

Scott
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   edward coyle
  Apr 11, 2005 09:40 PDT 

Ernie,

I was looking up sources for conifer seeds on the web and found many. The
listings for Giant Sequoia had germination rates of 40% as normal for the
species. If you need more you can buy them online.

Ed C
RE: Giant sequoias on the east coast   wad-@comcast.net
  Apr 11, 2005 09:50 PDT 
Ed, Ernie

I use Lawyer nursery in Montana. You can buy sequoias bare root from them, they also have an extensive seed selection. http://www.lawyernursery.com 

Scott
RE: Giant Sequoias   wad-@comcast.net
  Jul 20, 2005 19:26 PDT 

Dale, BVP, Will, ENTS

Well I almost had a new champ, although the current champ was last measured with just a clinometer. The tree I visited today was planted by the same person, Minshall Painter, back in the 1840's.

The current champ Sequoiadendron giganteum weighs in as follows:

159" CBH 99' tall with a 33' avg spread for 266 points

The challenger came in at:

148" CBH 86.2' tall with a 31' avg spread for 242 points

Here are two pics of the second largest sequoia in Pa
12.3x86.2 located in Delaware county Pa 242 point tree
 

sequoia_full_stoney_bank2.jpg (29121 bytes)  sequoia_closeup_stoney_bank2.jpg (49763 bytes)

I believe this tree will eventually surpass the current champ, as it is a single leader. The champ has three leaders from someone taking a very original Christmas tree back in the day.

I am confident, that these are the two largest Sequoias in PA, and possibly the east coast and they are within minutes of each other. Also near here there is a field of approx. 30-40 more Sequoias that were planted in the 1940's

Scott

RE: Giant Sequoias   Dale J. Luthringer
  Jul 25, 2005 08:46 PDT 
Outstanding Scott!

~165 years to attain 12.3ft CBH… I know these planted specimens are
babies compared to BVP’s massive monsters.

Did you measure the current champ too, or were you just giving the old
measurement? What counties and cities are they in?

I believe those are the first giant sequoias measured by ENTS in
Pennsylvania.



Bob VanPelt,

How fast can some of your sequoias grow in that same period of time?


Will, Bob, Jess, et. al.

Has anyone else measured any giant sequoias so far in the east?


Dale
RE: Giant Sequoias   wad-@comcast.net
  Jul 25, 2005 08:59 PDT 
Dale

I used my clinometer measurement from a couple of years ago for the current state champ. I can very easily re measure it as it is a mile from my house. There is another smaller one across the street from my house that I can measure too. Seems to be a popular tree around here. All three are in Delaware county. the Champ is in Media, Pa. the runner up is in Cheyney, Pa. number three is in Elwyn, Pa. I will get some numbers soon on the champ and number three.

Scott

RE: Giant Sequoias   Willard Fell
  Jul 25, 2005 11:47 PDT 
I haven't measured any, but some while back I saw some nice ones at a place called Longwood Gardens. It was part of the Dupont Estate near Wilmington DE. As I understand it, the arboretum there was started back before the War Between the States so many of the trees there could be over 150 years old.



Here in GA there are no sequoias that I am aware of, but we have several Coast Redwoods, the largest CBH I am aware of being 151 inches (12.6 ft).
RE: Giant Sequoias - NC SEQUIOAS   Will Blozan
  Jul 25, 2005 14:06 PDT 
Two NC State Co-Champion are within 5 miles of my house. I see one everyday.
They are not huge, the largest 8’3” X 55’ in girth and the tallest 6’8” X
74’. The biggest I have ever seen in the east is on the US Capitol grounds
and is around 15’ in girth.



BVP lead me to a huge sequoia in Portland that was immense, but not very
old.



Will B.
RE: Giant Sequoias   wad-@comcast.net
  Jul 25, 2005 18:08 PDT 
Will

Longwood gardens is down the road from me by a half an hour. They have several champion trees there. I have never seen a coast redwood growing around here, but they are on my list to try. My Sitka spruce and noble fir have made it through two serious winters here in Se Pa.

Scott
RE: Giant Sequoias   Ernie Ostuno
  Jul 27, 2005 14:54 PDT 

The Michigan state champion Giant Sequoia is located at the Lake Bluff
Audubon Center in Manistee, MI and was 89 feet tall with a CBH of 12.6
feet as of 1995. Coincidentally, I was up there on Monday and took some
photos of it, though I didn't do any measuring. I was told that the tree
was 56 years old...although it's hard to believe that it attained that
height/girth in only 46 years.

Ernie