I grew 1,200 Giant Sequoia trees on my balcony this year
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- Опубліковано 3 гру 2021
- I turned a little hobby into a giant experiment because I was disappointed with the amount of data available on growing your own giant sequoia trees from seed.
A written up guide is now available here: superlativetrees.com/pages/gr...
If you live in the UK, you can now buy your seeds directly from me: superlativetrees.com/collecti... Buying your seeds from me helps to support my research and guide production going forward. Unfortunately, due to legislation, I can only sell to people in the UK.
There's nothing cooler than somebody geeking out on nature. Here's to you, cool nerd.
FYI, your bedroom is haunted by a grey ghost dog.
I hope you will have the time to write up your findings into a paper/instruction and publish them! Hopefully you’ll find a home for the rest of your sapling before they become too big to remain on your balcony.
Thank you! I am hoping to find somewhere I can plant them fairly soon.
@@GeorgeMaier good morning congratulations for the video and the commitment. I live in Italy but the internet sites you have proposed cannot be ordered for Italy. are there other sites to order sequoiadendrom giganteum seeds? a thousand thanks
@@nicolaalborghetti3151 if you can find one at a park somewhere, you can harvest your own seeds from the cones. I was able to get around 100 seeds from a single cone that a found in a park in Seattle, Washington - far from anywhere these trees grow naturally. Surely there’s a botanical garden or park somewhere in Italy that has grown one of these beauties!
@@lufe18 I have many little pine cones from a Dawn Redwood tree. How do I get the seeds from it? I have tried to do so without any luck.
@@GeorgeMaier hallo my dear friend thank you for this refreshing information I have tried to find information on how to plant trees from different continent I would love to talk to you could you give me number ore eney thing your face book pls let me talk to you I have bean waiting for years for this
OMG!!!! I've also been doing this for years and I have also been developing my own methods. I honestly can't believe how you have managed to get such a high percentage rate, so much more difficult than people realise. If I try to germinate 100 seeds I can often expect to get 5 trees to a good enough size to plant outside. So weird that I follow you for your mountaineering content but you've dropped a video with the exact info I need for something else.
Same here. My rate was 3/100!
A small tip! Please leave an outtro on your videos. This enables us to like the video on TV's before it just dissappears at the end, unlike phones where it hangs around.
Great video. Thanks for your intensive work.
This is great info. Would love to see a follow up video with a care guide for young saplings
Questions:
1. What was your overall budget?
2. Although it’s been over a year, do you still have any seedlings?
3. If you could do it all again, what would you do differently?
4. Would they be able to survive in the following United States locations? Elko-Nevada, Luna-New Mexico, Valencia-New Mexico, Hondale-New Mexico, Van Buren-Arkansas, Cheraw-South Carolina.
5. Is your guide only to be used in the UK?
Thank you for all of your help!
I have grown oak, judas, wisteria, pinus radiata, all becoming larger trees in large pots. Still healthy . Love growing, strangely satisfying hobby all for future bonsai. Also have a 10year old sequoia doing great.
Greetings from a fellow hobby tree grower. I grow oak and linden from local seed. It started with our children brought home a wool ski hat full of oak seed from the day-care yard. The survivors we planted in memory of grandfather and I just have continued from that year. Cheers from Finland
What a great tribute to your grandfather!
My childhood home may still have one majestic oak tree l planted as a 5 yo.
My Dad "complained" until he died at 93, he never did cut it down tho.
Thank you, and congratulations I have a philosophy of "plant the seed!" If it germinates, you've won, if it doesn't germinate, then you haven't lost anything. Two years ago three trays of thirty-six corned-beef tins, each with one apple core. I estimated 1,500 apple trees and gave them away to visitors who told me "You're a GENIUS", but I thought "It's what apple trees have been doing for yonks". Cheers, Chris
what a bad idea. Youre not johhny appleseed. the people youre giving the tree to, and possibly yourself, wont understand that apple trees from seed will be vastly different from traditional apple trees, which are spliced with a root stock.
Trees from seed typically are much much taller and therefore harder to maintain and harvsest. they also lack the hardiness of a spliced tree.
Im from northern california and now live in seattle where some scientists are talking about encouraging assisted migration of giant sequoia trees: so this information is very helpful in preserving these trees within their native range and their potential future native range.
Are you sure they were "scientists"? Because it should be Botanists. It's suspicious hearing this stuff and manipulating the protected forests sounds like a bad idea.
@@kalidilerious Yeah look at what the scientists told us about COVID
Excellent work with this experiment. YES, please put together a guide video on germinating and growing sequoia trees!
Fabulous! Mr. Johnny Appleseed of Sequoias. You educate and inspire me and now let's get to the rest of the wold!
I've been growing and planting sequoias and coast redwoods for some years now, and eventhough I live in the pacific northwest I can tell you it's no easy task, especially getting them to a point where they are mature enough to plant in a permanent location. just discovered your channel, thank you so much, I'm gonna try what you did. Hopefully I'm successful.
Hey everyone!!!
A written up quick growing guide is now available here: superlativetrees.com/pages/growing-giant-sequoia-from-seed
If you live in the UK, you can now buy your seeds directly from me: superlativetrees.com/collections/all Buying your seeds from me helps to support my research and guide production going forward. Unfortunately, due to legislation, I can only sell to people in the UK.
I'm working towards a full research report based on this experiment, it's not fully ready yet, but will be put up on the website once it's done :)
May i ask what you plan to do with any successful growing trees?
Ok
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they may never sit.
That website seems to contradict this video. It mentions 4-6 weeks in the refrigerator, but you had the best results with 1 week.
@@HyuLilium ah I think you might be getting a bit mixed up between the two different effect graphs. 4-6 weeks in the fridge yields highest probability of seed germination full stop. That’s the first and most important effect. Longer than that and I found fungal growth damaged some of the seeds. The effect second is: The longer they’ve been in the fridge, the faster the seeds that will germinate (i.e. the undamaged ones) do germinate. I.e. if they’ve been in there a long time you’ll get all the germinations you should expect within the first week. This is somewhat independent of germination probability. Speed of germination is not always massively important, probability of germination is more important. So I stand by the 4-6 week target.
I love the scientific approach you've taken. It would be amazing if you could share your data with the rest of the community.
Thank you so much! I too have been frustrated by the anecdotal information on the topic so i was really refreshed to see what you did here and very appreciative that you posted it. I'd pay $10 for your published findings... you have to be considering it
Thanks for your kind words! Glad that this was so helpful! I’ve now posted some guidance (all freely available) on my website superlativetrees.com - hope that, along with this video, is of some help! Happy growing
The Giant Sequoia is an awe inspiring species, well done!
Thanks George for making this video
It helped me I'll also plant some sequoias for my future generations and as a symbol which would represent me and I'd live 3000 years via this tree 🌲 .
Wow, how beautiful. Here’s a big hug and kiss to all of you who plant trees.
You and your teammate did something amazing science here. We need more of like you and wishing a widespread growth of those wonderful trees in your area.
You are a true academic. Really impressed with your study design. Thanks for useful, data-based info!
Thank you for sharing the results from your experiment and your dedication! Spending hours counting seeds and logging data is no easy task! Mad respect!!!
Hi George,
Thanks for all the work you've put in. It could definitely help me.
I've come up with a plan to increase the biodiversity in a young forest (15 years I think with only couple early species) by helping nature along. I'll try and use my knowledge of food forests and permaculture.
I will grow seedlings of local trees that are really big so they have proved themselves. There are two sequoias with two miles which I want to use seeds from. Your findings and possibly upcoming guide should help me along. Now I need to find some volunteers to help and offers growing space and get going.
We'll have a great forest by the time I'm ready for my wheelchair. :-)
Can't even beleave you put so much time and effort to proper collecting the data and watching this experiment. Great work! I hope you will publish your work with all data somewhere
I love to see people doing real science at home! I have been doing my own research on growth from Seedling to Sapling, mostly with already "born" as you put it, starters about an inch tall in most cases, but I would love to try from seed. I got interested in growing Red Woods because I thought they would make excellent Bonsai candidates. They are so robust and swift growing you hardly need to wait the years and years it can take to safely dwarf other species. I am really looking forward to buying the pdf of your results and hearing/reading about your ongoing observations!
Brilliant . Am so pleased you had the love and the patience to do this.
Thank you for the info. You, and Will with the assist, are doing some good work doing all that research, experimenting and data collecting, and letting the people know! Good stuff!
I just got some seedlings myself from the Johnsteen company, here in the U.S. Planning to make a bonsai out of both my Coastal Redwood and the Giant Sequoia; however, after watching this, I probably will feel more comfortable in the future going through with germinating my own seeds. I kind of have my own anecdotes in the works right now though for stratification, 6 Colorado Blue Spruce and 5 Norwegian Spruce seeds I just got in the fridge this evening, hoping they both germinate at least 1 good one *apiece..we shall see...
thank u for this! i bought giant sequia tree seeds and i didnt know how to grow them in the best way. your data is so clear and helpful :)
love this!
Your findings are the same as mine for sequoia sempervirens and almost all other garden plants. Waiting longer is the same as cold stratification given plenty of seeds and fresh uninfected soil. There are garden plants that NEED stratification and soaking, but most don't.
Hi George, I've been watching your channel since your PhD days. This episode helped me in the sense that it inspired me to think about a topic I never thought of before, and to consider dedicating some of my balcony space to grow them and plant them in areas around me. I look forward to your guide!
Thanks! Glad it might be of some help to somebody out there haha
@@GeorgeMaier: What's funny is that for my high school project (nearly 20 years ago...) I originally intended to also do an experiment comparing plant growth under different conditions, but by recommendation of my biology teacher it was reduced to investigating how to distill Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter from soil. It's surprisingly been of use later in my career 😅
excellent study, thanks for your time. i love to grow tree seeds that i find on walks and explorations with friends and this will help me loads! great video!
This is amazing. I don’t often watch videos that literally leave me open-mouthed but this did! I’ve been trying and failing to grow at home for the last year, all the conflicting research led me to failings. I’m going to start again today, thank you ♥️
Just ran across your video, and had to say thank you!
Videos like this are extremely helpful, well done sir!!!
I hope you continue with the gardening experiments. This was cool to watch
Thank you!
I finally bought my home and will start a project, plant pecan and other trees that help native birds (especially maritacas) from brazil.
your data will help me a lot!
again, thank you!
I JUST got a sequoia seed ring and fallen sequoia bark necklace from an etsy shop called 'growgoodcalifornia'
because i miss seeing Sequoias everyday. im so happy to come across your video! thanks for sharing :,) it brings back good memories! This is so amazing keep it up, I just sent this to the grandkids
THANK YOI SO MUCH FOR THIS!! I and I’m certain Mother Nature appreciates what you have done. I certainly do and can’t wait to plant my own little seedlings 🌱💚 Here’s to a greener tomorrow 🙌
That is so impressing! Thank you for your immense work! I've just ordered several hundreds of seeds and I also was confused by different ways of germination so I started searching for more, can't wait to try your method now. Thank you so much! Wish you happiness and new discoveries!:)
Great video! I did exactly what you have done 20 years ago and found that all Redwood seeds, Coast, Dawn and Sequoia sprout extremely easy on a wet paper towel in a warm dark environment. No cold stratification was needed. I was able to sprout more seeds than I could possibly use. Unfortunately for me, I live in the wrong area, Charleston, SC and the only trees that would grow in this area are the Dawn Redwood. I tried really hard for a few years with the other two but they would all eventually die at some point. You should have much better success in your part of the world.
Congrats. This is a highly thought out experiment with very important data that should be published in a botanical/agricultural journal for a wider audience. Please do so.
You’re a king. Stumbled on this vid literally 2 minutes after scarifying the seed coat of my two sequoia seeds and setting them in water.. I can’t stratify them anymore because they’ll freeze but this is an incredible video. You have done great work and I thank you.
WOW. I appreciate all the work you put into this..and these are some very expensive seeds now. I've really struggled with growing ones in my area, more than any other tree. Your findings make total sense to me.
Thank you for making and sharing this amazing video! It's very interesting, and inspiring.
Your methods can be applied to most all seeds.
I hope you found homes for all your tree babies.
It's a great research.
I'm from Brazil and it's a good guide.
Hope you include Maple trees in this research 😊
Well studied data. Appreciate your effort in compiling this data.
This is amazing info!!! So useful! I also wonder if the findings work on other types of trees too. Fascinating. Ty for your time!!
Wow ! I just sprouted about 2 dozen and was looking for information to grow them. Im impressed how many you grew. Good to help endangered or threatened tree species! Great work ! 👏 😊
This information is exactly what I needed!! You did in fact help somebody!!
Thanks for this video! Super helpful as I am wanting to grow my own giant redwoods!
Thanks for all the time and effort you have put into this!!
Thanks! Looking forward to your publishing of these results!
Helped me, I really hate starting tasks where the common knowledge is word of mouth, and after living near yosemite, sequia, and Crescent City (Redwood national park) Each different homes, I have a love for these trees and they can grow in Indiana with a little work. But I didnt want to without sound knowledge due to the long lead time for failure. This give me the confidance to try it out and see if I can add a 'little' guy to my house! Just bought seeds, HERE WE GO! Thanks to you!!!
This is brilliant work. Thank you for sharing the data.
Fascinating! Thank you for doing this, and for sharing your findings! Would love to grow some of these sometime. I’m not currently aware of other info out there so I’d be very interested in a guide!
Your effort was not in vain and is much appreciated! I now have an idea what to do, thank you!
They are so so cute! I’m so happy they were born and I hope the ones you gave away go to good homes ❤ Thanks for sharing this is beautiful!
This will help lots of people thank you so much.
They are my favourite tree. One day, if that day ever comes, I would love to have a huge property where I can grow a forest of them.
I think many others will too, especially since so many were cut down decades ago and not replanted.
Coming home from nights out then checking for hours!! Dedication to the cause 🙌🙌🙌
I wanted to die haha!
🤣
That's amazing, I've been wanting to do it for a long time and plant them all over my home city. Thank you for the video
Well done! OVer the last few weeks I scoured the ground under the giant sequoias in a local park here in Oregon. I brought home all the cones to discover the one and only green cone I found dried and hundreds of seeds fell out. Zero seeds from the brown cones. I returned to the park a week later and out of the 15 or so mature sequoias the one that gave me the green cone had several more green cones under it. They are drying now. I'll continue to collect these cones and assume that single cone single tree that is mapped with a photo of the tree would add some value to further experiments. Now to sprout some using your updated data!
You have done really great work! I think it would be amazing if you shared your data as well, so that perhaps the wider community could add to the foundation you have built
I’m planning to grow as many as I can this spring! This video is so helpful ❤ if you can give any more of your top tips that would be much appreciated! X
Thank you for all of the time and effort you put into this research, you're amazing! My somewhat estranged adult son just gave me a tiny packet of 40 sequoia seeds. There was something, maybe, profound about this. Wish me luck.
I'm in Oakland and just starting out. If you've got any tips......
I'm so glad you guys are doing this and I stumbled onto it!
They're notorious to propogate for me, it took me three years and a few hundred seeds to get one to germinate and I bodged it, rookie...
I think it'd be ironic to have one of the biggest trees in the world as a bonsai.
Got a smile out of the STATA graphs. Excellent work.
Always appreciate someone who’s able to identify statistical analysis software 🙌
I recognized STATA too, great stuff! As an undergrad who uses it for all of my econ assignments, I wasn't sure this was something that people used in the real world haha, so this is great to know!
I really appreciate the effort you put into this. It's beyond helpful!
Great video.
Yes, please make a guide. I would love to read it.
I have planted 24 this year and 7 of them are "born", waiting for more.
Made so many mistakes, but have more seeds and want to grow some more.
Need a propper method.
Great video and keen for that guide! Release it on Amazon and I'm sure the interest will grow 👍
What a terrific effort you made here bro!
Thank you very much. Please allow me to share a couple bucks with you for this, to show my appreciation.
I love these trees. I grew up about 20 minutes from the General Sherman tree and fortunately my parents loved to take me and my 3 siblings to see the Giant Sequoias. It was an unforgettable experience and I hope and pray that more people will plant these all around the world in great number for prosperity
Thank you for your appreciation and kind words! I visited CA a few years ago but was, unfortunately, unable to visit any of the sequoia groves. I'll have to go back soon to have that experience.
thanks for generating such useful data!!
Last year i bought seeds from 15 places and tried all kinds of groups. Water amount, shade, some growing fertilizers, diff soils, length of strat, freezer, rain water, light color filters. Of over 1000 seeds maybe 20 germinated all from one supplier and 3 made it out several months and all since died. This year trying again. I shouldve waited for them to sprout like u instead i have like 3 seeds sprouted next to each other and their fragile and I dont want to kill seperating them to own containers. This data is super useful thanks!!
Thanks so much! Very well done video, I’m going to try my hand at raising some trees. I have a Giant Sequoia in my Seattle Washington (USA) yard planted 1953. Randomly cones drop and it sounds like golf balls bouncing on the roof!! The trunk is 67” in diameter measured about chest high. Gains an inch every year.
Cheers!
Please write an article and publish. Research like this benefits us all - great work!
My man here is really expanding the knowledge of humanity and doing it humbly... massive respect from mexico my friend
Wow!!! Nice video!! I will grow some sequoias too down here in the south.
Love growing tree seedlings 🌱🌲
fantastic video!! this is very helpful. looking forward to more data and info - thanks!!
Dude! Finally, a scientific based method to growing giant sequoias! My brother and I literally wanted to start doing something similar with all fruit and vegetables so maybe in the future we can collaborate! Really appreciate your effort in this, I can imagine the hours spent! Maybe you don't feel it but this video alone has helped push humanity in the right direction, regardless of it's magnitude! Well done!
Wow you two did a lot of work and research on these. I’m very impressed. Great job guys and hopefully a lot of the seedlings will live and grow into giants👍
Awesome bro! Thanks for this. I am just starting to play with germinating these. I have 3 alive and killed 2 sprouts accidentally. Total of like 40 seeds planted 5 were actually sprouting. Been in the dirt 3 days.
Cheers mate, Great vid. Really appreciate you sharing your data.
Thank you so much for doing all these and sharing
Amazing video, super cool project! Love from Estonia
This video is absolutely excellent.
Thank you
BRAVO No mention of using a heating matt under the flats to encourage germination. Another tip; Dust the seeds with a rooting hormone B4 sowing.
Excellent methods and simple well done video. You killed it! I’m inspired to dive in and try this.
Well done for getting so may to germinate! Jesmond Dene has a few Giant Redwoods which are huge as well as beautiful, (planted in the late 18th century). I hope many of your saplings will last as long too.👍🥰
Awesome video! Keep up the great work.
I’m attempting to grow some myself, with the long term goal to purchase land for conservation and reforestimh
You are a sequoia pioneer, creating a legacy! I need at least 1,000 sequoias to reforest cleared property in Canada, will also include other species. Can`t find any trees or seeds. I get ridiculed for inquiring until I say I planted one over 10 years ago and it`s doing great (from a retired nursery). Apparently the one I have should produce cones soon...I`m also going to try cuttings. These trees inspire me and invoke mystical, magical awesomeness.
Thanks for your comment! You'll probably find your tree planted 10 years ago, even if it produces cones, they will have very low viability rates - even seeds taken tress in the UK at almost 200 years old still have fairly low germination rates. My advice, if you're going to grow from self-collected seed, is to find the oldest tree you possibly can. Also keep in mind that cones take 2 years to mature - so go for the older/larger cones. Sequoia aren't great at growing from cuttings either (unlike the coastal redwood, which does grow easily from cuttings). I've always found most success using imported seed from old growth in the native ranges.
@@GeorgeMaier I must go to California then! - no older trees near me. Yes, I haven`t come across anyone having success with cuttings..but can`t help but try, with new growth tips and heat mat, humidity dome etc. and keep searching for a seed source. I`m so fond of giant sequoias but your advice gives me the idea to include coast redwoods as well because they can be cloned with cuttings. Much appreciation to you.
Wow that’s a pretty random experiment but still a lot of fun and useful. Thanks for sharing! I wonder if you could track the growth speed based on soil parameters (acidity, mousture content, watering habits, organic matter content, clay content, etc) to see how to get a huge sequoia in your backyard as soon as possible
Good research on germination conditions. Thank you.
Excellent breakdown. Thanks
Excellent work mate!
This video helping me a lot,greetings from Hungary 🇭🇺.
Very informative,thanks for this
Thank you for your contribution.
What a great project and useful data. That's a balcony put to good use, I'd say. Thanks for sharing this video from you and your family, although one was firmly focused on his tennis ball. :-)
I'm glad someone noticed Rio!
@@GeorgeMaier You bet!
I have just received the seeds and already went through a few videos when I came across your vlog- just in time.
“In science the credit goes to the man who convinces the world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs.” - Sir William Osler :-)
Thank you!
Great work, you should definitely publish that work.
I’ve always been thankful for the Victorians (and anyone else) who brought these wonderful trees to this country even though they knew they’d never see them in their full glory. Now, I’m thankful to you. What a wonderful thing you’ve done. Brilliant. 🥳
This is good stuff I'm glad you did it and shared it