Redwoods
- To: "m*@ucdavis.edu" <m*@ucdavis.edu>
- Subject: Redwoods
- From: R* S* <j*@dnai.com>
- Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 05:35:29 -0800
Zeki-
How strong is your north wind? It is unlikely that the wind will
seriously damage the trees' growing tips. In the California coast
range, where the native stands grow, they often have winter storms with
70+ mile per hour winds at the exposed tops of the trees. Tree tips are
sometimes damaged by lightning, but other branches then begin growing
as the tree tip. We will never know what height they will ultimately
attain in your locality - that is something only future generations can
know. They take well over 100 years to reach maximum height, and
continue growing for hundreds of years.
They do like lots of water, although they will survive with less. In
California, they get most of their water by using their leaves to
intercept fog droplets, and create their own rain. Since there is fog
in most parts of the year, they have water for most of the year. They
have a very efficient surface root system. It is so efficient it is
difficult to grow very much underneath them, because their fine-fibered
roots are able to grab every droplet of moisture that comes their way.
They do best with lots of mulch underneath them. A typical redoood
forest will have up to 1/4 m of leaves and branches underneath them, in
various states of decomposition, with the root fibers almost at the
surface of this muclch layer..
