Planting Redwoods in the Central Valley

How to Plant Redwood Trees in the Central Valley

It is very important when planting a non-native species that you meet as many of their daily requirements as possible. In the case of the coast redwood, they need a lot of water initially to establish their roots. The climate of the San Joaquin valley is more desert like than the cool foggy coastal climate where they grow naturally.
Here is how we planted our six redwood trees, three Aptos blues and three Soquels:
1. First, we made a template out of paper that was about twice the diameter of the tree’s existing container. These were 15 gallon trees so we had to make a hole with a diameter of 34” (a 15 gallon container is 17” x 16”). After the first try we found that it was easier to use regular flour to mark the diameter of the hole without the template.

2. Next you remove the sod and set it aside. Then the digging begins. The hole needs to be a little shallower than the root ball so we tried to dig our holes between 15 and 16” deep.

3. We then added forest humus to the hole to help aerate the roots.

4. It was harder than it looked to get the trees safely out of their pots. It took a lot of “kid” power.

5. Once the tree was removed it was important to break up the root ball. We made sure that there weren’t any roots circling the root ball. These types of roots can eventually strangle the trunk of the tree.

6. Then it was time to put the tree into the hole. It took one hardy student to hold up the tree to make sure it stood tall and straight in its new home.

7. Next students filled the hole loosely. This helps to put air into the soil also know as aerating.

8. Since our redwoods would need a lot of water at first, we made dirt walled wells around our trees. These help make sure that water gets to the roots. Coast redwoods have a very shallow root system. We planted our trees in groups because another characteristic of coast redwoods is that they like to link roots. In their natural environment this helps provide stability when the coastal winds blow, or the ground become saturated during winter rains.

New Elements Added - Webquest Learning Through Redwoods

School is out and the blog is still being added to and refined. If you scroll down you can view the Power Point Presentation I put together at the beginning of the year to teach our students about Sempervirens. Students were given a worksheet to complete while they were learning about this valuable California resource.

Watercolor Redwoods

Learning Through Redwoods

Welcome to our learning expedition about the California Coast Redwoods. We are the Project Citizen Action team at Empire Elementary School and we are exploring the California Coast Redwood and working to plant a small "grove" of five trees at our school site.

Our adventure began in October of 2007 when we took 90 people to visit Big Basin State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains of California. On our hike through this old growth forest we learned about the Coast Redwood ecosystem, the history of the redwoods in the area, and these magnificent trees in particular.

Since that time we have been doing a lot of research on the topic. We have been trying to find out what a Coast Redwood needs to grow successful in the Central Valley. This is a non-native in this habitat.
Karen Retford

Photo: Karen Retford, Big Basin State Park

Big Basin Redwoods Ecosystem

The California Coast Redwood is part of a complex ecosystem. Part of our study of this amazing tree included the other animals that share its space in the coast range. Since the majority of my students are 4th graders we focused on the Life Science Standards for this grade level. I put together a webquest using Power Point for the students to study the following component of this ecosystem: producers, consumers, and decomposers.

Some of the common plants found the in Big Basin Redwoods State Park are the huckleberry, tan bark oak, redwood sorrel, and sword ferns. The huckleberry produces small bellshaped blossoms in the spring which turn into tiny berries. These berries were eaten by early settlers to the Santa Cruz mountains. They were also used by the indegenous Ohlone tribes that also lived in the area. The tan bark oak's acorns were used to make acorn meal. The redwood sorrel is found carpeting the redwood forest floor. It is a member of the Oxalis family and has violet tinged flowers, some confuse it for clover. The sword fern Polystichum munitum is also found in abundance on the moist forest floor. Its name polys—many, and stichos—a row, which refers to the way the sori is arranged and munitum means armed with teeth. Its rhizomes were boiled and eaten. The leaves were chewed to help relieve sore throats and tonsilitis.

One of the rarest animals is the Marbled Murrelet. This small sea bird makes its nests at the top of old growth trees. Since Big Basin is both near the Pacific and contains old growth trees, old growth trees are several hundred years old and have a diameter typically 4 to 10 feet. Another endangered species found in the watershed here is the coho salmon. They are found in Waddell creek. Mountain lions also live in Big Basin. They are rarely seen but they are there!

One of the most interesting creatures that lives in this habitat is the Banana Slug. This large decomposer who helps decompose the forest duff. Shelf mushrooms can be found clinging to the remains of douglas fir making humus of their rotting trunks.