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.