Germination of Coast Redwood (sequoia sempervirens)

Having only once before attempted to grow this rather temperamental species I thought that as I am selling this seed I need to know how well it performs in real growing conditions rather than quoting laboratory germination result statistics.

The seeds were placed in a ziplock freezer bag, the bag was then filled with enough ordinary cold tap water (with no sterilisation) to immerse the seeds. The bag was then sat on a shelf at room temperature for approximatly 24 hours. I then hung the bag up in an outbuilding using a bulldog clip and pierced several times at the base to allow the water to escape. I then gently squeezed out the remaining water with my hand and placed the bag in the fridge. This process is known as naked prechilling.

Expecting a delay of at least 4 weeks until any signs of root emergence I was greatly surprised to see lots of seeds with small white roots after only 15 days. I removed the germinating seeds individually with tweezers and placed them 1 seeds per cell into plug trays. The remaining unsprouted seed was returned to the fridge. I check the bag every 4/5 days, I have found that new seeds are continually germinating which I remove from the bag for planting in cell trays.

I'll just let the seeds in the plug trays develop for a few more days and I'll upload a photo.

Cheers,
Michael.

Photo of Sequoia sempervirens seedlings-just a few days old

They are difficult to photograph well at this early age

The same seedlings at 6 weeks just after having been moved into bigger growing cells.