Sequoias vs Redwoods: Battle of the California Natives

Joe Berg, district manager of Davey's East Bay office, discusses the differences between two of California's most recognized species, the Sequoia and the Redwood trees. Berg also touches on how the East Bay Davey office has worked with both species.   

In this episode we cover:  

• Sequoias vs Redwoods (:40)
• How can you tell the difference between Sequoias and Redwoods? (1:48)
• Do both trees grow very tall? (2:44) (14:42)
• Would you plant either tree as a landscape tree? (3:24)
• Are people respectful of the size of both trees? (4:16)
• What to do if a Redwood is growing into another property (5:23) (6:31)
• How Davey's East Bay office works on both trees (7:30)
• Sequoia fungal disease (9:25)
• How much fertilizer is used for each tree? (10:55)
• How droughts affect each tree (12:10)
• How do droughts affect the arboricultural industry? (13:12)
• Understanding the fascination with Redwoods (15:33)
• How Joe got to his current role (16:19)
• What does Joe get out of this job? (17:49)

To find your local Davey office, check out our find a local office page to search by zip code.

To learn more about caring for redwoods, read our blog, How to Tell if a Redwood Tree is Dying (And If You Can Save It).

To learn more about tree property disputes, read our blog, Can My Neighbor Force Me to Cut Down or Trim My Trees?, or watch our YouTube video, Who Owns This Tree?

Connect with Davey Tree on social media:
Twitter: @DaveyTree
Facebook: @DaveyTree
Instagram: @daveytree
YouTube: The Davey Tree Expert Company
LinkedIn: The Davey Tree Expert Company 

Connect with Doug Oster at www.dougoster.com. 

Have topics you'd like us to cover on the podcast? Email us at podcasts@davey.com. We want to hear from you!

Transcript

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Doug Oster: Welcome to the Davey Tree Expert Company's podcast, Talking Trees. I'm your host Doug Oster. Each week, our expert arborists share advice on seasonal tree care, how to make your trees thrive, arborists' favorite trees, and much, much more. Tune in every Thursday to learn more because here at the Talking Trees podcast we know trees are the answer. I'm joined again this week by Joe Berg. He's the district manager in the East Bay, California area for the Davey Tree Expert Company. Joe, I am looking forward to you schooling me on sequoias and redwoods. How are you doing today?

Joe Berg: I'm doing well.

Doug: My first question, okay I'm from the east. I don't know anything about these trees except I know they're beautiful. Is a sequoia and a redwood, is that the same thing, or are those two different things?

Joe: They're in the same family. Sequoia giganteum is the Latin name for the giant sequoia, which are native to the Sierras in the mountains, a little higher elevation. The Sequoia sempervirens, which is the coast redwood, that is on the coast of California and a little bit into Oregon. They are two completely different environments and different trees. They are also related to the dawn redwood, which is native to China. There are three trees of that same part of the family.

Doug: Here in the east, my dawn redwood that I inherited when I bought this place is my favorite tree on the property. When people see it, they're like, how is this possible that a redwood? I said, "Well, this is a different type of redwood that actually a deciduous conifer that drops its needles, or maybe it's technically leaves, I'm not sure, but they look like needles." If I look at a sequoia, if I look at a redwood, would I be able to tell the difference between them? Are they that different or they look similar?

Joe: Yes, they're very, very different. I think that the biggest thing for the giant redwoods or the giant sequoias, it's the bark. The bark is a very bright orange color. Coastal redwoods tend to have a little bit more of a grayish, darker brown color to them. The bark ridges are a little differently furrowed and whatnot. Giant sequoias tend to have really large branches, while coast redwoods tend to have smaller branches. In the old-growth trees in the mountains, giant sequoias can have limbs that are up to eight feet in diameter. Which, obviously these are 3,000-year-old, 2,500-year-old trees, but coast redwoods have much smaller limbs that don't get that big.

Doug: Do they all become giants, or are there other cultivars that are smaller? Is it all giant trees?

Joe: I think it's all environment which they're grown in. If they're in their native range, they will become giant and live in their native forest. In terms of a landscape tree, they do get pretty big, but most of the time they're planted outside of their range, and so they do have limits. You definitely won't see 300-foot-tall coast redwoods in really hot areas or outside of their range. Likewise, with giant sequoias, if they're not at their elevation, they won't get to those heights and sizes for sure.

Doug: Are these trees that you would plant as a landscape tree?

Joe: Yes. They're everywhere around the Bay Area in California. People do plant them in hot areas of the Bay Area, which they don't typically do very well. In the coastal areas, they're native from southern Oregon down to central California on the coast, within 50 miles of the coast or 20 miles of the coast or whatever it is. They're planted all over the landscape. They grow really well in environments that have a lot of moisture and fog. Sequoias are planted a lot of places as well. They do tend to not perform as well as-- They tend to have a little bit more disease issues, I think, when they're planted outside of their native range. Both are very cool and commonly planted landscape trees.

Doug: Are people respectful of the size? We have so many problems along the east where people put in this little seedling and then in five years it's like, "What do I do now?" I'm like, "Well, there's nothing you can't do. You're going to have to start over and you just wasted five years of this tree's life and a lot of money."

Joe: Yes. That's a big thing in the Bay Area in particular and I think a lot of other places in California. There are a lot of people that like planting coast redwoods as property borders, privacy borders for pools, things like that. In their native range, coast redwoods their roots can grow out as much as 100 feet from the trunk of the tree. All of their root system is generally on the top, a few feet of soil. A lot of issues we deal with are people that plant redwoods on property lines or around pools and they start having issues with roots damaging neighboring properties or damaging pools, hardscapes, things like that. It's not the fish in the fishbowl thing. It's really the, hey, you put it anywhere and it will grow the way nature wants it to do.

Doug: In that situation, what do you do if a redwood is growing in the neighbor's pool? What would you do, or what could you do?

Joe: It's tough. That tends to get pretty litigious or it can be. Owning a tree and your tree roots growing into a neighbor's property can cause some problems. Those roots are the responsibility of the tree owner, which is where the stem lies. That can get a little dicey. We offer services to excavate roots using air spades to uncover them to see what's actually going on. Then management decisions can be made from there. It can get very complicated. Root pruning is definitely not a process that you can take lightly because there's a lot of consequences that can occur from doing that.

It can get pretty complicated and tough, especially if you have mature trees that are planted on your property that could potentially be damaging neighbor's properties.

Doug: Sometimes with the air spade, you could take a look at them and might be able to do some root pruning, but eventually those roots, aren't they going to eventually come back into that area or not so much?

Joe: Yes. There are options, as long as you aren't trenching or cutting a significant amount of roots, you can use an air spade, uncover roots, selectively prune roots, and actually install things like root barriers. That's something that we commonly do. It is limited. Those roots will grow back. The root barrier does help. There's no really guarantee. I've seen roots grow above, below, the whole plethora of things that they can do, but it is a temporary thing that you can install. If you want to keep the tree and you're okay with the fact that you may have, some issues 10, 15, 20 years down the road, then it gives you that at least.

Doug: Now, on both these trees, because they're so big, are you guys doing a lot of work on them? Out here, you might have a 30-foot-tall maple, but I can't imagine redwood, how tall it would be or sequoia, giant sequoia. Is it just like any other tree? Are you up in there when you have to be?

Joe: Yes, absolutely. We've had a lot of drought issues the last 10 or 15 years or so. At least in our area, we tend to be a lot lighter on pruning them. I think there's a lot of companies out there that tend to over-prune trees in general. Redwoods is a species of tree that gets over-pruned a lot. When these trees are over-pruned, they actually tend to get broken branches because when it gets windy, the trees rely on the branches adjacent to each other to slow down that rotation when the wind is blowing really hard. When those branches are removed, that rotation speeds up, you get more branch breaking. Then, the tree just tends to look really, really bad.

We do a lot of deadwood removal, a lot of end-weight reduction. When coast redwoods get really big, the branches get really long. Tree size branches, 8, 10 inches in diameter, 30, 40 feet long. Doing some crown reduction to reduce weight on those branches is probably a good idea. Mostly, it's really deadwood removal and really trying to keep the health of the tree up, which is other plant healthcare services rather than pruning. Giant sequoias are a little different. Giant sequoias tend to get a fungal disease, at least in our area. We try not to prune them really at all other than remove dead or diseased tissue. Their structure is just slightly different. It's fairly minimal. They get big, but, managing them tends to be a little bit easier than maybe pruning large oak trees or something like that that's closer to the East Coast.

Doug: Talk a little bit about the fungal disease for the sequoias and how it affects the tree and if there's anything that can be done to treat it.

Joe: Sure. It's a canker disease. Typically, the tree will get infected by a branch or two. You'll see the green canopy and then you'll see a spot of dead tissue, dead needles. Then, depending on the environment, depending on the climate and what your local weather conditions are, is that that disease will spread. Typically, like most fungal diseases, they spread with 45 and 65% humidity, 55, 65 degree. We have those types of conditions pretty much all year round at least in our area. They can get hit pretty hard, and that changes per season, that changes per time of the year it year. It's so variable.

There are fungicides and things that we can apply to these trees that can actually help them and improve their vascular system, but really it's like leaving the tree alone, cutting out any diseased material, removing disease like dead needles, things like that that does help remove the spores. It's proper TLC, proper watering, mulching, fertilization, that kind of thing. It's a classic situation as most trees that we plant are not from the area that we live in and so these diseases and problems that we have come with that package.

Doug: You're doing the same things out there, only on a larger scale. In the case of fertilization, it's using the probe and putting it down in there, that sort of thing. For a giant sequoia or a redwood, that's got to go be a lot of fertilizer, right?

Joe: Yes, it's pretty surprising. The roots can go out pretty far, but we're dealing with pretty small properties out here. Most people have quarter-acre lots, and they're boxed in by hardscape and other type of things. It's way different here than it is in the East Coast where you have these big, grassy yards with no fences and things in a lot of respects. No, fertilization is pretty easy. They do require a lot of water. We do a lot of watering services for coast redwoods in particular.

These trees, we as an average will dump about 10 gallons per diameter inch for a coast redwood. If you're talking about one tree, which is 30 inches in diameter, which is not that large of a redwood, the coast redwood did to begin with, we're talking about 300 gallons of water that we're watering per application. These trees can take water, and they can take more water, more water, and be fine with it.

Doug: What have been some of the other downsides for the trees related to the drought?

Joe: What's really cool and interesting about these trees, the coast redwoods really don't have a lot of insect and disease problems. They can develop cankers as well, but water is the biggest thing for them. I've seen trees all throughout our area that have just been devastated by the drought for the last 10 years, and we get two years of water, and they're starting to come back. They're suckering out along their branches and trunks.

That's an easy thing for people that own these trees. Water can be expensive. There's no doubt about it, depending on your area, but that's a very easy problem to solve if we're talking about how to manage the tree health of this type of species of tree. As soon as you water it starts to come back if the branches haven't died back completely, if the tree hasn't died back completely. Water is water. That's what they need, and it's an easy solution.

Doug: A 10-year drought for a plant person, that's pretty depressing. We're in a slight drought out here in the east right now, and as far as I'm concerned, as far as a homeowner and gardener, there's nothing worse than a drought. I'd rather have too much rain than not enough. I know it's your profession. It's not the same as some guy like me with his little garden and everything, but how does it affect you as a plant professional when you're dealing with a drought of that extent?

Joe: Yes, it's challenging because people think that the water that they're putting on through irrigation even if there's putting more is making up for the natural rainfall and unfortunately that's not the case. We really need to have that natural rainfall to soak in through several feet of soil to create that healthy soil environment and so all the negative things with drought that the lack of water in the soil brings with it with increased salt content and the roots are dying back from the lack of water in the soil and at the end of those roots are wounds that can actually develop fungal issues when you get water back.

It's really the extremes that are hurting our trees here with that type of situation because the drought really causes some dieback and then if we get a lot of water, which we have in the last two years, that has actually made the situation a little bit worse because it's caused a lot more fungal issues with the trees that have had wounded roots basically.

Doug: When the sequoia and the redwood are happy, are they pretty easy to grow?

Joe: Oh, yes. You don't have to do anything. [laughs] Redwood's one of the fastest-growing trees in the world. They grow very, very fast. It's general TLC practices. Most urban lots, at least out here, are not exactly ideal for growing things. It's amazing that trees and shrubs and things grow anyways with how they disturb the soil and compaction and the soil quality, but generally, if you're proper watering, mulching, fertilizing, and you're in the right area, that's probably even more important. The drier side of our coastal range, you're probably not in a good spot. The more bay side, you're in a better spot, but if you're doing those basic things, you're in great shape for these trees, and they're relatively easy to take care of.

Doug: I know you see them every day, but do you understand our fascination with them from the east, how we come out to California just to see these trees, walk through a park with those big redwoods? Do you get the same feeling that we do? [chuckles]

Joe: The reason why I moved here, I'm from St. Louis, so I wanted to come out to the land of the big trees, and so they're amazing. Working with them is really, really cool, and seeing urban trees that are, 50, 100, 150 years old are really cool. If you want to see the real deal, you go to the parks and see the old-growth trees and you will get blown away. It's a very, very refreshing and fulfilling thing to do is to go walk in one of those parks.

Doug: I know we've talked about this before, but remind me how you got into this job and why it's right for you.

Joe: Yes, I got a degree in forestry, University of Missouri, worked for the Forest Service in various places, and got a position out in the Sierras in California. When I moved out here, I just fell in love with the mountains and wanted to be closer to here. Funny story about that too, is there's a giant sequoia park called Calaveras Big Trees. It's up in the Sierras. I was 24, 25, very ignorant about a lot of things. I'm like, "Oh, this is a big tree park." I happened upon it. It didn't know anything about it. I pull into the park and start walking down the trail and I see these sugar pines, which are the largest pine tree in the world. It's in California, another cool tree in California.

This tree is probably six, seven, eight feet in diameter, 220 feet tall. I'm like, "Oh gosh, what a cool tree. These are the big trees in this park." Then I turn a corner and actually see a giant sequoia for the first time. The size of that was astronomically larger than the sugar pine. I'm like, "Yes, I'm good with that. I'm into trees. This is the place to be. We've got the largest valley. We've got some of the largest trees. We've got some of the oldest trees in the world. All sorts of diversity, depending on where you go." For a tree person, California is not bad of a place to be at.

Doug: Tell me what you get out of doing this job.

Joe: Everybody does their job or goes to work. I definitely feel lucky that I get to do something that I really like doing. I get to be outside every day. I get to deal with nature every day. I talk to people about trees every day. It's that net positive type job. We're not extracting oil from the earth or we're not killing animals of things that we do. We're actually keeping people's trees and their property is going well, which helps in climate change. It helps in the communities. It helps our well-being in the environment. It's a net positive in terms of what I get to give back to my time spent, and that's great for me.

Doug: Joe, that's a perfect place to end our interview. I so much appreciate all the information, and boy, coming out there and seeing those trees is something special. Thanks again for your time.

Joe: Yes, absolutely. Thank you.

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Doug: I'm always learning something from hosting this podcast, and I hope you are too. Now tune in every Thursday, the Talking Trees Podcast from the Davey Tree Expert Company. I'm your host, Doug Oster, and do me a big favor. Subscribe to this podcast so you'll never miss a show. If you've got an idea for an episode, maybe a comment, we've got a couple of ways that you can reach out to us. Send us an email to podcasts@davey.com and that's P-O-D-C-A-S-T-S@D-A-V-E-Y.com. You can also click the link at the end of our show notes to text us a fan mail message. Your ideas might be on a future podcast, and we would love to hear from you. As always, we like to remind you on the Talking Trees podcast, trees are the answer.

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