Thanks for the detailed note! And, yes, all makes sense. I think the odds of any of my first batch lasting more than a year is low, but as in all things in life, it is a learning experience. I think we are going to do OK as to sunlight. The watering is going to be trickier. Not only keeping the moisture level right while they are in the house, but once they get outside and into the ground. This last year, for instance, we’ve gotten very little rain since April (less than an inch I’m guessing) and had 90 days (I think it was) of over 100 degrees. Non-native planets have a hard time with that much heat, sunshine and dryness (not to mention our budget for the ACs 🙁 ). So we’ll see how this batch does…and the next batch, too, I suspect. Good luck with your Sequoias! In the meantime, back to writing… 🙂 🙂

sequoias you say. Magnificent giants with multi-millenial lifespans …

There’s a reason every one of these trees produces several tons of seeds a year, because the vast majority of them won’t germinate, and the vast majority of those which do will die out soon after. The seedlings are –incredibly– fragile.

Local conditions etc. may change your experience, but fwiw, I’ve been trying for a while now (~3 years) to get one of these things to stick around long enough for its size to become a problem in the garden. First couple batches I tried died in a couple months, next batch I had a couple that survived a year (and one was killed by the cat, when looking for catnip), current batch is going strong-ish at soon to be a year– the tallest seedling is in this batch.

Part of the problem may be that I don’t get too much sun in this part of the world, but as with many things balance is the thing to seek, and too much sun can burn the seedlings also.

Water is critical. I think most (except the one the cat got, and another one to be mentioned) seedlings I had were killed by me overwatering them. This is a very easy trap to fall into because the seedlings tend to be thirsty and a pot, left to its own devices, tends to dry out quickly.

So the number one, most impactful difference about the current batch seems to be the use of a covered pot. The transparent plastic dome lets light in, it also has a few holes at the top for air, but by and large keeps moisture in. This has greatly helped regulate the water level.

The roots are fragile. Transplanting them is necessary of course at some point, but when I tried it I ended up killing the plant. Carrying as much of the dirt around the seedling’s roots, as you are doing, is the way to go as opposed to washing the old dirt off the roots.

And of course, planting times are important. It seems to help if the seedlings pop up ~March in the Northern hemisphere, to catch the summer sun in their early months and get a bit of a growth kick, but that might just be the general lack of sun here. Barred access to natural light, I might experiment with artificial. The darkness, after all, has descended upon the year and my current, not yet one year old seedlings aren’t at the stage where they look safe.

Cheers!