Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
How Much Water Does a Giant Redwood Tree Need?
How Much Water Does a Giant Redwood Tree Need?. Giant redwood trees come in two types. Coast redwoods live in damp forests along the coast of northern California where snow is not common and yearly rainfall is high. These trees are the tallest trees in the world. Giant sequoia live in the Sierra Nevada mountain habitats where summers are warmer and...
Giant redwood trees come in two types. Coast redwoods live in damp forests along the coast of northern California where snow is not common and yearly rainfall is high. These trees are the tallest trees in the world. Giant sequoia live in the Sierra Nevada mountain habitats where summers are warmer and drier and winter snowpack limits water availability. Both redwoods need a lot of water.
Water Loss
Redwood trees, like all plants, open gas exchange pores called stomata on their leaves to take in carbon dioxide for photosynthesis to produce sugars for growth. Water vapor lost during this process is called transpiration. The cloudy wet habitat of the coast redwoods allows them to grow faster. Giant sequoia have fewer stomata on their leaves to reduce water loss during dry weather and this contributes to slower growth.
Very Large Trees
Coast redwood forests are so dense that the amount of plant matter (biomass) is several times more than in a tropical rainforest. One old coast redwood has enough wood to make 20 three-bedroom houses and a giant sequoia has at least twice that amount. The General Sherman Tree has 600,000 board feet and the trunk itself weighs nearly 3,000,000 pounds, according to a webpage on the Palomar College website. About half the weight is water.
Coast Redwood Water Needs
Coast redwood habitat receives less summer rain than in the winter but nearly every day is foggy. According to a 1998 report in the journal Oecologia, redwoods use more than 600 quarts of water each day in the summer and up to 40 percent of it is from the fog. These trees produce canopy roots on high branches that absorb fog water. Other plants grow on these trees and collect soil in branch depressions that hold moisture the tree uses.
Giant Sequoia Water Needs
Giant sequoia grow in mountain habitats near streams so, even though the summers are drier than those where the coast redwoods grow, enough water is still available to the trees, except during severe droughts. During the winter months, deep snow ties up some of the moisture. These trees grow much slower, have a lower transpiration rate and use less water than the coast redwoods.
