Question
Jim,
Not sure if you're the person to ask or not, but I am interested in ordering redwood tree saplings or seeds and attempting to grow them.  Unfortunately, I live in the northeast US, so the growing conditions are less than ideal.  Can it still be done, or am I wasting my money?
Thanks,
Ed

Answer
IF you wanted to try it I would start with seedlings or saplings.
It is very successful in the Pacific Northwest from western Oregon north to southwest British Columbia, with fast growth rates.

In the northeastern USA there has been some limited success in growing the species, but growth is much slower there, and it is prone to Cercospora and Kabatina fungal diseases due to the hot, humid summer climate there. The tallest reported in the east is one about 35 m tall, at Blithewold Gardens, in Bristol, Rhode Island. Specimens also grow in the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts (planted 1972, 18 m tall in 1998), at the Longwood Gardens near Wilmington, Delaware, and in the Finger Lakes region of New York for many years. Private plantings of Giant Sequoias around the Middle Atlantic States are not uncommon. Since 2000, a small experimental planting has been underway in the Lake Champlain valley of Vermont where winter temperatures can reach −37 癈 with variable snowcover.

A cold-tolerant cultivar 'Hazel Smith' selected in about 1960 is proving more successful in the northeastern U.S.A. This clone was the sole survivor of several hundred seedlings grown at a nursery in New Jersey.

The limit of winter cold tolerance is generally down to about −30 癈, but with a few individuals known to have tolerated lower temperatures, particularly where they benefit from deep snow cover over the roots.



If you are going to try--make sure the planting hole is twice the size of the rootball of the tree and mulch.

Here is a article written about growing redwoods outside its natural range.
http://sempervirens.org/non-native.htm