Archangel Ancient Tree Archive has successfully cloned John Muir’s beloved giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum). The 130 year old 75-foot-tall tree is dying from two regional fungal diseases. Under healthy conditions sequoias can live for thousands of years.
In the early 1880s, after one of his trips to Yosemite, Muir brought the tree back and planted it at his home in Martinez, California, now the John Muir National Historic Site. In an effort to save the tree and its connection to the famous naturalist, the park
turned to the Archangel Ancient Tree Archive to clone the tree from cuttings at their state-of-the-art propagation facility in Copemish, Michigan.
Keith Park, horticulturist and preservation arborist at the John Muir National Historic Site, climbed the tree to collect cuttings for the cloning attempt and considers this an insurance policy. “I wouldn’t want to wait too long and risk losing the tree,” he said.
After the cuttings arrived back in April of this year, Tom Brodhagen, propagator with Archangel, described them as “healthy looking, green with pushed growth.” The challenges of this project are the age of the original tree and the diseases that came with it, Brodhagen said. “The fungal diseases are endemic to the region but we want to clean them up so they have a fresh start,” Brodhagen said. If successfully planted, the saplings would eventually likely become infected with the same fungal diseases. “On the face of it, it seems ridiculous to plant something that is doomed,” Park said. “But from a historic preservation perspective, things ought to be the same or at least resemble John Muir’s time here.”
Approximately 400 cuttings from the original tree were sent to Archangel Ancient Tree Archive. Since then, the staff has been hard at work trying to save this living connection to John Muir. The nonprofit group is dedicated to “historic botany” and reproducing the world’s oldest, largest and most meaningful trees.
Misted twice daily and given a cocktail of root-stimulating growth hormones upon their arrival, the cuttings were situated in the Archangel office, where co-founder David Milarch watched them from day to day. Since then, he has hoped that roots would form as it normally takes four months to a year before old- growth trees like sequoias establish themselves. Today, David Milarch announced sight of the first roots, indicating cloning success. Milarch, who also propagated President Theodore Roosevelt’s trees, couldn’t be happier with the work being done to save the trees of those responsible for the conservation of wild America.
[pl_blockquote cite=”David Milarch”]”Right here in this building, we have living history of those men’s lives. I’m proud of that.”[/pl_blockquote]
This story brings me hope…hope that there are those who care about connections to our past and want to assure they are brought into our future; hope that there are still so many who care about our beautiful planet. Thank you.
The Calaveras Big Trees state park is my grove of choice. This is where the Mother of the Forest stands naked ( bark stripped for Queen Victoria’s eyes) among her children, and stumps are tributes to mankind’s ignorance (fire-proof wood)…protected now for our grand-children’s enjoyment…We have come a long way… .
Wonderful project… keep up the good work.
I wonder if the tree is really doomed to fungal infection? I kinda don’t believe that. If this tree was moved back in the day as a 75′ tree, the stress probably caused the problems, not a genetic defect. But great to see cuttings made.
Joe,
The tree was planted in the early 1880’s. Take note of the photo from circa 1898 – where the tree is slightly taller the John Muir. The tree is NOW 130 years old and 75′.
I know this sounds fairly out-there, but I wonder if spraying the cuttings with a gentle Melaleuca alternifolia solution would help them resist any fungal infection, at least until they get some growth and are established. Just a thought — it’s a powerful, natural anti-fungal (source of tea tree oil, as you no doubt already know).
I’m so excited about this project and so hope it goes well.
Martinez was no place to plant a sequoia. The very fact of the less than optimal climate for it has probably the most to do with it succumbing to a fungus. Of course the chemtrails and other pollutants don’t help a bit, but a coastal redwood would’ve had a much better chance there than a sequoia.
Confused. Was the giant sequoia that John Muir planted in Martinez, California, “cloned” or was it propagated using cuttings?
Photo of John Muir’s giant sequoia April 9, 2014
It is our understanding that this was one of the many specimens he collected during his many travels. Improbable that it was cloned, so it is either a cutting from another Sequoia he encountered, or was a sapling that was transplanted by him. In any event, the significant part of the story was that it was a tree planted by “The Father of the National Park Service.”
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.” – John Muir
Do you have any pics of the recent tree at the Martinez house? Just curious about this 75 foot 131 year old tree
Here is a photo of the tree taken on April 9, 2014. You can see the tree is not doing well as evidenced by the dying brown needles on some branches. Enjoy!
Having taught a university level plant propagation course for over 30 years, I always tell my students that clonal forestry (micropropagation, cuttings, grafting, etc) carries risk that a single genotype may become susceptible to a particular new disease which could wipe out all individuals of that clone. At least some individual of a genetically variable population of seedling grown trees could be resistant to the disease.
The black and white photo here is incorrectly labeled as John Muir with his newly planted Sequoia tree. Actually, the photograph is not of John Muir, but of his father-in-law, Dr. John Strentzel. It is properly labeled by the NPS on their John Muir National Historic Site photo collection: https://www.flickr.com/photos/npsccc/17358307616/in/album-72157632992366873/
Thank you for the correction!
I found your site while researching fungus infections of Sequioa’s. I have 8 sequoia seedlings here in northern Ohio. I started to wonder why some seemed to be so vigorous and others seemed to die off, some so suddenly. I am wondering what fungicide and rooting hormone you used on the Muir tree? While I have to agree with Ken Mudge (above) You would not want an entire forest grown from clones of a single tree but what about cloning only those that fungus resistant ? I would greatly appreciate an info you could give me and quite willing to donate to help you save these awesome old trees!
Sequoia can be host to a number of fungal pathogens, particularly in a humid environment. There are a couple broad spectrum fungicides that we used on the Muir sequoia. These included phyton (copper based) and chlorothalonil (daconil, bravo, fungonil). Be careful with copper based fungicides, they can burn plants. Phyton is a softer fungicide, though expensive. Chlorothalonil is marketed under a number of brand names, is cheap and widely available at consumer stores. Chlorothalonil is toxic to bees when it is wet! Once it is dry, the dried residue does not impact bee health. Spray it in the late evening when the bees are not flying! Juvenile sequoias will root with a medium to strong concentration of rooting hormone. You could use dip-n-grow at 1:5 or 1:10 or use Hormodin #2 rooting powder.
I agree that it is not a good idea to just plant one variety of a genus and species. Unfortunately that is how most city landscapes are planted (Autumn blaze male, Bradford pear, etc…) Genetic diversity is important.
I agree that massive tree planting projects are one way we can quickly lock up carbon and enjoy at the same time.
Robot planting systems could in the future help us t
o meet the targets needed to tip the scales.
Until then plant the seeds and propagate like hell.
Les
Has anyone considered using endomycorrhyzae inoculations for the growing root stock, thus increasing the survivability of the clones? Check out MycorrhizalApplications.com out of Grants Pass, Oregon, for improved sustainability, fungal resistance, etc.