The man who moved Boise’s giant Sequoia in June is in town checking on his centenarian charge. Relocated to make room for a new children’s facility at St. Luke’s Hospital, the tree appears to be taking to its new home in Fort Boise Park.
The sounds of construction ring out along Fort Street downtown as David Cox examines the big tree. Originally from Alabama, Cox is in town to prep the evergreen for its first winter in its new location. Over the winter, he says the giant Sequoia will get weekly water deliveries of about 500 gallons from a tanker truck. To help defend the tree from frost, Cox says it’ll be sprayed with what’s called and antidesiccant or an anti-transpirant spray.
“...it kind of goes on as an oily mixture when you spray the tree, and it kind of dries in a waxy coating,” he says. “That’ll help prevent that winter burn we saw last season on the tree.”
When it comes to the current health of the tree, Cox is pleased.
“When I inspected the foliage, it’s got several elongations of new growth in different areas of the tree, all the way up,” Cox says. “So, I like that. I think that it’s doing actually better than I expected.”
He says his main worry for the future of the tree is something totally out of his control.
“The weather pattern is what I’m most concerned with,” says Cox.
According to the tree mover, another harsh winter with extended periods below freezing would be a lot for the nearly hundred foot tall Sequoia to cope with. He says it’s a three to five years process before he can conclusively determine how the move turned out.
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