This is Earth and Sky. Colin Bos of the Bethesda, Maryland writes "How tall do giant redwood trees get? And how long does it take them to grow that tall?"

Colin, the "coast redwoods" of California's north coast are the tallest living things in the world. They can grow over 300 feet - or about 90 meters - in only a couple of hundred years. Another type of redwood--the "giant sequoia" isn't quite as tall, but it tends to be more massive. The tree nicknamed “General Sherman” in Sequoia National Park is the most massive tree known. It contains more than 55,000 cubic feet of wood - or 1,500 cubic meters.

Growth rate among trees varies a lot. Young redwoods can grow over a meter a year - about 3 feet a year - before slowing down in their old age. Still, a 60-year-old redwood could be much bigger than one that’s lived for centuries--given the right light, moisture and nutrients. Big or small, redwoods can live more than 2,000 years.

But redwoods aren’t the oldest trees on earth. The bristlecone pine of the Sierra Nevadas can live twice as long as a redwood. The oldest individual is over 4,500 years old. Its precise location is kept secret, to protect it from souvenir hunters. Colin, thanks for your question. By the way, we have information for students on our Young Producers Contest, come to earthsky.com. Special thanks today to our friends at the US Forest Service. We're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.