Brian2412
Newly Registered
Posts: 9
Joined: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:43 pm
Location: Richland, WA

Dogwood Advice (Photo's Attached)

Same deal as the others...I've recently moved to Richland, WA (Eastern Washington) and have a young dogwood tree growing in the back yard. I'm not sure when it was planted, but the house was built in 2005 so I can assume that the tree was planted some time since then.

My questions are:
1) When should I prune (late dormancy or mid-summer)? I plan on pruning all of my trees in the late winter, but before spring (probably early February). Do dogwoods require much pruning?
2) Is this tree over crowded with limbs? It looks like it needs thinned out to me, but again, I'm new to all of this and am not familiar with the dogwood. Please make recommendations.
3) Should I spread any of the limbs out? Please make recommendations…
5) How old do you think this dogwood is? Should I be concerned about its smaller size?

Attached are photo's of the tree.

As a reminder - We are zone 7 (although, probably closer to a high 6). My soil is like beach sand when I dig. At the recommendation of the local nursery, I added soil amendments to try to help the tree (cutting out grass around the base) and mixing native soil with compost. I've also staked it to help with our high spring winds, however, will be removing these over the weekend.

Thank you in advance for the help.

[img]https://myimgs.net/images/ydsa.jpg[/img]
[img]https://myimgs.net/images/kvws.jpg[/img]

bullthistle
Greener Thumb
Posts: 1152
Joined: Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:26 am
Location: North Carolina

First you can take the stakes off. The top might need some selective pruning but it seems okay, but I am wondering, I know you said sand, but does that dogwood gets some extra water because the growth seems a bit stunted based upon how dogwoods grow in optimum conditions.



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