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Help for Kousa Dogwood

15 years ago

We have a beautiful, healthy, very full (blooming right now) Kousa Dogwood in the garden, at the corner of the house. It has been grown as a tall shrub (not a tree form).

Problem: Recent heavy winds have caused the tall straight "stems" to lean away from center. We watched as the tops actually almost touched the ground! We envison winter snows could break them. Advice would be greatly appreciated:

Pics are here:

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You can see that the base has several "stems." The center has opened up quite a bit and the upper limbs are leaning out, showing a good bit of daylight in the center now.

1. Should we try bracing them, maybe tying them to one another from within, to keep them closer together? We don't know the best way to do this.

2. Should we reduce the height overall? If so what time of year is proper? Would that cause the whole specimen to then grow as a bush (or would we need to "train it up" with yealy pruning)

3. Should we call in a pro?

Thanks for advice; as you can see this is a lovely specimen.

BlueBars

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Comments (3)

sweet_melissa
15 years ago
We have 2 Kousas in our backyard(not as big as yours), but they are doing the same thing. I was so concerned about it that my husband and I tied twine around the trees to give them support. I had an arborist out for a different tree and asked him about the Kousas. He said that this is the nature of the Kousa dogwood when it flowers. The flowers are just too heavy for the branches. He said it was ok to tie them, but you need to make sure that you move the twine or whatever you decide to use every few days to avoid any damage to the branches. You should not leave any support longer than one year. We opted to remove the twine the other day because they are done flowering. They are holding up better, but still a bit droopy in places. I may need to do some selective pruning. I hope this helps some. If you do contact an expert, please post your results. You have a beautiful Kousa! Good luck!
bluebars
Original Author
15 years ago
I did contact an expert. He said, Oh yeah, I will be in your neighborhood today, and take a look. But after a week I didn't hear from him. Several times I've called him and left messages, still no reply.
Others I have called have not returned my calls either. Some don't want to deal with the homeowner, because they want big $$ jobs.
You just can't GET good help nowadays.
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stake it to within an inch of its life .... proper staking.. not tent staking ... and invest in a new one.. and plant it properly .. ask if you dont know how ... and watch the new one prosper.. as the old one declines ... or end up with two ... there is no reason the new one has to be of significant size ... meaning financial investment ... though bboy is correct.. in that the only way to find out what is going on underground.. is to dig it up ... thats a real iffy thing to do.. on an already stressed plant ... though the water guy may have impacted this tree ... the root of the issue ..... most likely ... was in the planting all those years back .... [there is a pun in there somewhere] ken ps: now lets get to the nub bboy ... i never heard of a turnip .. lol .. but if you were to be the one digging.. and you found your vast conglomeration of roots.. as you suspect.. would you mess with it.. or would you be done with it .... i think on some level ... i would continue digging.. and be done with it .. thereafter having the hole already for something else ... some things just might not be worth the effort ... [emotional attachment aside] ...... of course.. on 5 acres.. if this were 400 feet from the house.. i might play with it and see if i can rescue it ... but if it were by the front door.. it might be time to divest ...
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one should always presume.. they get healthy plants from dealers ... thats kinda the whole point of plant inspectors etc ... you planted it less than 2 weeks ago .. the ONLY thing it could be is.. transplant shock .. could be sunburn associated with the shock .. you and your neighbor have been busy if he cut the tree down in the last two weeks ... whats your base soil ... does it really drain all that rain??.. did you amend the hole with a lot of peat product??? whats the kite string for .. the neighbor on the other side??? .. lol.. that is a shipping stake.. not a proper tree stake ... pic of the whole if you want help with that ... i wouldnt be overly concerned about some leaf coloration.. i would simply make sure it is PROPERLY watered for this and next year ... i dont know if i would move it.. how many hours of sun does it get.. and at what hours of the day?? ken
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If the cambium layer - just under the bark, seen when you lightly scratch the bark on a small stem - is still green, then I would continue to water whenever the top few inches of soil dry out. Just be sure to water ONLY when the top of the root ball is dry (too much water can be as detrimental as too little), and then water slowly and deeply, the equivalent of an inch of rain per week, so adjust according to the rainfall. If you haven't mulched around it, I would do so - as widely as possible, no deeper than 4" and no mulch in the 2-3" next to the trunk. Otherwise, trees have been known to sit for most of the summer before they leaf out - I would give it a while longer.
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sweet_melissa
15 years ago
Hi bluebars,

It has been awhile, so I hope you are still visiting this forum. I had another arborist(pruning specialist) out regarding all of our trees. This arborist said that the reason our kousas were splaying was due to excessive new growth in relation to old wood. In other words, the older wood was not able to keep up with all of the new growth. It just wasnt strong enough to handle it. The solution was to cable the trees and have some light pruning done to lighten the new growth. The cabling should only be on the trees for a couple of seasons until the tree is a bit stronger. I hope this helps. Our trees were serviced today and they look so much better. I am so glad I had this arboritst come and take a look. His name is Bill Brittan and his company name is Arbortecture. He is in Myersville, Maryland. I am not sure if he services your area, but it is worth a try. I am in Frederick. I was very happy with his service. Good Luck!

Melissa

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