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Dead Dogwood Tree?

14 years ago

I transplanted a dogwood tree in the summer from one location to another. It was living during the summer and fall months. It is 3-4ft tall. Now I see it has no buds or even little sprouts. My other dogwood in another part of the yard which is the same size does have sprouts right now. My other mature dogwoods have buds. Is the only way to tell if my dogwood is living to scrap the bark with a knife to see if the bark is alive?

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Comments (7)

bushhog936
14 years ago
Sounds dead because it should have some buds on by now. Maybe it just had some top dieback, are the branches brittle and snap? If you honestly think it may be living it's almost spring you can just wait and see if it sprouts.
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
14 years ago
trees are moved in very early summer or late fall ...

when in summer did you move yours???

was it fully leafed out???

why did you move it???? .. was it already struggling???

is it a foo foo named variety, or a plain old, plain old ...

if foo foo.. and it dies below the graft.. all you are left with is rootstock, and you might not want what is left ...

if its plain old native dogwood .... if all else fails.. it might sprout from the roots ...

it goes without saying.. you stressed the bee-gee-bees out of this tree ... and now you are extremely anxious about it ... i have transplanted trees.. that budded out up to a month or two late ....

so, besides giving us some more info ... i suspect there isnt much to do but wait until early summer, to see what happens ...

good luck

ken
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Well....let's assume we know this to be true.... DEAD IS DEAD.....AND IS OF NO FURTHER USE! So removal is up to you....if the main trunk is serving a purpose then it might be considered as permanent....it stays. From this then, I assume the branches are 'suckers'...growing from a foreign source. Suckers are not offshoots---they are inadequate to supply bloom and are just nothing to put up with. So get out the heavy pruners and cut them out. If this destroys the shrub, then so be it. Replace it with another. About the blooming.....question: is the tree close to the lawn and do you fertilize it with a high nitrogen lawn fertilizer. It could be that you have applied too much nitrogen around the tree and it likes it....it grows leaves...and keeps growing them....but denies bloom. Its blooming a little now.....so feed it with a zero nitrogen and a higher phosphurus and potash fertilizer. When you fertilize the lawn do that area by hand so that the tree doesn't get any. Prune branches back that are dead or damaged. Protect from winter wind and give it a healthy mulch around its base.....but keep the mulch about six inches away from the base. This might help it next spring. If I'm wrong about what you have now as being suckers, then this plant might resume its healthy growth.
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bushhog936
14 years ago
Hello Ken, could you explain 'foo foo' please? Thanks.
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Dan _Staley (5b Sunset 2B AHS 7)
14 years ago
Hard to tell with the info given, but sounds like the move killed it. If it doesn't leaf out, pull it out.

Dan
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louturks
Original Author
14 years ago
I moved it in the Summer. I can't be sure of the exact month. It had it's leaves until winter. I noticed today it had about 6" of growth that was somewhat green growing from the middle. I just took a knife and scraped very little of that branch and it did look like live growth. So keeping my fingers crossed it makes it through the winter.
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bushhog936
14 years ago
Darn I didn't notice the 'moved in summer' bit. Theres a chance that it WILL come back this spring only to wilt and die during the summer. As stated before, move trees only in the dormant season -and if it freezes heavily in your area- when the ground is not frozen
0
iforgotitsonevermind
14 years ago
If you bend the ends of the branches do they:
(A) Flex
(B) Snap
0

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