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pruning young kousa dogwood

16 years ago

It's literally about a year since I've been back here on Garden Web, let alone posting--it's been a tough year with several (human) losses, but gardening is such a source for solace! Anyway, I think I last posted and received a reply about my little kousa dogwood with a different question. The tree is now 4 years old, has beautiful gold-centered variegation. This year it didn't bloom, last year it did. My question is about pruning. The tree is lovely but quite leggy, could use some pruning. I can't remember when it's "supposed" to bloom, but I know kousas bloom later than "regular" dogwoods, can see other kousas in the neighborhood here in MA still in bloom. So I don't think I'm too late to prune, but could use some advice about how to do it. It occurs to me it would be good for me to include a picture. I've never done that, do have a digital camera, so will try to follow up with a picture. Any responses would be much appreciated!

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Comments (4)

laceyvail 6A, WV
16 years ago
Except for the removal of dead branches, pruning should be done in late winter/early spring.
botann
16 years ago
Is the legginess caused by shade or youthful exuberance?
Kousas ususally don't need much in the way of pruning. They are suseptible to picking up more snow or ice than they can carry. Prune with that in mind. I prune anytime I have the right tool in hand.
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Actually, I have done this exact thing, starting with a much smaller 1 year old Kousa Dogwood seedling. Although its tendency was to grow in a multi-trunked habit, I trained it to grow with a single trunk. It was a painstaking process, pruning carefully over 5 or 6 years, and removing no more than 10% of the total wood on the small tree each year. So for example, I didn't remove an entire lower branch at one time, but headed it back by about 1/3 each year over 3 years. Once a tree gets considerably larger and its roots get established, you can remove more wood. I even transplanted it to a different spot around year 4. It is a very pretty and healthy specimen. The tree had its first blooms during year 7!
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The recommended time is while they are dormant - late winter or early spring. Dogwoods are among those trees that can leak significant amounts of watery sap if pruned too late in the season. And the rule of thumb is to prune these trees with a very light hand, just removing the three D's, correcting any conflicting branching (unsual because of the paired branching structure) and limbing up if necessary. And the recommendation is to take any cuts back to the branch collar - dogwoods respond to lateral or heading cuts by producing copious shoots at the cut and you run the risk of creating this wild, twiggy, Medusa-looking mess if you prune too heavily. Virtually any source will instruct you that Cornus trees require and should receive minimal pruning.
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Comments (4)
Prune out the right side trunk, and sooner rather than later. The trunk to the right in the picture will be weak and prone to breaking later in the tree's life. Also, it will make the main trunk canopy lopsided so when the weaker one breaks, the tree will not be nicely shaped. There also appears to be some dead limbs on the main trunk. These should be pruned, too. I'll add a link to a good site with information on pruning that shows you how and where to make the cuts. Pay particular attention to the illustration of the branch bark ridge and branch collar and how to make the three part pruning cut. And don't worry about timing for this kind of pruning. Most deciduous trees are pruned in the winter or for those that bloom in the spring, just after blooming. Pruning for the health of the tree, removing dead or diseased wood, and taking out broken branches are best done as soon as you are aware of the problem. Good luck with this. Kousas are beautiful trees and nearly pest free. I hope this one goes on to become a beautiful asset to your landscape. Here is a link that might be useful: VA Tech pruning publication
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Young Kousa Dogwood has never bloomed
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Comments (6)
Almost certainly those are seed grown trees, and assuming that is in fact the case, you may be waiting a few more years. Seed grown trees have to mature for a number of years (only they know how many) before they will flower. A grafted tree, takes a branch of another tree that becomes attached to the rootstock (another probable seed grown tree). This grafted portion "knows" that it is already some years old genetically, and therefore will begin flowering earlier. You likely seed grown tree will flower, but nobody can say how long that will be. BTW, flower buds are set in late summer the year before flowering, so you can examine your tree in the fall and determine if it will likely flower the following spring. The flower buds look kinda like an teardrop shaped onion in shape.You can find pictures on the net. Arktrees
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stonejm
Original Author
16 years ago
It is in a good deal of shade, as is our whole, tiny, property. The tree does get lots of morning sun, though. According to the first reply, I should wait till next March. I do wonder if its lack of bloom this year (never a heavy bloomer, again, I think because of the amount of shade) is due to the weather roller coaster of last winter. I was told that super phosphate applied even in mid-summer could help it bloom the following year. That seemed to work last year but not this year. Any thoughts on the blooming issue?
summerstar
11 years ago
This is a very old post. I'm wondering if you're still living at this same location? I have two dogwoods. One is a Cornus Kousa like yours. I've done some research about pruning Kousa dogwoods and the advice I read said NOT to prune in the early spring or summer because the tree will be vulnerable to dogwood borer. Apparently they are attracted to the exposed inner wood of the tree and will lay eggs in it. It's the only real pest the Kousa has, so do wait. Some people get away with it and therefore think it's okay to prune whenever their tool is in their hand, but I don't like to tempt fate.

The Kousa I have is a clump variety with three equal-sized trunks coming from the ground. Last year I noticed the leaves on one of the trunks looked pale. I was dismayed and worried when I examined the trunk these pale leaves grew from and saw that a lot of the bark had come off. This year to my surprise, all the leaves on that branch look fine. Of course the bark is still missing in lots of areas, but the leaves growing from this trunk look fine. I have no idea what happened. I'm just glad that it seems okay.

To make a long story short, don't prune your dogwood till late winter, very early spring. It's not worth the risk. If you're still at the same address when you wrote back your dogwood, please write back and let us know how the Kousa you wrote about is doing.

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