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Georgia Gardener

Kousa Dogwood still not leafing out

18 years ago

I will post this in the tree forum as well. I have a 3 year old Kousa dogwood that still is not leafing out. I know it flowers later than the other dogwoods and I remember being impatient for it to do so each year, but it seems that it should be doing so by now. When I check the branches they seem to be alive and the ends of each branch has what appears to be buds on them. My neighbors have also asked if it is dead? Is it still too early for the Kousa to bloom or leaf out? TIA

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Comments (5)

southwebb
18 years ago
I would guess that it is dead. All the other Kousa dogwoods are blooming or finishing blooming. If yours has not even leafed out, changes are not good.
Kathy Bochonko
18 years ago
Where do you live? If you are pretty far north that could make the difference. Has the tree bloomed and performed well the other years?
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I'm hopeful it will not leaf scorch this summer but it is still early to tell and the tress is certainly still stressed. Glad to hear that they DO take a while to establish as this one certainly also did have a stressful first year. Large root cut off that was girdling, before that it was pulled out of the ground after two weeks of planting because discovered the girdling as the tree was planted too deeply in it's own root ball and I had to lift it up to properly expose the root flare. I also gave it a very harsh trimming of lots of happy low branches and foliage. The watering tree bag has helped this year but I also see in this heavy heat now the bag can do damage as it keeps the trunk too wet at the base and makes too much insect activity. I also have seen the tree borer waspy little creature around the tree. I hope that the Kousa does not have trouble with that down the road after this stress. The wild dogwood this Kousa replaced with sickly and infested with the borers so the insect is kind of familiar with my yard and still hangs around. I know I have to be patient with the tree and not over think about it.
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No, it's all the way around (though, I suppose that would still mean lawn side, as it is in the middle of the yard). I do have a lawn service that fertilizes every two months year round, but he does not use spray. He just uses the standard pellet fertilizer, just like you would buy at Home Depot. Other than that, I have not put any sort of food or fertilizer on the tree (that I can recall). Here is a picture of the tree from further back.
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I would water the ground around the tree where the roots are with a sprinkler, rather than watering the trunk with a hose ......and maybe not so much water. It's an established tree and should get by on it's own for the most part. I think you are flooding it too much, causing the weak growth. As long as the lawn is green it should be fine. We have dry summers here near Seattle and I only water Cornus kousas in pots. The rest are doing fine with no extra water, planted out in the landscape. mike
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Dogwoods are understory trees and appreciate a bit of shade. And they are not the slightest bit drought tolerant. So avoid full, all day sun and provide plenty of water, And what you may be seeing around town could be eastern dogoods, Cornus florida, which can be prone to a number of leaf issues that could produce a dry, shriveled, sunburned look.
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Iris GW
18 years ago
Did you scrape the bark with the tip of a knife to see if it is still green underneath?
Eddie_GA
18 years ago
It may still be green at the cambium layer but be in such serious decline that it will never recover because it is way past time for it to leaf out. Kousa dogwoods are more immune to anthracnose than local cornus florida so it may be some other blight or root rot. There is an abundance of things it might be like overfertilization to root rot. It may remain a mystery. Since they are such garden-worthy plants I would get another one but not plant it in the exact same location.
gmom74
18 years ago
Our Kousa dogwoods have finished blooming but I will share an experience with you about some native dogwoods I planted one year. After two years none of them had leafed out, but I could tell the trees were not dead. So I moved each one to different locations around the yard. They leafed out immediately and have grown and done well since. If your tree is not too large to move and you can tell that the limbs are not dead, you might try moving it to a different location. It just might work.

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