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#1
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Pruning Dogwood
Could someone please advise me of the best method for pruning dogwood. I
have followed the instructions in a gardening book and for the past 2 years have pruned it back, in March, to about 4 inches from the ground. The problem I have is that the new growth is very lax and needs to be tied up to keep it reasonably tidy. I am sure that I have seen nice, bright red dogwood with erect, stiff stems. How can I achieve this? Any advice would be appreciated. Les |
#2
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les wrote:
Could someone please advise me of the best method for pruning dogwood. I have followed the instructions in a gardening book and for the past 2 years have pruned it back, in March, to about 4 inches from the ground. The problem I have is that the new growth is very lax and needs to be tied up to keep it reasonably tidy. I am sure that I have seen nice, bright red dogwood with erect, stiff stems. How can I achieve this? Any advice would be appreciated. Interesting problem, which I've never met before. I wonder if for some reason the plants aren't getting enough to eat and drink, and so can't produce the usual strong shoots. Is your soil particularly poor or well-drained? Or are they getting a lot of shade? (I don't know what shade would do to them: I'm just casting about.) If the soil _is_ poor or dry, then the best answer is a good mulch every year, such as you'd give a philadelphus after pruning. A good helping of bonemeal at planting time would have been good, but you can prick it into the surface, as the rather shallow roots are usually very robust. -- Mike. |
#3
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les wrote:
Could someone please advise me of the best method for pruning dogwood. I have followed the instructions in a gardening book and for the past 2 years have pruned it back, in March, to about 4 inches from the ground. The problem I have is that the new growth is very lax and needs to be tied up to keep it reasonably tidy. I am sure that I have seen nice, bright red dogwood with erect, stiff stems. How can I achieve this? I favour pruning about one third to half of all stems out each year leaving the most colourful and avoiding crossing branches. On poor soils it is too brutal to take them down to ground level every year and you get weedy fragile watery stems that break in a strong wind. Just cut out the parts that have lost their stem colour. Regards, Martin Brown |
#4
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"Martin Brown" wrote in message ... I favour pruning about one third to half of all stems out each year leaving the most colourful and avoiding crossing branches. On poor soils it is too brutal to take them down to ground level every year and you get weedy fragile watery stems that break in a strong wind. Just cut out the parts that have lost their stem colour. Regards, Martin Brown Good post. One of my rules of thumb when working with this kind of dogwood, or anything else which needs regular heavy cutting in order to achieve a certain result, is to cut "one in three" stems out. This is one of several other rules of thirds which keep popping up with us who prune for a living. As with most rules, it can be bent quite a bit. But in this case, as you say, only remove the parts which have lost the desired stem colour. Cutting all of them at one go is quite harsh. |
#5
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"Scott L. Hadley" wrote in message ... "Martin Brown" wrote in message ... I favour pruning about one third to half of all stems out each year leaving the most colourful and avoiding crossing branches. On poor soils it is too brutal to take them down to ground level every year and you get weedy fragile watery stems that break in a strong wind. Just cut out the parts that have lost their stem colour. Regards, Martin Brown Good post. One of my rules of thumb when working with this kind of dogwood, or anything else which needs regular heavy cutting in order to achieve a certain result, is to cut "one in three" stems out. This is one of several other rules of thirds which keep popping up with us who prune for a living. As with most rules, it can be bent quite a bit. But in this case, as you say, only remove the parts which have lost the desired stem colour. Cutting all of them at one go is quite harsh. Many thanks for this and other replies to my query. They are most helpful. Les |
#6
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Can I ask when is the best time to prune them?
Ed |
#7
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"gasdoctor" wrote in message ... Can I ask when is the best time to prune them? Ed gasdoctor My apology for leaving this rather important bit out. Since this is a form of renewal pruning, it's also a dormant season pruning; whatever time that may be in your area. It does seem to differ some, and that's where I hate to try to speak for any place in the UK. Christmas thru early April for me, but most commonly in March. I like my woody plants to be really asleep during major surgery such as this--- |
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