Is My Dogwood Doomed?

 One of my small, recently planted (about a year ago) 5-foot tall
dogwood trees has sunscald on the southwest side of its trunk.  The
patch [of sunscald] is about 2" long and 1/2" wide.  Is there any
hope, or treatment, for this tree?

Patrick

 Good question.

First of all the sun in most likely secondary.  Second, Cornus florida
dogwoods are understory trees and prefer understory sunlight.  Second
regardless of the "wound"  you should treat the system.  can you take a
picture of the tree and the wound.  here are some of the recommended
treatments for your tree system.  A picture of the wound would be great!

1st requirement is partial shade.  Which type dogwood is it?

2nd fertilizing / mulching.

The first step in proper fert. is "feeding"  and stimulating the soil
micros, that in return, alter the chemical elements such as iron, nitrogen,
boron and so on so they are in a form that the tree can absorb.  Also the
mycorrhizae greatly facilitate the absorption of elements dissolved in
water.  The fungi portion of the composite organ rely on composted wood as
its substrate.  In fact in a forest, nurse logs are the substrate for the
base of the food web, the mycorrhizal fungi.  Anyway, I have specific
instructions for mulching here:
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/mulchinstruction/mulch.html

After mulching organic fertilizer, I recommend organic, because some
products such as "Plant Tone"  has about 56 or 16 essential elements within.
I do not find pleasure pushing products.  However, I am recommending to
fertilize with as many of the essential elements you can get.  I would also
cut the recommended dosage on product in half.  The element that is lacking
will be the element factor.
(http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/L/law_minimum.html )
If you read the label there are listed the elements the product contain.
There are 17 essential elements known of:
C; H; N; O; P; K; S; Mg; Ni; Fe; Ca; Zn; Mo; Mn; B; Cl; Cu

It used to be 16 essential elements but with techno equipment at Penn State
they recognize Ni as an essential element.

Also the organic fertilizer helps feed the micros.
Fertilize article: http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

and

http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Its also winter time and a good article would be:
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/WINTER.html

maybe the tree was planted too deep.  That can create such symptoms.

If you are going to water the tree, just water it enough to moisten the
absorbing roots which are in the upper 4" of soil most of the time.
Do not water at the trunk but away from the trunk.

If you decide to prune your tree I would recommend this first.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/T/tree_pruning.html

The big thing for your dogwood is soil management and shade.

Please get me some pictures of wound, where the trunk meets the soil, and
some of the branches.  Then I can guide you better.

--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.

 

Thanks for the reply, and all the info!

No sure of the exact type.  The tree came from a respected local
nursery.  I've purchased several from them and have had success.  Note
the tree was planted at the proper depth.


I understand this and planted this newest dogwood with a group of
other small, newly planted young trees.  But the other trees haven't
grown quickly enough to offer shade to the young dogwood.  I also made
a mistake in not turning the tree's most prominent branches towards
the sunniest side.  However, I did place a 3-4 inch layer of pine
needles and woods chips at the base of the tree, extending out about
3-4 feet.  (No mulch is within 4-5 inches from the base of the tree.)
Plus I added large amounts of used coffee grounds to the soil.

I'm unable to post pictures.  But the wound goes right down to the
bare trunk.  The bark just peeled away.

To prevent further damage (I know now should have done this to begin
with) I painted the S-SW side of the trunk with white interior latex
paint.

With this info, what's your prognosis?  Chop it down and start all
over, or wait and see if it recovers?  And is recovery even
possible?

Patrick


here:http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/mulchinstruction/mulch.html

be:http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/WINTER.html

first.http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/T/tree_pruning.html

 In article
NoOption5L@aol.com wrote:


Actually you had some of the most unfortunate advice imaginable for
dogwoods, from someone who appears to be a notorious fraud pretending to
expertise about trees he never bothered to obtain.

Sadly due to the ease by which North American dogwoods fall prey to
anthracnose, it is generally recommended never to mulch beneath these
trees but to keep the area very, very clean of debris. So the details
about mulching your dogwood is just terrible advice.

Nor should be you ammending soil near a tree after it has become rooted.
Dogwoods like Japanese maples have shallow roots. For the same reason a
young dogwood will need plenty of water during droughty periods of summer;
regular watering in summer also helps the bark become less susceptible to
scald in winter.

Sunnier locations than dogwoods would ordinarily self-select are today
recommended because helpful in keeping anthracnose at bay, as this
ferocious and today widespread disease gets started in moist humusy areas
and gets those dogwoods first, usually after insects that like leaf-litter
bring the disease into a mulched area.

The recommendation for a less shaded area does mean that it makes very
young dogwoods more susceptible to sunscald (though bigger ones with
plenty of foliage won't be harmed by the sunnier locations; even in
self-selected spots the mature dogwoods reach bright sun & only youngsters
prefer shade).

It helps to plant some medium-sized shrub nearby that will shade the trunk
of a young dogwood or any thin-barked sapling like a baby Japanese maple,
then when it's big enough and branchy enough to be tougher and to
partially shade itself, the smaller shrub will be below the tree's
foliage, or if in the way the shrub can just be sacrificed. A sun-hardy
evergreen rhody like "Nova Zembla" is sometimes a good permanent companion
for a dogwood, though other rhodies would have some of the same issues as
the dogwood about too much sun.

Dogwoods are most prone to sun scald when temperatures are low, perhaps
because there's less surrounding foliage for shading the thin bark,
perhaps because the tree is semi-dormant and not taking in much moisture.
Scald to leaves is no big burden but to bark can make a dogwood more
susceptible to disease. Really the only aid is not letting it get too dry
in summer, and planting something nearby that can shade the trunk enough
of the day that it doesn't end up cooked.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
visit my temperate gardening website:
http://www.paghat.com.html
visit my film reviews webiste:
http://www.weirdwildrealm.com

 
A tourniquet around the neck will stop a nose bleed.  Starving the soil is
extreme!

This guy calims rather than mulching over turf grass that the turf grass is
better for the tree than mulching correctly?
I don't think so:
When I say mulching I mean this:
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/mulchinstruction/mulch.html
Where do you suppose the tree is going to get let's say the element calcium
from?  Calcium cames from decaying wood chips.
See troubles in the rhizosphere.
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/RHIZO.html

and A Touch of Chemistry
http://www.treedictionary.com/DICT2003/shigo/CHEM.html

Just for starters.

--
Sincerely,
John A. Keslick, Jr.
Consulting Arborist
http://home.ccil.org/~treeman
and  www.treedictionary.com
Beware of so-called tree experts who do not understand tree biology.
Storms, fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions keep reminding us
that we are not the boss.