Question
dog wood buds
These last few weeks in August seemed to have triggered flower buds all over our dogwood. The tree needs desparately to be pruned and fertilized. I've enlcosed a picture and need advice. do I prune now and how much? The tree (on a slope) has spread wide because of shading and not tall and the branches are low to the ground - all this is in the front of the house; I will gladly send another picture to show if you are kind enough to contact me.
AnswerI would wait until after the leaves have fallen to prune the tree. You can cut the limb back to a fork or the main trunk. If you just cut the ends of the branch it will tend to sprout there and look strange. Use a sharp cutting tool. You will be cutting some of the flowers off that will bloom next spring so expect a little less flower next spring but the tree will recover fast. Do not cut any of the terminal limbs (the ones on the top) this will stunt the tree more. Fertilize next spring with 10-10-10 fertilizer at the rate of 1 lb of fertilizer per inch of trunk diameter scattered around the tree and watered in good. Do not use a fertilize for lawns called Weed and Feed this contains a herbicide that will kill trees.
