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diegoatown

Kousa Dogwood in full all day hot sun

KeithJames
9 years ago

When I decided to plant my now three year old Kousa I was told that it would be fine in the full all day hot sun. My Kousa ended up having root girdling and I got my money back but had decided to stick with the tree after having to operate on the root that was restricting the trunk. Loosing a major root was traumatic and might be the reason it got leaf scorch by Aug. 1 two summers in a row. This year it's off to a good start, leafing out nicely like the two previous years, but I'm watering it with a tree bag and will make double sure it doesn't dry out this summer and will hope for it's first year without the leaf scorch half way through summer. It also has hardly bloomed this year after two years of excellent blooms. That all said. Does anyone have feed back on how their Kousa does in full all day sun?

Comments (10)

  • sam_md
    9 years ago

    Hi Diego,
    Here is a pic of a kousa dogwood taken in eastern Pa. This is one of a pair and as you can see it is in full exposure.
    Also, kousas will exhaust themselves with bloom some years and follow with a year with few blooms.
    {{gwi:362636}}

  • arktrees
    9 years ago

    We have a kousa dogwood planted in full sun for several years now. It does not burn, and did not burn in the worst two summers in decades 2011 & 2012), Note though I do water when the weather is very dry. It has been my experience that dogwoods are very SLOW to establish, and if you had to cut a girdling root, then that would slow it down even more. IMHO your best bet is careful management of soil moisture is what is required, and that may be a while longer.

    Don't worry about flowering. Flowering and subsequent seed set will pull resources from root development. Therefore, I would remove any set fruit after flowering to help speed root development.

    JMHO
    Arktrees

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Thanks Arktrees for the information. I hope I'm not repeating myself here as I posted a response to your post this morning and now I don't see it.... Well, your information and picture was very helpful. I have to say, even though I was pretty diligent about watering it the last two summers, this year already it seems to be happier now that I am slow watering it with the tree watering bag After I settle a little gardening work I'm going to post a picture of my Kousa on this thread.
    Thanks again,
    James

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Close up of stressed leaves.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Picture of tree in the yard.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Another in the yard setting.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    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.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Here's the girdling situation it went through. I really had to play doctor to fix it.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    And here's the post op look. Now, two years later, the dent in the trunk has much more smoothed out with growth and it looks much much better.

  • KeithJames
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    This is last summer, it's first full year after one winter and looking good before the leaf scorch which was total by the end of July. You can see it is double trunk and twisted; pretty, but not necessarily the best thing for the plant. Another reason to hope that the tree settles in nicely.

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