Have i killed my dogwood?

Discussion in 'Cornus (dogwoods)' started by Tammy Coffee, Jul 9, 2018.

  1. Tammy Coffee

    Tammy Coffee New Member

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    There was a bed of irises planted at the base of this tree, however because of poison ivy and a tree stump trying to grow you could not see the flowers. I bought some brush and vine killer and was extremely careful to not get it onto the dogwood trunk or roots that skim the top of the soil in places. I brushed it onto the ivy and the stump branches with a foam brush. It stopped the stump from growing but i have noticed that half of my gorgeous dogwood looks like it is dying. Could the brush and vine killer have done this or is it simply that my tree is dying? I have attached pictures of the brush and vine killer i used, the stump i painted it on at the base of the tree and a picture of my dogwood. The left side is the affected side of the tree. Thank you for any help.
     

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  2. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Do you have a photo of the stump and its proximity to the tree?

    Sorry to say it, but there certainly does seem to be some cause and effect here. Consider that the pesticide you used is likely effective because it gets transported to the roots to ultimately kill the vines / stump, it is not too difficult to imagine those plant roots being connected to the roots of the dogwood via fungus strands that are shared between the plants (see here for an explanation: Plants talk to each other using an internet of fungus )--and the pesticide then being transported into the dogwood.
     
  3. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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    Apologies, I tried merging your follow-up posts and somehow I must have pressed delete instead. Anyway, you wrote that the stump is in the photos (right beside the tree), and that you had applied the pesticide in April / May.

    From what I can see in the photo, it looks like those are suckers (perhaps from a graft), so you would have essentially been applying the pesticide directly onto the dogwood.
     
  4. Tammy Coffee

    Tammy Coffee New Member

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    Oh no! I have several other smaller dogwoods with the same thing, what i thought to be another tree trying to grow up just beside the dogwood trunk. How do i safely remove them (new growths at bases of my dogwoods) without killing my dogwoods?
     
  5. Daniel Mosquin

    Daniel Mosquin Paragon of Plants UBC Botanical Garden Forums Administrator Forums Moderator 10 Years

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  6. Tammy Coffee

    Tammy Coffee New Member

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    Thank you so much for all of your help. Im so glad i didnt do all of the suckers on all of the trees. Youve saved me from ruining all of them.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 12, 2018

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