Hello everyone. I wanted to ask for opinions on the steps I should take to save a dogwood tree (Cherokee Chief). I live in Georgia and I planted a the dogwood this past winter. Believe it was November. The tree, planted in direct sunlight, never really showed signs of doing well. In fact, around the beginning of the summer the tree began to show sign of doing quite poorly. The leaves began to dry up. I took photos of the tree and it's leaves to the nursery where the tree came from. I was told then that the tree was in shock and was badly stressed from the summer heat. I was told to give it some root stimulant and wait and see. Doing the research, I believe now that the tree was suffering from Anthracnose. Well, now all of the leave are gone. I haven't wanted to give up on the tree because while the leafs are gone and some of the branch stems are brittle, the tree looks suptle. In fact, I've began to see signs of new growth down along the "main trunk" of the tree. Question I had was, what ywould ou recommend I do about the tree at this point? Do I treat it for Anthracnose at this point in the season? How about the pruning recommendations ... should I cut off the top portion of the tree, just above the new growth? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I think it might be too early in the season for any major surgery. These trees really don't do well with a lot of pruning anyway. Best to take a wait & see attitude until specific problems can be analyzed.
No point in keeping parts that are definitely dead. Scrape bark lightly to look for live, green tissue beneath.
