Dogwoods can look dead when they are not. A flowering dogwood that dropped its leaves early in a dry August, or one that is slow to leaf out after a hard winter, may be perfectly alive. The opposite also happens: a tree that leafs out normally can be dying from the trunk down. A few simple checks tell you which, and whether part of the tree can be saved.
The short answer: scratch a twig with your thumbnail. Green, moist tissue under the bark means that part is alive, and brown, dry tissue means it is dead. Then bend the twig: live twigs flex, dead ones snap. Check the buds too. Plump flower buds (round, button-shaped) and pointed leaf buds mean life. Work down from the tips toward the trunk to find where dead wood ends. Look at the trunk for holes, sawdust-like frass or sunken cankers. A dogwood with a dead or girdled trunk cannot recover.
The five checks
| Check | Alive | Dead |
|---|---|---|
| Scratch test | Green, moist layer under the bark | Brown, dry, no green |
| Bend test | Twig flexes | Twig snaps cleanly |
| Buds | Plump, firm buds | Shriveled, hollow or no buds |
| Trunk | Firm bark, no holes | Loose bark, holes, cankers or frass |
| Timing | Leafs out late but does leaf out | No leaves weeks after nearby dogwoods |
1. Scratch test
Use a thumbnail or pocketknife to scrape a small patch of bark on a twig. Just below the outer bark is a thin layer of living tissue. If it is green and moist, that part of the tree is alive. If it is brown and dry, it is dead. Start near the tips and move down toward the main branches and trunk, so you can see how far back the dead wood goes.
2. Bend test
Live twigs bend before they break. Dead twigs are brittle and snap with a clean, dry break. This works well in winter, when there are no leaves to judge by.
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3. Bud check
Flowering dogwoods set their flower buds in late summer, so a healthy tree carries round, button-like flower buds and slender, pointed leaf buds through winter. Plump buds are a good sign. Cut one in half: green inside means alive, brown means it is dead.
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4. Look at the trunk
Most dogwoods that die are killed by damage to the trunk or main branches.
Dogwood borer. Clemson Cooperative Extension describes the dogwood borer as the larva of a clearwing moth that feeds beneath the bark. It can get in only through a wound or opening, and it eats the inner bark and cambium. If the cambium is destroyed, branches or the whole tree die. Signs include leaves that turn red and drop early, bark that sloughs off around holes, brown sawdust-like frass below the holes in late summer, and rough, knotty areas on the trunk. Clemson notes that infested young trees can be killed in one to two seasons. Clemson’s dogwood fact sheet adds that the borer especially attacks newly planted trees, trees under drought stress and trunks damaged by lawn mowers.
Dogwood anthracnose. The University of Maryland Extension describes this fungal disease as causing dieback and even death of infected trees. Dark cankers girdle stems. Young green stems and water sprouts are especially susceptible. Clemson notes it is most severe in cool, wet conditions and at higher elevations.
5. Give it time in spring
A dogwood stressed by drought, a late frost or transplanting may leaf out weeks late. Before you decide it is dead, wait until two or three weeks after other dogwoods nearby have leafed out, and repeat the scratch test.
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Why dogwoods decline
Clemson describes flowering dogwood as shallow-rooted. It prefers moist, well-drained, acidic soil high in organic matter, and partial shade, especially in the afternoon. It does not tolerate extremely wet or dry soil. Many declining dogwoods are planted in hot, open lawns and dry out every summer. Clemson recommends watering deeply, 1 to 2 inches a week, during dry periods, especially for trees in sun. It also recommends mulching a large area around the tree to hold moisture and keep mowers away.
What to do next
- Only twigs or a few branches dead: prune back to live wood, cutting just above a healthy bud or branch. See how and when to prune a dogwood.
- Most of the crown alive, trunk sound: fix the conditions. Water in dry spells, mulch, protect the trunk from mowers and do not fertilize a drought-stressed tree. Our guide to reviving a dogwood covers this in detail.
- Borer holes or cankers on the trunk: have a certified arborist look at it. Remove and dispose of cankered wood.
- Trunk dead or girdled, or no live tissue anywhere: the tree will not recover. Remove it and replant with a disease-resistant dogwood, such as a kousa or a resistant hybrid, in a better site.
For the full list of causes, see why dogwood trees die.
Sources
- Dogwood (HGIC 1009), Clemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
- Dogwood Diseases and Insect Pests, Clemson Cooperative Extension HGIC
- Dogwood Anthracnose, University of Maryland Extension
- Flowering Dogwood, The Morton Arboretum
- Watering Trees and Shrubs, The Morton Arboretum
Top photo: Gmihail at Serbian Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 rs, via Wikimedia Commons