Moving a dogwood.

[Anonymous]

We have a nice but small and young dogwood that it has just occurred to us is not in the best spot (too much competition and not enough space). It currently gets early morning sun and then shade throughout the rest of the day. The spot that we want to move it to has a reversed sun exposure with shade in the am and sun later on in the day.

Anyone have ideas on whether the tree would do well with such a “flip.” The plan would be to move it in the fall but am wondering about the future.

Thoughts appreciated.

[Anonymous]

I have dogwoods in full sun and different types of part shade and they all do well. You can move your plant to the new location. Make sure you water well until it gets established.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have dogwoods in full sun and different types of part shade and they all do well. You can move your plant to the new location. Make sure you water well until it gets established.

Do you have views on timing? Everything I have seen is wait until the fall.

[Anonymous]

You move it during dormancy, either late fall or early spring before bud development. So not now! Dig wide and shallow and be very careful of the delicate roots. Water more than you think it needs for that first year of transplantation. The best planting location would be full morning sun, then shade during the hot summer afternoons.

[Anonymous]

Moving is fine, but absolutely not now. It won’t have time to get fully rooted before the heat.

[Anonymous]

I would contact an arborist and ask them this question. They will come do a free consultation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would contact an arborist and ask them this question. They will come do a free consultation.

I have always read that dogwoods are difficult to transplant due to a very long taproot, so checking with an arborist/tree service sounds wise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would contact an arborist and ask them this question. They will come do a free consultation.

I have always read that dogwoods are difficult to transplant due to a very long taproot, so checking with an arborist/tree service sounds wise.

It would be cheaper to get a new tree than call an arborist, if the tree is just a couple years old. So worth just transplanting it in the fall and then replacing it if it dies.

[Anonymous]

Dogwoods are understory trees in the forest so they can also tolerate a reasonable amount of shade.

[Anonymous]

Dogwoods are weed trees... they're not worth transplanting, just get another if you want one. I personally wouldn't given their disease problems. I see them dying all the time.

Also, they will take full sun for a while but they don't love it long term. At least the sun helps somewhat with disease as long as you keep them watered up well.

[Anonymous]

Unless you can easily do the work yourself, it's far cheaper to chop down the old tree and plant a fresh tree in the new location. I love dogwoods but they are not so special that they're worth the trouble of relocating.