Thank you so much for this video! I had no idea you had to do this-and I can use ALL the cuttings in our large garden! Just in time to do it this year as well😊
You can push the cuttings into the ground as soon as you cut them and they should root, but I put them into pots so I don't have to remember where they are and it's easier to care for them and ensure they don't dry out. If cuttings are grown in pots, they can be transplanted into the ground when you can see them producing new leaf growth and are growing away happily, which would probably be late summer/early autumn. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
Hi Matt, if your cuttings are in pots you can transplant them into your borders after 8-12 weeks (around early summer), when you see your cuttings will have put on new growth and be growing away happily. There's no rush to move them on, you could leave them in their containers for as long as you like. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
Hello! I followed your advice last year and now have several cuttings that look like they are doing well as I am starting to see small leaves. My question now is when and how do I separate out the individual cuttings to plant out in the garden? Thanks!!!
Hi Julie, Thanks for your message and it's great that your cuttings are doing well. I'd not disturb the cuttings until all chance of frost has passed, which typically means in the UK the beginning of May. When you are ready to plant them up, place your hand over the top of the pot with the cuttings sticking out between your fingers, turn the pot upside down and let the cuttings slide out of the pot. Gently tease the roots of the cuttings apart and plant them in the garden (for some reason it always looks better when small shrubs are planted in groups of odd numbers typically 3 or 5 plants) water them in after planting to remove any air gaps in the soil. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
I have a couple fairly young ivory halo dogwoods & would like to have many more around my yard. Can I snip a few of the branches & grow while its young like this or should I give it a year? They are about knee high but fairly wide.
Hi @A M, Thanks for the question. I can understand your worries about taking cuttings from your new young plants. I’m sure they will be fine, but if you are at all concerned you could just take a few small cuttings from each of your dogwoods and take more next year when they are more established. Good luck and I hope this helps. Regards Nick
Hi Matt. If your dogwood is established and growing well, you can prune it like this. If your dogwood is growing in partial sun or poor soil and doesn't put on much growth each year, don't prune it back quite as hard as I have here, give it a trim all over, or prune a third of the oldest stems out each year, and over a three year period you'll have regenerated the whole plant. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
I got one but it's never been coppiced there's just 2 large 2 foot stems, I want to prune them down to encourage new branches but do you need to cut them all the way to the ground like this? If you cut like 6 inches or so from the tip of the main stems would it have the same effect?
They tend to produce shoots from where you prune them back to. I can understand your anxiety if this is the first time you are pruning them. Perhaps you could experiment and take one of the stems back to 6in (15cm) of the ground (coppicing) and the other stem just take off 6 inches (pollarding) and after a year see which shape you prefer.
@UKGardening thank you for the reply my cuttings are forming leaves but have not yet formed roots ,they still look healthy no signs of rotting or anything is this normal?
Does this method also work for propagating flowering dogwood trees? I have a 20 year old pink dogwood tree I'd like to get some cuttings from and plant around my yard.
Hi Cristina, the flowering dogwood that you have is probably Cornus florida, grown for their colourful bracts (modified leaves) rather than the shrubby dogwood (Cornus alba) with it's colourful stems that I'm cutting back hard in the video. The flowering dogwoods don't like being pruned, so just remove dead, diseased or crossing branches in the spring. You can remove the growing tips of some branches to use as softwood cuttings in spring in the same way as I've shown in the video, or take hardwood cuttings after the leaves fall in late-autumn through to late-winter.
Kentucky Frogman I’m sure that they would produce roots in a cup of water although I’ve not done this myself, it’s just so easy to push the stems into the soil. I wouldn’t do this just yet though, enjoy the coloured stems over winter and wait until the spring, as I suspect the cuttings would just sit and sulk otherwise. Regards Nick
I'm trying to keep my dog wood from the summer alive through the winter?how could I do that?- should I keep it outside & let it go into dormancy or should I keep it in a pot and bring it inside?
Most dogwood are fully hardy, so they will survive fine outside, they will loose their leaves in the autumn (mine have lost most of their leaves already), but this will show off their coloured stems even more.
Thank you so much for this video! I had no idea you had to do this-and I can use ALL the cuttings in our large garden! Just in time to do it this year as well😊
I'm glad you found the information useful. Good luck and happy gardening. Regards Nick
When do you plant the cuttings in the ground, the autumn in the first year?
You can push the cuttings into the ground as soon as you cut them and they should root, but I put them into pots so I don't have to remember where they are and it's easier to care for them and ensure they don't dry out.
If cuttings are grown in pots, they can be transplanted into the ground when you can see them producing new leaf growth and are growing away happily, which would probably be late summer/early autumn. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
@@UKGardening That's a perfect response, thanks so much Nick!
Thank you for show how to plant dog wood tree and cutting it back .
These are Dogwood SHRUBS.... not the same thing as a Dogwood tree.
How long before you can plant them in the ground?
Hi Matt, if your cuttings are in pots you can transplant them into your borders after 8-12 weeks (around early summer), when you see your cuttings will have put on new growth and be growing away happily. There's no rush to move them on, you could leave them in their containers for as long as you like. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
@UKGardening thank you
Hello! I followed your advice last year and now have several cuttings that look like they are doing well as I am starting to see small leaves. My question now is when and how do I separate out the individual cuttings to plant out in the garden? Thanks!!!
Hi Julie, Thanks for your message and it's great that your cuttings are doing well. I'd not disturb the cuttings until all chance of frost has passed, which typically means in the UK the beginning of May. When you are ready to plant them up, place your hand over the top of the pot with the cuttings sticking out between your fingers, turn the pot upside down and let the cuttings slide out of the pot. Gently tease the roots of the cuttings apart and plant them in the garden (for some reason it always looks better when small shrubs are planted in groups of odd numbers typically 3 or 5 plants) water them in after planting to remove any air gaps in the soil. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
@@UKGardening Thank you Nick!
If we do this, how to keep them inside the house through winter?
I have a couple fairly young ivory halo dogwoods & would like to have many more around my yard. Can I snip a few of the branches & grow while its young like this or should I give it a year? They are about knee high but fairly wide.
Hi @A M, Thanks for the question. I can understand your worries about taking cuttings from your new young plants. I’m sure they will be fine, but if you are at all concerned you could just take a few small cuttings from each of your dogwoods and take more next year when they are more established. Good luck and I hope this helps. Regards Nick
Can you prune the variegated dogwoods like this aswell?
Hi Matt. If your dogwood is established and growing well, you can prune it like this. If your dogwood is growing in partial sun or poor soil and doesn't put on much growth each year, don't prune it back quite as hard as I have here, give it a trim all over, or prune a third of the oldest stems out each year, and over a three year period you'll have regenerated the whole plant. I hope this helps. Regards Nick
I got one but it's never been coppiced there's just 2 large 2 foot stems, I want to prune them down to encourage new branches but do you need to cut them all the way to the ground like this? If you cut like 6 inches or so from the tip of the main stems would it have the same effect?
They tend to produce shoots from where you prune them back to. I can understand your anxiety if this is the first time you are pruning them. Perhaps you could experiment and take one of the stems back to 6in (15cm) of the ground (coppicing) and the other stem just take off 6 inches (pollarding) and after a year see which shape you prefer.
UKGardening Ok will do thanks :)
Great video, I will be pruning the dogwoods in the next few days :)
I'm glad you liked the video. Regards Nick
How many cuttings can you put in each pot?
I'd say 6-8 cuttings in each pot, but it really depends on the size of the pot and size of the cutting.
@UKGardening thank you for the reply my cuttings are forming leaves but have not yet formed roots ,they still look healthy no signs of rotting or anything is this normal?
Does this method also work for propagating flowering dogwood trees? I have a 20 year old pink dogwood tree I'd like to get some cuttings from and plant around my yard.
Hi Cristina, the flowering dogwood that you have is probably Cornus florida, grown for their colourful bracts (modified leaves) rather than the shrubby dogwood (Cornus alba) with it's colourful stems that I'm cutting back hard in the video. The flowering dogwoods don't like being pruned, so just remove dead, diseased or crossing branches in the spring. You can remove the growing tips of some branches to use as softwood cuttings in spring in the same way as I've shown in the video, or take hardwood cuttings after the leaves fall in late-autumn through to late-winter.
UKGardening thank you for the info. I really appreciate it!
Will the dogwood produce roots in a cup of water or is it better to just stick it in soil straight away?
Kentucky Frogman I’m sure that they would produce roots in a cup of water although I’ve not done this myself, it’s just so easy to push the stems into the soil. I wouldn’t do this just yet though, enjoy the coloured stems over winter and wait until the spring, as I suspect the cuttings would just sit and sulk otherwise. Regards Nick
@@UKGardening Thank you for the info
I'm trying to keep my dog wood from the summer alive through the winter?how could I do that?- should I keep it outside & let it go into dormancy or should I keep it in a pot and bring it inside?
Most dogwood are fully hardy, so they will survive fine outside, they will loose their leaves in the autumn (mine have lost most of their leaves already), but this will show off their coloured stems even more.
Cornus withstand really low temps just fine
A+