Dogwood trimming

Windwalker

Windwalker

New member
Location
Pine Grove, Pa
I have a repeat customer that I've done work for in the past, a removal and clearance trims. He wants his dogwood trimmed back about 2' all the way around. Its about 15-20' tall. Its encroaching over the neighbors fence, his clothesline, walkway and porch. I know its a good time of the year to take care of this, but wondering if I can take that much of the tree without causing problems come spring? I'm not a certified arborist and mainly do removals, deadwooding, hazard and clearance trims. He knows this and is ok with me doing the work. I usually pass on shaping the ornamental trees, but he's kinda insisting that I take care of it. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
Pictures would be very helpful but in general 2’ on a 15 foot dogwood can be do able if the laterals are present. What kind of dogwood is it will help determine the best timing for optimal flower. If it’s an American dogwood now is a terrible time as the flower buds have already been set for an early spring flower. You prune, you cut all the flowers off, especially with the type of pruning. If it’s a Kousa with a June flower now can work in terms of timing. Flower buds will set in the spring on the new growth and you may actually have a better show (depending on tree health).
Also the difference between the American and Kousa would also help to determine if you can get away with the pruning or not. Kousa is very vigorous normally, American is not so much.
 
Didn't snap any pictures when I was there a few weeks ago. Doing the job tomorrow along with some other work there. Was not familiar with the Kousa dogwood, I looked it up and by the bark it isn't one of those.

So If I trim it back it probably wont flower in the spring is what you are saying? I'll warn him of that before I do any cutting. My feeling are he wont care, he just wants it cut back.

I've thought about becoming a certified arborist, but at my age I feel its kinda late in the game. And this past summer I was doing a removal down the road from another tree service. He came up and we talked for a1/2 hour about climbing and stuff. I seen he was a certified arborist by the TCIA sticker on his helmet. Ive been referring my bigger trimming/shaping jobs to him and he has been sending his crane removals my way, since I work with a guy with a grapple crane. This is kinda a small job and a good distance from him. I was very upfront with the homeowner and he doesn't really care. I'd like to keep an existing customer happy, but don't want to harm his tree.
 
Thanks guys for the friendly push, It's been on my mind for the past couple of years. Time is more of a problem than money. And it seems like a good winter endeavor. But unfortunately I am in the process of doing a new kitchen. This will take any and all free time for probably the next 8-10 weeks between jobs. But the cool part it is all being made from trees that I've removed for customers and sawed on my bandsaw mill.

Attached is a picture of my island counter top im working on.
 

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HigherGroundArborist said:
Ambrosia Maple? That is fantastic!
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Yes sir, three slabs joined together, 39" wide. It was a nice size tree, maybe 30" DBH. The wider slabs in the center of the log have less markings from the beetles, the closer to the outside of the log the more predominant the markings become. So I used three slabs that were smaller in width but have more markings. The cabinets are walnut, gives a great contrast to the maple.
 
I want to make a tailgate lay in when I drop the tailgate. Want a nice working surface for things. Plus we cook on the tailgate all the time so a usable cutting board would be fantastic.
 
Windwalker said:
So If I trim it back it probably wont flower in the spring is what you are saying? I'll warn him of that before I do any cutting. My feeling are he wont care, he just wants it cut back.

I've thought about becoming a certified arborist, but at my age I feel its kinda late in the game. And this past summer I was doing a removal down the road from another tree service. He came up and we talked for a1/2 hour about climbing and stuff. I seen he was a certified arborist by the TCIA sticker on his helmet. Ive been referring my bigger trimming/shaping jobs to him and he has been sending his crane removals my way, since I work with a guy with a grapple crane. This is kinda a small job and a good distance from him. I was very upfront with the homeowner and he doesn't really care. I'd like to keep an existing customer happy, but don't want to harm his tree.
Click to expand...

It’s not that they won’t flower, but the flower production will be less.

We do the very same thing on jobs we don’t have the equipment for. But keep in mind, “at your age”, pruning can be less punishing on the body because you aren’t handling so much material ;).
 
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