Thoughts on what to do with grey dogwood?

[Peplin Creek]

I have some grey dogwood that’s getting to be about 20-25 feet tall. The branches seem to be above the browse line now and opening up the canopy floor.
The 3 options I can think of are:
1. Cut the dogwood back shin/knee high so fresh woody shoots start. Hoping this will provide daytime browse.
2. hinge cut them to produce side cover and hope for some new growth.
3. The trunks seem flexible enough on some, I can bend them down to waist high and tie them down to create side cover and not kill the existing trunk.

I’m wondering if anyone has experience with this? What worked best or Perhaps there is another option that I haven’t thought of?

I’m really trying to focus my time this upcoming year on bedding and daytime browse by improving some of the native habitat on the property. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks All.

 

[SD51555]

How much do you have? a dozen or two, or acres of it?

 

[Peplin Creek]

Roughly 20 acres of it. Probably 10-20 bushes per acre as a rough estimate. It’s mixed in with the Aspen regeneration. I don’t plan to mess with all 20 acres though.

 

[Bill]

I’d experiment. Not sure about grey but red copice nicely. Bending and staking would be a great thing also, like you say, it will live.

 

[Telemark]

Do a bit of everything and see how the deer respond. Coppicing dogwood should make great browse.

 

[H20fwler]

Once established that stuff grows like weeds. I would do whatever is simplest probably cutting it off knee high like you said, it will grow dozens of suckers up from stumps. Keeps it down where deer can use it and it will still flower good in a few years and that is good for bees, it’s a win win.

 

[SD51555]

Once established that stuff grows like weeds. I would do whatever is simplest probably cutting it off knee high like you said, it will grow dozens of suckers up from stumps. Keeps it down where deer can use it and it will still flower good in a few years and that is good for bees, it’s a win win.

This, and I'd dedicate a day or half day each year to start a section over. Do 10-20% of it a year until you're done, then go back to the beginning and start over.

 

[homerj]

20-25' tall gray dogwood?

 

[Tree Spud]

20-25' tall gray dogwood?

That was my first question ... mine is 6'-8'.

 

[Peplin Creek]

Yeah maybe 20 ft is a little high for most but for sure in the 15ft range.

 

[Bill]

alternate leaf dogwood? should copice and be browse just the same.

 

[Peplin Creek]

alternate leaf dogwood? should copice and be browse just the same.

It’s some type of dogwood. I think copice is the way to go with it. However I’ll probably try and hinge and tie down in some areas to see if I can block some views to the walking paths.

 

[H20fwler]

Besides the look and leaves gray dogwood that is very old get the white berry clusters mid to late summer (for anyone not sure what they have). Around here it is a big edge tree and one of the first to try and spread out into CRP or pasture fields, very precocious and literally has to be hacked and sprayed to be discouraged. It is an excellent browse tree/shrub for deer and great for bees and lots of different birds it is a huge benefit to wildlife.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I don't think that's gray dogwood based on the picture.

Dogwood is a great shrub for all wildlife and I've never seen it get too tall to be used by deer and grouse. I try to remove competing trees from the dogwood areas since a little 1/10 acre shrub thicket is a magnet for wildlife. The more shrubs and the fewer trees the better.

I would try to get a definitive ID on what you have and then we can make some suggestions. Generally speaking though, 20' plants of any type with a canopy and no ground cover aren't ideal for wildlife. Deer and small game will like it if you cut down tall trees/shrubs and allow more sun to get to the ground.

 

[Peplin Creek]

I don't think that's gray dogwood based on the picture.

Dogwood is a great shrub for all wildlife and I've never seen it get too tall to be used by deer and grouse. I try to remove competing trees from the dogwood areas since a little 1/10 acre shrub thicket is a magnet for wildlife. The more shrubs and the fewer trees the better.

I would try to get a definitive ID on what you have and then we can make some suggestions. Generally speaking though, 20' plants of any type with a canopy and no ground cover aren't ideal for wildlife. Generally speaking the deer and small game will like it if you cut down tall trees/shrubs and allow more sun to get to the ground.

Any ideas what it is? It seems like dogwood to me based on the cluster of trunks and the opposite branch pattern. I checked a day ago where I had cut a shooting lane to see if I had cut that stuff before and i did. It grew suckers from stumps and shot new sprouts from the ground if that helps at all.

The general idea is that it’s too tall to be dogwood but being in a clear cut and pretty damp with Ideal growing conditions.. I could see them being taller than the norm. It definitely didn’t happen overnight either. Here is a picture of the trunk.

 

[scott44]

Are they an alder?

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I'd like to see other pictures of these shrubs, but they almost look like sprouts coming from a red maple stump. But I don't see the remnants of a stump, so that doesn't quite seem right.

 

[SD51555]

Basswood?

 

[Peplin Creek]

I don’t think it’s an alder based on the bark. Red maple maybe, this property was logged probably about 13-15 years ago. Not sure if stumps would still be showing or not.

 

[BuckSnort]

I'd like to see other pictures of these shrubs, but they almost look like sprouts coming from a red maple stump. But I don't see the remnants of a stump, so that doesn't quite seem right.

I agree, definitely looks like maple stump sprouts from the picture.