dogwood cuttings for additional cover?

[EarthySpirit]

Hi Gang,

I would love some feedback on this idea I had. I have a lot of gray dogwood on my property. I live in Central Kentucky. I also have a 2 acre field I want to turn into bedding. I plan to kill the field in the spring (Its all a monoculture of canary grass now), then let early succession come in to create browse/cover/bedding. I plan to let this 2 acres alone to grow and thicken up for cover. Here is the question I have: to assist the cover, I was thinking about taking dogwood cuttings and planting them evenly distributed in this 2 acre area, not too thick to inhibit growth of early succession, but thick enough to provide additional cover throughout the 2 acres. I would love your thoughts on this idea. When you give feedback, I would like for you to assume this 2 acre plot is the best place for bedding for my overall management plan. Thanks for the feedback!!!

 

[BenAllgood]

Shrubby cover like that inside grasses and forbs are good for bedding. If I were to do that I would probably clump them in spots instead of evenly plant one here and one there.

If you haven't already, I'd strongly recommend contacting your local private lands biologist to walk the property with you. They're a tremendous source of information. They see a lot of properties in your local area, and that gives them a good knowledge of what habitat components do best in the area for your goals.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Shrubby cover like that inside grasses and forbs are good for bedding. If I were to do that I would probably clump them in spots instead of evenly plant one here and one there.

If you haven't already, I'd strongly recommend contacting your local private lands biologist to walk the property with you. They're a tremendous source of information. They see a lot of properties in your local area, and that gives them a good knowledge of what habitat components do best in the area for your goals.

The idea of creating clumps of them rather than evenly scattering sounds appealing to me. thinking....

 

[ruskbucks]

Here is a couple picks of my land where they did a 2+ acre clear cut. It has turned into a Awsome bedding area. The key I believe is the shrubs mixed with the grass/weeds. I think adding dogwood is a great idea. I would scatter them in clumps also. Are you using grey dogwoods? I'm not a big fan of the grey dogwood except for the berries. I like silky dogwood the best for cover followed by yellow and red osier. If you could get it to look like this pick I think you would be happy with the results. I would also put a few random spruce and maybe a thicket of wild plum.

 

[ruskbucks]

Here is a couple picks of my land where they did a 2+ acre clear cut. It has turned into a Awsome bedding area. The key I believe is the shrubs mixed with the grass/weeds. I think adding dogwood is a great idea. I would scatter them in clumps also. Are you using grey dogwoods? I'm not a big fan of the grey dogwood except for the berries. I like silky dogwood the best for cover followed by yellow and red osier. If you could get it to look like this pick I think you would be happy with the results. I would also put a few random spruce and maybe a thicket of wild plum.

 

[EarthySpirit]

View attachment 33283View attachment 33283

Nice!!! Thanks for the ideas. Well, being completely honest, I'm not entirely positive they are gray dogwoods. I know they are dogwoods, but not sure which kind. I'm only guessing based on my identification efforts last summer (I only bought the property in June of 2020). I'll try to narrow down the type, but I've been reading that all dogwoods seem to grow well from cuttings.

 

[EarthySpirit]

Actually, I found this pic I took this past spring. Would you say these are gray dogwoods?

 

[Telemark]

Great idea. Add some switchgrass and conifers too.

 

[ruskbucks]

Nice!!! Thanks for the ideas. Well, being completely honest, I'm not entirely positive they are gray dogwoods. I know they are dogwoods, but not sure which kind. I'm only guessing based on my identification efforts last summer (I only bought the property in June of 2020). I'll try to narrow down the type, but I've been reading that all dogwoods seem to grow well from cuttings.

The grey dogwood have white berries

Actually, I found this pic I took this past spring. Would you say these are gray dogwoods?

View attachment 33284

By the way the stem looks that does look like a grey. The silky has blue berries and a waxy purple/ red stem. The greys on my land seem to only get about 4 ft tall and usually single upright stems.I never noticed any browsing on the stems.The deer and bear do hammer the white berries in early fall. The silky and reds are multi steamed and 6-8 ft tall. They both get heavy browsing. I feel any type of dogwood is a plus.

 

[Diesel5610]

I have done exactly what you are thinking only I used Red Osier Dogwood. It is one of our most heavily used areas. We have a Shooting house that overlooks the area and my father spent the entire rifle season watching deer filter in and bed in it. It is thicker than the pictures indicate plus they were taken a few years ago. One of the best habitat projects we have done.

Red Osier Dogwood

I thought I would start taking my camera with me when I am out and about on the properties my friends and I own and have done habitat improvement projects on. This is a slow time of year and I figured I would add some reference material for people looking to try different things. I went out...

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