Grey Dogwood wildlife value?

[j-bird]

Is grey dogwood of much wildlife value? I have a few that are showing up on my place and I lack shrubs as it is. I am considering trying trying to get more of it, but I am not seeing much use of it by wildlife - other than the birds eating the white "berries". I am considering planting a small shrub project with the grey dogwood and some elderberry I have to create a buffer for a plot or the like......but I am not sure if the grey dogwood is worth messing with or if I should stick with something more like ROD.

 

[Native Hunter]

You will find little difference in the wildlife value of Gray versus ROD. They are so much alike, they are hard to tell apart.

Other than some cover and minor browsing, dogwoods are not that important to deer. Squirrels and other rodents, along with birds and insects get the most value. In your neck of the woods, with so many crops, I doubt you will hardly ever see them browsed.

I'm not running down dogwoods. I have planted some myself and enjoy them. I just want to warn you not to expect too much. The shrub I see browsed the most here is arrowwood viburnum. It isn't browsed hard, but I see it hit frequently - especially younger ones.

 

[j-bird]

You will find little difference in the wildlife value of Gray versus ROD. They are so much alike, they are hard to tell apart.

Other than some cover and minor browsing, dogwoods are not that important to deer. Squirrels and other rodents, along with birds and insects get the most value. In your neck of the woods, with so many crops, I doubt you will hardly ever see them browsed.

I'm not running down dogwoods. I have planted some myself and enjoy them. I just want to warn you not to expect too much. The shrub I see browsed the most here is arrowwood viburnum. It isn't browsed hard, but I see it hit frequently - especially younger ones.

I see.....I see/hear talk all the time about ROD but not the others. I know flowering dogwood tends to be more tree formed, but the grey that I have found seems to be more like an actual bush/shrub....which is what I want. if it will help the other critters that is fine. I just like trying to use what I have and right now that is grey dogwood and elderberry.....I will find some others to add some diversity as well. I am trying to boost the food and cover in a way that works for the critters but I can still see while hunting. I think if I can use clusters of shrubs and space them out I can hold more deer and promote more quail and turkey as well. I was hoping you would chime in.....thanks for the insight.

 

[Native Hunter]

You've seen pictures before of my tree planting. I have lots of shrubs (arrowwood, ROD, other dogwoods, elderberry, witch hazel, hazelnut, etc.) mixed in with the fruit and nut bearing trees. Some of the trunks of my chestnuts and persimmons are touching shrubs. I like the way they make cover, and they don't seems to bother the other stuff. I get plenty of mast despite the shrubs crowding in a little. But, I probably wouldn't crowd an apple or pear tree that much.

I think you are on the right track.

 

[Turkey Creek]

Gray Dogwood is one of the very few shrub species that grows on our place. Not alot of it at this point, so I am letting it be. Seems that it should be good cover for the deer and upland birds. I would think the turkeys and pheasants would probably eat the berries as well.

 

[willy]

The deer and turkey use it well. The deer browse it hard. Where ever it grows the deer keep it from growing much. It is heavily browsed. There is a lot of dogwood on my property as well as elderberry and mulberry. Those are heavily browsed as well. I have other species that are browsed but those three are the heavy lifters of the browse department on my place.

The turkeys eat the berries. I have witnessed hens and poults in the dogwoods struggling to stay perched as they ate the berries off the branches. Quite comical.

The dogwoods have a few areas where they have grown into thickets over the years and they are used by a lot of wildlife for cover and such.

 

[j-bird]

Looks like mine will stay and I will try to find a way to spread some around as well. Thanks everybody!

 

[yoderjac]

I wasn't familiar with grey dogwood so I googled it to look at some pictures. It looks quite different than the yellow twig dogwood I have at my house. Yellow twig dogwood seems to be simply a color variation of ROD. It looks identical to Rod but has green stems that turn yellow. Since grey looks significantly different, this may not apply, but I started mine from cuttings that John sent free when I bought some containers from him. I didn't take it to the farm, but planted it as a landscape plant around the house in the suburb. The first growing season, I had to put a temporary fence around it to keep the deer from killing it. Now that it is well established, they browse it, but can't seem to hurt it.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[rocksnstumps]

The turkeys eat the berries. I have witnessed hens and poults in the dogwoods struggling to stay perched as they ate the berries off the branches. Quite comical.

The half dozen or so I have planted on my land came in fact from NWTF habitat trees and shrubs so would think good for birds. Mine have have stayed mostly shrub size inside the small fence enclosures and in fact are starting to get crowded by the prickly ash which I have everywhere. I'll take dogwoods over prickly ash anyday.

 

[Diesel5610]

I have watched deer eat the berries from Grey Dogwood for years while archery hunting. They are also a favorite of grouse, turkey and several other birds. I haven't noticed if the deer browse the actual plant. They are great cover for birds and small game. I have some in a fencerow that is the best screen you could ask for between my shooting house and the plots it overlooks. It is pretty common in my area and is found in a lot of fencerows. It has definite wildlife value.

 

[Bill]

Wish I took pics today. I planted a field to shrubs years ago. ROD, grey dogwood, button bush, arrowwood, ninebark etc.

It's struggled along and I really didn't give it much hope for years because the deer ate it all. I don't visit that spot often but decided to mow a deer trail through it today. Many at the top of the hill didn't make it and it's just weeds and blackberry. When I got to the bottom there were shrubs everywhere. And they were above browse line. The greys actually are making better cover than the ROD. Now I wish I planted more....

For me the best browsed shrub is elderberry. No leaves below the browse line around here.

 

[H20fwler]

I am a dogwood fan, have planted a few different kinds in my shrub strips still to young to have done much yet and now seem to notice it more and more when I'm out growing along the edge of the woods. Deer do browse it but the bigger benefit I think is for all the "other" wildlife..bee's/birds/bunnies/butterflies/turkeys all utilize it.

 

[Knehrke]

Diversity is the name of the game, and grey dogwood is a player. I'd manage it just like any other shrub in your arsenal. We have an excess of grey dogwood at my place that I'm slowly converting to other types of shrubs and mast, but it's not like it's bad, just too much of a good thing. Once it gets above browse height you can use a forest clearing saw to cut it down again and it will regenerate well. So far the deer absolutely love corridors of browse height dogwood interspersed with larger stuff for cover.

 

[Hoytvectrix]

I was actually going to make similar thread to this one and I am glad that I checked Google first. I have been finding quite a bit of gray dogwood around in MO and MN. I am kind of surprised it doesn't get more interest as a habitat tree. It seems to get browsed fairly heavily by deer, forms thickets, and the berries get used by all kinds of small game. I typically find it on slopes but will occasionally find it in some low-lying areas.

Here it is holding leaves into almost December in MN.




I have been collecting some of the white berries this fall and am trying a few stratification methods. I am not quite sure yet if it can be propagated as easily as ROD, but I will try that this spring as well.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

It is a great shrub for grouse if there are any in your area. They form some great thickets that are awesome bedding areas for the deer until they are eventually shaded out by trees.

 

[SD51555]

Back when I was dating puerto rican sheila, she lived across from a public land area in Des Moines, and it had a massive patch of gray dogwood that had to be 5 acres. The deer browsed the entire stand as high as they could reach.

I don't know if gray will live in zone 3. If it does, I haven't seen it. I know there is another dogwood that does grow up in 3, but I don't recall what it is, and it isn't very prevalent.

 

[ruskbucks]

It was the only dogwood I had growing on my place. Most of them are only 3-4 ft high, possibly from browsing. The bears love the berries. They are at the bottom of my dogwood list behind rod,yellow,and silky. I would still have them for diversity.

 

[Bill]

It was the only dogwood I had growing on my place. Most of them are only 3-4 ft high, possibly from browsing. The bears love the berries. They are at the bottom of my dogwood list behind rod,yellow,and silky. I would still have them for diversity.

But there is nothing like seeing a few mixed plantings of red and yellow after the leaves fall off in the winter. Wish the winterberries I planted amongst them made it. That would have been cool.

 

[SD51555]

It was the only dogwood I had growing on my place. Most of them are only 3-4 ft high, possibly from browsing. The bears love the berries. They are at the bottom of my dogwood list behind rod,yellow,and silky. I would still have them for diversity.

Silky is the other one I found I think, but only found one by a neighbors outhouse. Never seen another, and I’m pretty good at ID’ing shrubs.


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[Teeder]

Silky is the predominant type here. Everything seems to love it, deer, birds. Could probably propagate with cuttings?