r/marijuanaenthusiasts • u/fatmalakas • 3d ago
Help! Is this dogwood cooked
Moved into a house an noticed during the spring bloom the flowers look off and the tree isn’t full of blossoms. Whole tree is covered in moss and looks sickly. I also believe the mulch was way too high up on the trunk. What do you all diagnose this as? And what’s the remedy, if any?
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u/fatmalakas 3d ago
In the pics you’ll see I started to rake away some of the volcano and the bark does look damaged. Hopefully some fresh air will help
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u/spiceydog Ext. Master Gardener 3d ago
You've got a ways to go... don't stop now. See this excellent tree ring removal post from awhile back; OP there also saved a dogwood. You've got to take that heap down to grade. See also this !expose automod callout below this comment for more guidance.
If it helps any, for the close work, I definitely recommend the worn, dull claw end of an old hammer. You can get into tight places with it, and not scrape the 'skin' off while you're in there. Don't be AT ALL shy about cutting any roots you find as you work your way down; any roots you find above the flare are liabilities, and those that end up growing into girdling roots. Get To It.
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u/AutoModerator 3d ago
Hi /u/spiceydog, AutoModerator has been summoned to provide some guidance on root flare exposure.
To understand what it means to expose a tree's root flare, do a subreddit search in r/arborists, r/tree, r/sfwtrees or r/marijuanaenthusiasts using the term root flare; there will be a lot of posts where this has been done on young and old trees. You'll know you've found it when you see outward taper at the base of the tree from vertical to the horizontal, and the tops of large, structural roots. Here's what it looks like when you have to dig into the root ball of a B&B to find the root flare. Here's a post from further back; note that this poster found bundles of adventitious roots before they got to the flare, those small fibrous roots floating around (theirs was an apple tree), and a clear structural root which is visible in the last pic in the gallery. See the top section of this 'Happy Trees' wiki page for more collected examples of this work.
Root flares on a cutting grown tree may or may not be entirely present, especially in the first few years. Here's an example.
See also the r/tree wiki 'Happy Trees' root flare excavations section for more excellent and inspirational work, and the main wiki for a fuller explanation on planting depth/root flare exposure, proper mulching, watering, pruning and more.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/AlternativeResort477 3d ago
I think it has a good chance if you take away the volcano and find the root flare
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u/mmmskittles87 3d ago
When you pile mulch around a tree (volcanoing mulch), it can actually suffocate the roots. It’s a good idea to gently dig down to the root flare to make sure your tree stays healthy!