How to Grow Dogwood Trees from Cuttings | Plant Propagation Technique for Rooting Dogwood Cuttings 

Perfect timing on this video. I’ve been spying this beautiful white dogwood tree on my neighbors property and wanted to do some selective trimming on it. You know, just to help them out. I was just thinking of going through your old videos to find one where you did this and first thing this morning there it was. Thank you. You are truly a master. All the best. Chuck

Thank you for sharing! I actually found your video on a google search specifically for growing dogwoods from cuttings. I'm a new homeowner and I've been experimenting with gardening and such. Last year, after the leaves had fallen off of my single dogwood, I went out and collected several berries, took everything off of the seeds, and stuck them in the fridge until spring. I planted them, and out of about 20 seeds I had 2 sprout. After watching your video, I think my problem was having my plastic nursery container too exposed to the sun-definitely gonna fix that this next year. Out of my two sprouts this year, one is stunted with tiny curly leaves-not sure what happened with it. The other one, treated exactly the same way, is just going nuts-it's such a happy little tree! I'm planning on keeping it in a container on the porch through next year and then moving it into the ground. Maybe by then it'll have enough hardwood bits to protect it from the hungry local wildlife. Meanwhile, I'm going to check my big tree to see if there's any softwood growths still out there like in your video and give cuttings a try. I love dogwoods and I'm hoping to cover my yard with them and other flowering trees eventually.

Morning Mike, after watching this video I went and took cuttings from the pink and the white dog woods in the yard that are close to 80 years old and showing it . I hope they live longer . Ok I took 12 cuttings from each and used perlite as my medium . All eventually dried up and died but Two of the pink. They are doing great and still have green supple healthy leaves on them . I’m afraid to bother them and keep raising the pot looking for roots. When I see roots I will transfer to a growing medium and a pot of their own . Two out of twenty four I guess isn’t too bad I guess . I also did 24 flaming bush/ fire bush / euonymus alatus but lost all of them. Time to try again. Love you videos and great knowledge. We have kindred interest.

This was the first video of yours I’ve watched and I was devastated by the end lol. Thank you for sharing the failure and the success of the method.

Mike I feel ya re the nice; here it's 🦌 and any darn new start I finally move into the actual ground. Hugely disappearing after months of nurture and care. Appreciate the guidance and the skill, look forward to more content in the future! 👍

Lovely of pink and white dogwood, to good to keep them over the winter, Now getting beautiful blossoms of them! You're wonderful planter !!😁😁👋👋🌺🌿

Thanks for posting the video. There is an abandoned house down the street with a nice dogwood (white blossoms), and I walk past it ever day. I'm going to give this a shot. I don't have anything to lose.

Glad I saw this. I thought I missed my window on Dogwoods this year. Wanted to let them wake up outside or even out them in my tent... Too many other projects. But it's muggy and hot and pouring rain today..only have some cheapo rootfast hormone left...bit gonna try a few cuts today in some failed Copper Beech seedling cups. Yep. Copper Beech is my deciduous choice this year. From am Ancient tree in a local arboretum. You aren't alone w your Dogwood disaster. I collected about 100 Japanese Maple babies of various phenotypes last year. Even uppotted the big ones for winter protection. I lost every single one. May try them in one of my tents for overwintering...and will try it w these dogwoods if they take. Scored two free big Mugo Pines at work the other day...worked my insane Warlockiness on them and gave them miracid and Holly tone and SHADE...oh yah looking awesome. One in a wine box the other in a forever pit. Did u do Metasequoias this year? I'm totally into them. Using the straight ones for bonsai forests and the curly dwarf ones for beautiful accent plants both in pots and in ground. Feel the rush Propagator lol Cheers form Massachusetts. Hope the kids are good. I got unit 1 graduated form college last month.. enjoy them now! Chris

Thank you so much. Someone I knew just passed away and she had a pink dogwood tree in her front yard that I love.once the flowers all fall off I am gonna try this.

The roots still look alive. I would keep them potted up until they died too. Maybe a miracle could happen and they shoot at the tip of the stem. Worth giving it a try.

Thank you for this Mike. Chipmunks ate all my seedlings this spring. I was so excited going into year two with my Japanese maples. 24 to be exact. None made it after being eaten. Went to Armenia in 2019 and brought back an apricot seed. Planted it in 2020 and it grew to a beautiful size. They ate that too. And I even took kousa dogwood seeds last November. They all sprouted this spring after stratification and planting, and even those were eaten. Apparently my mesh barrier didn’t keep them away. I though I was alone with the bad luck but this video helps. I don’t want to give up, but nothing is worse than waiting years and failing brutally. I guess we fail, learn, and try again.

Thank you so much for this. I have a monster tree in my greenhouse that even though I pruned it way down it has reached fourteen feet in height in new growth. I will get at least a hundred babies from that tree, I hope, and hopefully get the mother tree transplanted this fall outdoors.

For your mice problem, I would suggest using nettings or tulles. Get a bunch and surround your tray with nettings. It's really hard to walk on them without getting your feet/paws all tangled up. It might be worth trying. I am using this method this summer.

Thank you for this video! I love dogwood! I'm gonna try this, if I can get someone to gather a couple of branches for me! (I'm housebound) I have wild dogwood in the woods but many have died out from that old fungus, which may end my efforts before I get very far! Anyway, I'm gonna try to save a few to put out in my yard! Maybe I'll live long enough to watch them bloom someday! Wish I still had wild azalea out there! There may be some now! I haven't been able to hike through in almost 20 years! Wish I'd could go look!! For Pink Lady Slippers, little blue water iris, magnolia, all kinds of neat stuff! Man, you got my Spring fever turned up but IDK if I'll be able to do anything about it! 😁

Totally blows my mind. Been in horticulture with my own small nursery and others since 1979. Everyone knows you can't root dogwood trees. Your just what the world needs, someone to say let's see if we can. The shrub ones root so easy, can't wait to try with the kousas. Thanks for the encouragement, I'd never thought do try the exbury azaleas and first try they are doing fine. Sorry about the mice. Always great seeing your rhododendrons.

Your videos are so useful, thanks!

I would build a hardware-cloth "cage" the size and shape of your plastic dome, set it over the flat, and put a rock on it to keep rodents from flipping it over. I have chipmunks, little red squirrels, mice, and some kind of rats to contend with, so that's what I'll be doing. Also found a HUGE aquarium this spring (FREE!!!) that's going inside my unheated 6x8 greenhouse along with the 20-gallon one I have in it now, and I'll put hardware-cloth or shelf glass over the top (the glass will be vented slightly) to exclude the vermin. Thanks for this video - I've been wanting to propagate dogwood trees - I have two small white flowering dogwoods I can prune from, but LOVE the pinks, and they come in several shades, too. Now I know I can prop them - and dogwood roots SO easily! I have a small collection of rooted red-twig ditch-dogwood cuttings, even one with flowers! Have clippers, will travel!!! (I love Busy Beaver's note below, regarding "selective pruning." I "prune for free" and take all the clippings so as not to leave any mess. I don't take much - only what's in the way, or to make the plant look better. And if the owner would appreciate some rooted cuttings back, I'll always be happy to do that!)

Thank you for sharing your experience

I potted about 9-12 white dogwood cuttings and 12 Yoshino cherry cuttings about a month ago. I put them in 1-quart pots (4 per pot) and covered with a 2 liter soda bottle dome. I left them in a place where they're protected from the sun but still will get rain (underneath a woven fabric patio chair 😂). So far, they're all still green and have all of their leaves. My plan was to wait until around August to separate them if they took, but I might wait until the fall when they go dormant like you did. Fingers crossed!

Awesome video 👍👏👌🌱

I grew up in the 1950s and walked to school along a sidewalk lined with gorgeous American dogwoods, pink and white. Sadly, many American dogwoods succumbed to a blight during the past 30+ years, and garden centers only carried Kousa dogwoods -- not a very pretty species, imo. Anyway, there are still some traditional American dogwoods extant, and I spied two of them, a white and a spectacular pink (like old pink brick in color, not the gaudy pink of today), outside a store that has been closed since 2019. I took a small branch from each tree, and will follow the excellent directions in this video so I can propagate the two magnificent dogwoods. Wish me luck!

If it happens that you keep on having trouble with mice, I have found a wonderful solution, get some turkeys, I know it sounds crazy but it works. And I love this video, it came at the perfect time. Love you and the family and I know Aly is loving the cats and she will love the turkeys too.

Oh daggum, Brother! That was a kick to the crotch! Thanks for the satisfaction of showing the roots at the end. You know, I’m always curious who you believe you need to prove your shtuff too. Your methods work, it’s pretty obvious. I’d vouch for you. You bring a growth mindset (pun is happy accident, not intended) and a ton of knowledge, and that’s why I’m here. That and to live vicariously in your Zone through your videos, it’s an awesome mental vacation. I appreciate you, brother.

you still the man little bro.

Thanks you for sharing, Mike. I just bought a few pink dogwoods, I really love these. I plan on trying this in June when the stem is thicker. Have you used a “Walk the Plank” mouse trap? They are fantastic! They work so well, I caught over 20 mice in one summer and my shed is mouse free. Another one, peppermint oil really rocks! Totally keeps ‘em out. Small amounts of cayenne pepper keep the squirrels and rabbits from ruining my other plants, I’ve heard it works for mice. About the cats, please consider that outdoor cats are responsible for the decimation of many song bird and endemic animal populations and we need to be careful to keep them on our property so that they don’t harm wildlife. There is a video on RU-vid that shows how bad this problem is on Kangaroo Island, Australia, I recommend checking it out. I really love birds so I would appreciate you make sure your cats don’t eat the wild birds, amigo. Thank you. We have been having to remove them from my neighborhood here in Baldwin Illinois because I live next to a precious marsh ecosystem and they go into this riparian zone to hunt at night. We removed 7 cats in just a couple months. It has been said, “learning from failures can lead to our greatest victories.” May God bless you to be a better worker of the soil more and more. Amen Keep up the good work, sir.

I’ve come across a Kousa dogwood tree and the fruit is magnificent. I’ll be getting some seeds and see if they will let me take some cuttings

.Great video ! 🌿😊🌿 Plants are the best, specially the people behind them 🌿🤩🌿 You got a new sub from Denmark 🌿😊🇩🇰😊.

Thank you for the video on dogwood, I have a deep pink and regular white that 80 to 100 year old, the old but well preserved farm house is 137 years old. I’ve been wondering if I could make cuttings from the dog woods and carry on the old trees for another 100 years. I will be giving this a try until it’s successful thank you .

I was so invested in this video… that I forgot you warned me in the beginning that it wasn’t going to be a fairy tale ending. So I got to the end and was so sad after the promising build up. I laughed so hard… only at myself bc this was truly a very informational video and you tried to give the heads up😂

Great video!! Do you think, since it still looks green, they would still grow. I am sure you are familiar with air layering. Do you have any of those videos for dogwood trees. I am very familiar with air layering but have never done it. I am 70 and I have had my dark pink dogwood for 45 years. I would like to start two for my adult children. I love your videos. They really are the best. 🐸

Hai I'm from Indonesia..Thank you for information

I love your videos! I would love to see one about crabapple trees.

Thanks!

Thanks for your great videos, Mike. I've been propogating hydrangeas since watchig your videos, and they've done great. I'm trying white dogwoods currently, so I hope they'll root. One question for you; in this video you mentioned moving them into a protected area, such as a shed over winter. Do they need lighting during the winter months, or will they survive in a pitch black environment?

Hey Mike. I am in middle tn, zone 7b. What is the best Rhododendron cultivar that would survive in my area?

Great information. Thanks a bunch. Something I have been wanting to do for a friend of mine who might need to remove her old, well established trees for fire insurance purposes. Any news on the future protection strategy? Was thinking you could make some 1/4" hardware cloth covers for the trays.

Great idea to keep some cats around... I’ve learned to stack the deck against mice; field rats etc and keep 2 or more 8 to 16 week kittens on site also.

I’ve been waiting for this video since you told me a week or so ago that it was coming. Now, I feel confident that I can take some pink Cherokee dogwood tree cuttings from my landlady’s tree tomorrow while it’s cool and raining here in Southern Oregon. What a bummer that a mouse ate all your hard work! I have a question about snowball bush cuttings. Have you done any of those? My landlady also has a beautiful, lush white bush I’d like to take cuttings from.

Can I use Orchid Bark to propagate rose cuttings?

Hey Mike love your videos however can you do some videos on citrus trees/cuttings...thanking you in advance !!

Last year l found a "wild" dogwood tree sapling growing in my driveway garden. This is overshadowed by a huge maple tree. It is now about 4-5 feet tall. This year l found 2-3 tiny saplings a few feet away - each about a foot tall. I looked up and found out that NYS does have types of wild dogwoods. Not sure if mine blooms....Can l dig it up to move it? Not sure large enough to take cuttings yet. (PS- Im overjoyed to have it! 😁)

There are a lot of cat organizations that catch (wild) farm cats Spay/neuter them and then adopt them out as mousing cats. You provide them shelter and food, and they keep the mice at bay on your property. Also, I suggest building a few hardware wire protective "domes" over the baby cuttings.

Wow so sorry to see the damage! However on the other hand I am so excited to be seeing roots again in your videos, flowers in the garden are nice but ROOTS ROOTS ROOTS we can roots. hahahaha

love u Bro,

I can commiserate, although it didn't happen with cuttings, rather with seedlings. Besides the cats, what are you planning to do to keep the mice away? I would love to get some ideas. I had thought about fencing scraps with very small holes (1/4").

Put a wire mesh cage over the top of the cuttings

Soooo... Your saying go to my local plant nurseries at the end of may or early June, with a pair of snips?

here is something you should try. Last fall I collected a lot of berries from white and red dogwood trees planted them in my garden and most of them came up in the spring, now in September they are doing great and are 3 to 4 inches tall. so I've got about 30 trees doing great. Do you think they should be protected or leave them in the garden and Mulch them good? I'm also going to try kousa dogwood seed this fall.

Does the pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) fit into the category to try this method? I have a lovely pagoda that has outgrown its site, and I'm not finding any at local nurseries or online. So I'd like to try to follow your instructions and propagate it. Any comments?

MIce problem I suspect has gotten worse for many of us in these last few years and will increase same with insects for 2024 it would be good to prepare for that. Thanks for the info I love the Dagwood Tree.

Bell house plug in's work to keep mice away and bugs, fleas etc. I have them in my house and barn.

Any suggestions on digging up a small Dogwood in the woods? It is about 3' tall, single trunk. Dig Spring or fall? Any suggestions?

Hi, some mulberry rooting videos are coming this year? 🤔😎

Maybe leaving on the cover might help in the future??

I’m going to give this a try on a dogwood AND a Dawn redwood. Maybe I’ll put an alarm system and some bear traps out for the mice. 😆

Just planted my first dogwood tree a few days ago..now we wait.

Hello, I am brand new to all of this, (this is the first video I watched about the dogwoods) would you be able to take cuttings while it still has flowers on them? It is April right now and have been wanting to give this a shot. Thanks in advanced.

Good morning, this is so helpful. Thank you. What soul mixture do you use for dogwood cuttings please? Thanks again❤

Hi Mike. I enjoy your videos. Especially any of the fruit tree or plant videos. One of your videos struck my funny bone. It was the one with the zucchini plant that you pissed on. Well I live in the NW also. Just outside of Portland. We have a lot of Oregon maple trees in our yard and am constantly cutting the down. They are good for shade but they grow fast and come down fast. I always get new grows coming out of the trunks which grow into new trees if you let them. I just recently cut down several of them in January and now new growth are coming out. One of the new growths is putting out very large leaves. Usually the leave size are around 9 to 12 inches wide. Well these are like 20 to 23 inches wide. I couldn't understand why this was happening to this one tree. Well, I saw your pissing video and a light went on. For the last 5 or 6 months I have pissed around that tree at least 6 or 7 times. These leaves are like palm fronds. keep up the good work

I get white fuzzy mold alot when I grow things from seed or try to propagate. Besides a fan to circulate air, any suggestions?

I would make a cover out of 1/4” hardware cloth.

I just took saplings and put in water.. They are growing leaves etc..

It’s mid June of 2023. Perfect timing! 😁

Try some bucket traps. Take a bucket put a little feed in the bottom. Set some boards on the edge of the bucket to the floor of the green house. As it gets cooler and the mice get desperate for food they will end up in the bucket trap. Take em down the road a few miles away and dump them into a field. Take the bucket back home reset it up and empty daily.

hello Mike! So, after trying various methods of propagating a neighbor's magnificent old White Dogwood tree, I finally succeeded (I think). I just stuck 3" suckers in a pot (with rooting hormone) outside on my sheltered porch (in the Spring) where my Clematis resides. Occasionally throughout Spring and Summer, I would give them a gentle tug. They are now resisting that tug. SO, now it is mid-September. What shall I do next? Thank you!!!!!.

If this ever happens again, I hope you don't give up on them. Although these probably didn't have buds left, they did have very nice looking white roots. Next time, treat them as if they are normal and keep them watered until they either rot or they grow. I've had plants that were growing inside and died back to the point where they looked dead. Lazy procrastinator that I am, I tend to cut back the dead stuff but leave them with the others to deal with later on. Sometimes things actually come back! You never know -- maybe you'll get a sucker off of the bottom node or something. With all of the stuff you have going on, though, I don't know how you even keep track of it all.

question, i have some hardwood dogwood cuttings... from 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick... 4 to 7 inch long...no leaves.....planted in a mixture of sand and cactus/ perlite soil....some videos say water and cover with plastic bag to create mini greenhouse and open once a week to let in fresh air... others say no cover and make sure sand doesnt get dry, better to not get mold and kill the roots.... whats is the best way???

Hello mate. I had the same thing over winter growing acorns and hazelnut .. they were all starting to get roots coming out. I was chuffed to bits. Three weeks later the terrorist mice attacked and eat the whole lot. Gotta wait til next year now 🤣😂🤣👍

Hi Mike, just a question for you about making cuttings from Linden trees or I think you guys call them Basswood trees there. I am in NZ ,so opposite seasons to you. I have a bunch of seeds I collected, but can't find any info on starting them from seed. I was wondering if you have ever grown the Linden tree from cuttings and what would be the best time of year to try doing this. Thankyou.

I want to graft three together. Same color outside with another inside. Probably purple white purple. Should I do it when I root them? Or root them… skin part of them… and graft it? Or just root them, then plant all three close together… and band them together as they grow???? Any input would be appreciated.

I have chipmunks and squirrels that dig my transplants up all the time and ravage the strawberries and blueberries. Sometimes even take a few bites of a tomato I try to remember they're apart of God's creation too. This is good to know about the Dogwoods my neighbor has lost a few and I have lost one to the Redheaded ash borer. I can propagate from a healthy tree, there is one tree not far from my house that half of the tree blooms white and the other half blooms pink. It must have been grafted a long time ago because the trunk is close to ten inches in diameter.

Hi Mike, about a month ago I got 6 cuttings from a neighbor dogwood tree, I put 3 in a plastic box, & 3 just outside on the North side of my greenhouse, I just check, 3 inside the box are still green and has not dropped the tiny leaves I left on the cutting. The box keeps sweeting and I keep looking and so far all is well. I did just like you did I dipped them in hormone powder and planted them. My question is it’s been a month, what do I do with them come fall? Linda Moore

What about rooting a sour cherry tree (reddish pink , great cobbler or pie) and. Why not use the cover with vents open and wage the bottom up with pennies or quarter s to cross ventilate.

Hi Mike, I have Japanese maple cuttings in my green house, I got the cuttings in spring. They produced leaves, but now the leaves are dying. I am making sure to spray water regularly to keep them moist. What is the reason this is happening?

Do you recommend only trimming around summer?

Hey Mike, Are there any hybrid Dogwood trees that can tolerate our Cold (5 -15 degrees) with 4-5 feet of snow during our winter months here in north central WA state ? We’d Love to grow a few around our property.

Prevent mice with peppermint plant nearby or moth balls...Every year mice nested in my mower until used moth balls...It worked!

I have felt the need to ask you a question for a while and when my computer is handy I forget, (one of those challenges with aging). Have you started working on a book on how to propagate plants yet? If not, you should. It won't be long and a publisher is going to be contacting you to do so!

Graft more dogwood cuttings on to your rooted ones Mike.

Oh Mike… I know you were so disappointed…. However, you are right…. You proved it was the right way to propagate dogwood trees. 😀 Would this method work with the Chinese type dogwood trees as well you think? I have a variegated one that I would love to propagate

Would Air layering work on a dog would tree?

Will cutting be ok in a baggy with a little water for a day? Not just dogwood.

Oh dear! You may need a cage for your cuttings. But how long did it take for those cuttings to root? 3 months?

that's ok, I believe that softwood cuttings will root and propagate dogwood trees!!!

What type of dirt are you using?

Hardware store, 1/2 inch wired cloth. Bend to make cage, mice can't get in Probably numerous other choices but that is easy and will save the plants so no time lost

Okay, so i understand that I can't get a pink dogwood tree from a seed that was collected from a pink dogwood tree. My question is, can I get a white flowering redbud tree from a seed of a white flowering redbud? I have searched the internet and can't find the information. Thank you for your time!

Do you wait for the dogwoods to completely stop flowering before you take cuttings?

do you spray them at all over the winter?

Jiffy cornmeal mix and bake soda. 4 teaspoons each. Place around area where mice are. They eat and cannot digest. They die

Could you please sell me a green giant young tree? They don’t sell it here in Ontario, Canada. I have been trying to find it but I can’t find this cedar tree here.

Hmm. Time for a big ol tomcat to move in! Lol

Can we get a video on propagating magnolias? Specifically magnolia macrophylla the big leaf magnolia

May I suggest hardware cloth cages

Can you do one on apple trees from Cuttings. I can’t seem to have any success.

Try making a screen cover. Screen door screen metal not fabric. Better luck next time Mike

For the mice, mak a mix of honey corn bread mix (attractant) & baking soda (gaseous). Put the mixture in a plastic container with a lid. cut a small hole in the end (access). Solution - rodents don't pass gas!!!

What kind of dogwood is that ? The leaves ate so big. Is it a wild one

Those mice ! Buggers

Make a mix of spearmint, eucalyptus and lemongrass essential oils. Spray around your plant trays once every two months. It will keep rodents away.