Growing Dogwood trees for profit!
Growing and propagating Dogwood trees is not difficult and once you start properly pruning Dogwoods you can produce a very desirable tree. What variety should you grow, there are many varieties to choose. Our most popular are the white flowering Kousa Dogwood variety and the native to the US, Cornus Florida Dogwood. Both are great selling nursery trees and another way you can make money from plants!
The Kousa Dogwood variation is native to East Asia including Korea, China and Japan. Due to it’s beautiful flowers the Kousa Dogwood is widely cultivated as an ornamental. The Cornus Florida variety is indigenous to Eastern North America. In addition there are many other varieties and colors of Dogwoods you can grow. Customers like both white and pink flowers so we grow and sell both.
Watch our video on propagating Dogwoods
Growing Dogwood Trees from bare root liners.
Many wholesale growers propagate Dogwoods from seed but most finish growers start with a rooted liner. They will grow out Dogwood liners or whips until they are about 12-18” tall. Growers who grow from seeds get the trees started and will then sell plants or liners for you to grow out into more mature trees. Once you receive your rooted liners its time to start potting up plants, pruning them properly, and growing them out. See more about planting bare root trees. You may then grow your Dogwoods to a more well branched tree of 2, 4, 6, 8 feet or more. We sell trees at mostly 4 and 6 feet tall.
Plan your Dogwood container size for growth.
Knowing how large you plan to grow your Dogwood plant stock to is helpful. A 2 foot tall tree requires a trade 1 or 2 gallon container. A 4-6 foot tall Dogwood tree will need a trade 3 gallon container. If you plan to grow a 6 to 8 foot tree you should use a trade 5 gallon container. For this reason we plant about 60-80% of our Dogwood liners in a trade 3 gallon container. The rest will go in a trade 5 gallon container.
We only grow dogwood trees in non-woven cloth grow bags with handles!
Planting Dogwood Trees – Once we receive our Dogwood liners we get them planted quickly. When potting up plants we have everything ready to go in advance. This includes our potting soil mix, containers, slow release fertilizer and all our planting tools.
We will prune the liner down to just above a leaf node. At this point the liner is just a whip or a stick. This early pruning it will encourage the tree to branch into at least 2 more stems. Often times we will also try to root part of what we have pruned off. Generally the section that represents the latest growth but woodier sections can also root.
We also at least give the roots a slight trimming to encourage root branching as well. Then in the container, add potting soil mix, a tablespoon of slow release fertilizer, and a little sprinkle of pre-emergent weed preventer. All done!
Pruning Dogwood trees.
When growing out Dogwood trees you should, as mentioned prune right when you plant initially. This initial pruning should promote 2-3 new stems. After about a year in late spring to early summer you will want to prune back these new shoots. They will be new growth but slightly hardened off by early summer. You will just clip off about a 1/3 of this newest growth.
You will want to initially focus on pruning Dogwoods at the top of the tree to encourage branching. Then work on pruning side branches that will grow to encourage them to fill out and branch. The second pruning should result in 2-4 new shoots or stems. You are on your way to a much fuller tree. One more pruning of the 4-6 newest shoots and a year more of growing will result in a 3-4 foot, fairly well branched tree to sell. This is from a 18-24 inch whip to about 2-3 years of growth.
If you are aiming for a 6-8 foot Dogwood you may still pruning your Dogwood again in the third and fourth year, then let the tree grow and fill out once again.
Rooting the cuttings from your Dogwoods.
While you are growing out your Dogwood trees you will prune them each year. Pruning off about a 1/3 of the new section of growth each year will yield you some nice cuttings. You can attempt to root these semi-softwood cuttings. Some will root and you will then have some free plants to start growing out.
Once you have a stock of Dogwood trees growing you will have a considerable amount of cuttings each year. Hopefully enough of the cuttings take root and you no longer need to buy liners each year.
Is growing Dogwood trees profitable?
We would say yes! Dogwood trees are very popular and sell well. We think Dogwoods are a good foundational plant to grow when starting a backyard nursery. They make an excellent transition tree between an open lawn area and a wooded area. They like the dabbled sunlight and make a beautiful statement in the spring when they bloom. They mix nicely with Rhododendrons, azaleas, viburnums and other shrubs.
Our typical cost to buy a Dogwood tree liner, the pot and fertilizer is about $4-6.00. We would typically sell a nice 4 foot tree for $30-35.00 after growing it for just 2 years. A larger 6-8 foot tree will sell for $60-75.00 with a total growing time with us of 3-4 years. So, the profit potential is excellent.
Learn more from our other articles:
Starting a Plant Nursery Start small and stay small or grow as large as you like.
How to make money with plants As a side Hustle or a retirement income
How Nursery Plants can become an excellent Retirement Investment
Start a Firewood Side Hustle
Learn about Plant Propagation