Q: Why does my dogwood have curled leaves? Is there a disease or insect problem I should be worried about?
A: Dogwoods very commonly exhibit curled leaves in summer, so chances are you don’t have too much to worry about. If you’ve planted your dogwood tree in the last 2-3 years, this is completely normal–your tree simply hasn’t gotten its roots system completely established. Typically within 5 years of transplanting, you’ll see the majority of leaf curl diminish.Leaf curl on dogwoods is essentially a protective reaction to stress the tree feels. Rather than keep its leaves flat and susceptible to burning in the summer sun, dogwoods curl their leaves to minimize leaf surface area and thus minimize any damage they might receive.
If you have a dogwood showing significant leaf curl throughout the summer 5 years or longer beyond when you planted it, keep these tips in mind:
- Supplement any irrigation or other water source with additional watering. Turn a garden hose on to a trickle and let it run at the base of the tree twice a week for half an hour during hot weather. This will direct water straight down into the root system and alleviate stress.
- Use Vitamin B-1 (available inexpensively at Vander Giessen’s) twice a month through the summer to reduce stress and promote vigorous rooting.
- If you have very well-drained soil, great! Better that than heavy soil that holds too much moisture. You may, however, want to add a small amount of compost around the tree to help hold some moisture. Additionally, you can spread bark mulch around the base of the tree to keep the soil from drying out.
- Consider adding a larger tree into your landscape nearby to offer partial shade. In our area, dogwoods typically do fine in full sun, but if your tree is planted in a hot, full-sun location, it might benefit from some afternoon shade.
These tips are useful for younger dogwoods as well–don’t feel like you have to wait 5 years to start implementing them! Usually, though, dogwoods will adapt very well to any location after a few years, so don’t worry too much if your new tree looks stressed. Just be sure to offer it some TLC and it will reward you with years of beautiful spring or early-summer blooms!
My trees have brown spots …leaves dying
It's probably fungus, Brenda. Dogwoods get fungus just like rose leaves do. Spray it with a fungicide everyone couple of weeks.
My dogwood bush is about three years old and hasn't flowered yet. Is that a problem?
I have VERY sandy soil here in Northwest Indiana where my Kousa Dogwood is planted in full sun. Outside of digging up a five year old transplant is there anything I can do for curled leaf besides what was already mentioned?
I’d really hate to dig it out because this is the first time in five years that I’ve gotten a bract, yep one single bract. Boy oh boy was he excited to see that.
Hi Donna! The tips outlined in this blog post are really our best recommendations, so we don’t have any extra tricks up our sleeves 🙂 Thank you for checking, though, and best wishes in caring for your tree! -David
I Live in Northwest PA on Lake Erie. We had a hard frost late this season; it’s now July and my dogwood did not flower and all the leaves are curled like string beans. They are not dry–it looks like a willow…? Help!
It sounds like your dogwood is stressed from one or more factors. Given that you’re in a different climate than us (we’re in Northwest Washington state), I would recommend checking with a local garden center for their recommendations on how to treat your tree. Thank you!
Thank you for this article! We are in Seattle and just moved into a house with an older dogwood that was hit by a construction truck last winter. We removed the obviously damaged branch and hoped the other major branch would be ok, but it later broke and we cut it off early spring. The tree didn’t bloom all at once and the leaves are now curled. Could this be related to the damage or the heat waves this year? Thank you!
Hi Jessica, it sounds like your tree has had some pretty serious stress! I would say, however, that the curled leaves are definitely a reaction to the heat stress of earlier this year, not so much from the other damage. Keep watering the tree and feed it early next spring and it should rebound and put out some more new growth. Thanks for reading!
We live in Tri-Cities, Washington. We have had our Japanese Dogwood for about a year. The leaves have curled and are turning brown at the tips. The bark is also starting to flake off. I’m worried we are going to loose it. What can I do to help it out? Thanks!
Thanks for getting in touch and for reading our blog post! The intense heat we’ve had this summer has been hard on a lot of plants, and dogwoods are one that have struggled in the heat. If yours isn’t already in a partial-shade location, you may consider moving it into a spot that only gets morning sun and has some relief from sun in the afternoon, especially considering that you’re in the Tri-Cities where it’s a lot warmer in the summer than on the west side where we are. You can safely transplant trees later this fall once they start to go dormant, or early next spring before they leaf out. Thanks for checking!
I planted a young, pink flowering dogwood 1 yr ago. It’s currently about 48” tall. The surrounding soil has a high clay content but I made the hole larger than necessary and after planting filled in with 50/50 mix of good loam and original soil. It also gets full sun.
The tree survived winter and continues to show new growth. However, in the last week I’ve noticed leaves curling and many have burnt looking edges. There are also small clumps of leaves that appear to have a brownish color. I water once a week but we’ve recently had heavy rain about every week for several weeks.
The tree was planted as a memorial and I don’t want to lose it. I live in South Eastern New Hampshire. I suspect overwatering.
Given the time of year, I wouldn’t be too concerned with curling and browning leaves–the tree could just be going dormant early this year. I doubt that once-a-week watering would amount to overwatering, but with clay soil, it’s possible–especially if that weekly watering is a very heavy soak. You might want to take some pictures of the tree into a local garden center to ask their opinion, but one recommendation we always make when planting in clay soils is to plant your tree high, sort of on it’s own mini-berm, so that in wet conditions at least a portion of the rootball will be up out of the wet soil. The berm doesn’t have to be high; even an inch or two above the existing grade will be helpful. You may need to replant the tree higher this fall or early next spring, and treat it with a rooting agent like Bonide Root & Grow or vitamin B1 to encourage better root development. Thanks for checking with us!
My dogwoods seem to be a few years old. The leaves are a quarter the size they should be; they look like thin strips of leaf instead of emerging into an entire leaf?
Thoughts?
Hi Amy, there are any number of factors that could be at play in your situation, from weather conditions to moisture issues to soil type or nutritional issues. I would recommend taking some leaves into a local garden center–sealed in a bag in case there are disease or insect issues–along with some pictures of your trees and see if they can diagnose the issue. Thank you!
Hi I’m in the U.K. Hampshire
I have planted a Cornus Kousa Chinensis 3weeks ago in our front garden it gets sun all day in the summer even though the house faces North.
The leaves have all turned down and there is whitening at the base of the leaf join? The soil is well drained as we are on chalk ? I would really appreciate some tips it’s a shame I can’t add a photo? Looking forward to to hearing from you .
Hi Claire,
Thanks for your question! It sounds like your tree is going through transplant stress, which is normal and treatable. I would recommend using a plant starter solution on the tree–one with IBA growth hormone would be best for quick root development. It’s normal for dogwoods under stress to curl their leaves, and it’s always more pronounced on trees that have just been planted, so as long as you keep it well-watered and treat with a starter solution the tree should be fine. Thank you!
My friend was doing yard work put rocks all the way around my dog wood. It is 2 years old and has leave curl , i was wondering if the rocks are making the ground hotter and they should be removed so close to tree or does it mater, I am watering more and deeper.
Hi Terrie,
While it’s true that the rocks could be increasing the temperature of your soil, as long as you’re watering deeply your tree should be fine. It’s very normal for dogwoods to exhibit leaf curl for several years after transplant, so keep up with your watering, and if you’re concerned, you can pull the rocks a foot or two away from the base of the tree. Thanks for your question!
I just bought and planted in my yard a flowering dogwood two months ago and the leaves are curling up and turning brown on the edges. Some leaves have started to turn red already. I’ve watered religiously but it doesn’t look good at all. I’m actually wondering if I’m watering too much. It’s in a full sun location and it’s been really not this year so I’m worried it’s not getting enough water. Any advice on how I can help it succeed? I live in Toronto.
Hi Sandy, if your soil is decently well-drained, it would be almost impossible to overwater during the first year. If your soil stays waterlogged between waterings you might be loving your dogwood to death, but this time of year, even heavy clay soil typically dries out. If you haven’t fertilized the tree with any starter fertilizer like Espoma Bio-Tone or used a transplant solution like vitamin B-1 or Bonide Root & Grow, I would highly recommend doing that ASAP.
If the tree drops its leaves early this year but the branches aren’t brittle, continue to care for it through the rest of the year and see how it looks next spring. Most likely it will be fine–but I understand your concern!
Planted a wolf eye dogwood in June and it’s now doing well. Watered it everyday since planted in June . Leaves are dropping and looks like a white powder on some leaves. It has been hot in NJ this summer like the rest of the country. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Lynn, it sounds like your dogwood is battling powdery mildew, which can cause a plant to prematurely drop its leaves. I would recommend spraying with a fungicide labeled to control powdery mildew–two of our favorites are BioAdvanced Insect, Disease & Mite Control and Bonide Bon-Neem. Continue to water at the base of the tree until cooler fall weather arrives, even if it drops its leaves early. It should be okay next year. Thank you for your question!
My dogwood tree here in the Pacific Northwest started to leaf out this spring. Then 2 weeks later the leaves are curled with brown edges. It looks like some of the branches have started to die, as well. The leaves are brittle and falling off the tree. A neighboring ornamental cherry tree has also 1/3 of the branches!
Hi Tammy,
It’s possible your dogwood has anthracnose, a disease that can damage and kill dogwoods. I would recommend putting some leaves in a sealed bag and bringing them in to a local nursery for proper diagnosis.