Red Bud question (growing, fertilizer, Dogwood, trees)
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Novice guy here. About a month ago a co-worker was nice enough to give me 4 young red bud plants freshly up-rooted from his land (same day), I planted 2 in the front (east & west sides) and 2 in the back (south & west sides) of house. Now that approx 4~5 weeks later and the ones on east side and south side are doing wonderful with lots of big green leaves all over, but the two on west side are not doing so well with sparsely and small green leaves.
I am trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to make these two west side facing red buds grow more leaves. The one on the east side at front of house gets just as much sun as west-facing red bud trees, except it's closer to drainage so the soil probably contains more water. But it has been raining almost every other day for the last 2 weeks so it's difficult to imagine that it is a lack of H2O problem. Meanwhile, the south-facing red bud grows in the shade under a much bigger tree and is also doing wonderfully well just as the east-facing red bud (which is not under shade), and it was hardly ever watered except for the rain.
Would appreciate any insights, helpful suggestions, etc.
Novice guy here. About a month ago a co-worker was nice enough to give me 4 young red bud plants freshly up-rooted from his land (same day), I planted 2 in the front (east & west sides) and 2 in the back (south & west sides) of house. Now that approx 4~5 weeks later and the ones on east side and south side are doing wonderful with lots of big green leaves all over, but the two on west side are not doing so well with sparsely and small green leaves.
I am trying to figure out if there's anything I can do to make these two west side facing red buds grow more leaves. The one on the east side at front of house gets just as much sun as west-facing red bud trees, except it's closer to drainage so the soil probably contains more water. But it has been raining almost every other day for the last 2 weeks so it's difficult to imagine that it is a lack of H2O problem. Meanwhile, the south-facing red bud grows in the shade under a much bigger tree and is also doing wonderfully well just as the east-facing red bud (which is not under shade), and it was hardly ever watered except for the rain.
Would appreciate any insights, helpful suggestions, etc.
Thanks.
I had several Red Buds until I moved. Remember East is morning sun and West is afternoon sun. To much shade will stunt their growth. Is it the Eastern Red Bud variety? They don't like full sun as much. Eastern Red Buds do real well with morning sun and protection from the hot afternoon sun depending on the zone you live in. On the East side of a tree line or the house can be good. If you plant near a tree line be sure the eventual drip line of bigger tree doesn't eventually shade your Red Bud out.
Hi TurbogP, thanks for the feedback. Yes they are the Eastern Red Buds. Full sun is most likely the cause for the two on west side of house as they get the full afternoon sun.
What can I do short of dig them up and re-plant them?
I've had so-so luck with transplanting Red Buds. My parents do it quite a bit and tell me they are finicky about being transplanted. Some take off while others have sulked at being moved.
Maybe that has something to do with it too.
OK, I guess I'll have to put a BIG sun-umbrella next to them
These Alabama clay are HARD ! I am not digging them out again!
You could try to plant a Dogwood close by. One that is tolerant of sun and will help to shade the Red Bud. Normal Dogwoods and Red Buds go well together as they like similar conditions and look great budding in sequence with possible overlap. What you could try is to plant a Kousa (Chinese) Dogwood between the Red Bud and the sunline. Kousa Dogwoods are sun tolerant and will help shade the Red Bud. Also Kousa Dogwoods leaf out first and than bloom. Which gives you white buds on a green background. The leafing out is early and will help shade the Dogwood. I have had them together in another life and they look great.
I planted a red bud in my shaded back yard several years ago. Our electric company gives away dogwood and redbud trees in the spring because they don't grow tall enough to interfere with the power lines. I had no trouble with my redbud growing in the shade. Had a little humor with that tree. We (my young sons and I) planted it on the edge of our verysmall garden. I planted bird house gourds along the fence line a couple years later. We had no problem until the next spring. I moved out following our divorce and the boys didn't get all the gourds. The next spring volunteer gourds came up and the vines located the red bud tree. Everybody in town joked about the "gourd tree" my exwife had growing in the back yard. lol
Talked to the same co-worker today about this problem. He suggested some nitrogen fertilizer so I'll give that a try first.
I do plan to plant dogwood next to the redbud, except it will be 20 feet away, so I don't think that will help the sun problem. I could build a "tent" over the redbud blocking the afternoon for a few weeks and see what happens?
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