Dogwood Advice (Photo's Attached)

Brian2412

Same deal as the others...I've recently moved to Richland, WA (Eastern Washington) and have a young dogwood tree growing in the back yard. I’m not sure when it was planted, but the house was built in 2005 so I can assume that the tree was planted some time since then.

My questions are:
1) When should I prune (late dormancy or mid-summer)? I plan on pruning all of my trees in the late winter, but before spring (probably early February). Do dogwoods require much pruning?
2) Is this tree over crowded with limbs? It looks like it needs thinned out to me, but again, I’m new to all of this and am not familiar with the dogwood. Please make recommendations.
3) Should I spread any of the limbs out? Please make recommendations…
5) How old do you think this dogwood is? Should I be concerned about its smaller size?

Attached are photo's of the tree.

As a reminder - We are zone 7 (although, probably closer to a high 6). My soil is like beach sand when I dig. At the recommendation of the local nursery, I added soil amendments to try to help the tree (cutting out grass around the base) and mixing native soil with compost. I've also staked it to help with our high spring winds, however, will be removing these over the weekend.




Thank you in advance for the help.

Attached Thumbnails

   

TreeCo

Step away from the Dogwood!

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kiwi_tree_steve

im with treeco, ive viewed all your pics, and i reckon, that you DO NOT prune any of these trees prob for the next 2 years at least maby 5 , these trees are all babys, let them grow first.

i do admire the fact that you wish to do things correct, above is my opinion un seen tho

steve

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