How to Prune a Red Twig
Red Twig is a variety of dogwood tree with dark red shoots. Like other dogwoods, the Red Twig blooms with white flowers in late spring and produces red berries in the fall months. In general, Red Twigs don't require a lot of pruning, but occasional pruning can help maintain the plant's health and encourage new growth. Red Twigs can also be pruned as often as necessary to keep the plant at a decent size for your landscape. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Cut off all wood that is dead, infested with insects or shows signs of disease, such as color changes or softening of the wood. Use pruning shears to cut off small limbs less than 1 inch in diameter. Use a pruning saw for limbs or branches that have a diameter greater than 1 inch.
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Select branches at the center of the Red Twig dogwood that have a duller color than the vibrant red outer branches. Remove up to 1/3 of these dull branches from the tree each year. Cut the branches at their bases near ground level.
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Don't remove any branches from the Red Twig dogwood if the tree has no dead, diseased or infested wood, or if none of the branches have dulled color in comparison to the rest. Red Twig dogwoods don't need pruning to encourage growth. If the plant is getting too large for your yard, though, cut the branches back at the tips by about ¼ to limit the plant's size. Don't cut back so far that you cut off all the leaves on a branch.
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Pinch off suckers, the narrow, twig-like growths that sprout at the base of the trunk, as soon as they appear if you don't want them to form into full branches. Push aside some of the soil around each sucker to get beneath the ground and grasp the sucker at its base. Pinch the base between your fingers, pull gently and the sucker should come free.
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Prune the Red Twig only as much as needed to keep the wood healthy and the tree thriving. Do not prune to shape the plant or remove more than 1/3 of the branches on the Red Twig dogwood at any one time.
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Tips & Warnings
Like most shrubs, Red Twig dogwoods fare best if you prune them in early spring just before the beginning of the growing season.
