How to Protect Shrub Dogwoods Against Diseases, Insects and Mites

Shrub dogwoods can add beauty and excitement to your landscape and gardens every season of the year. Springtime brings leaf buds blushed with red and pink. Clusters of creamy flowers come next, followed by fruits. Then fall paints the foliage of these gorgeous shrubs blazing orange and red.

For most plants, that’s where the story ends. But dogwood shrubs keep on giving with beautiful stem and bark colors that shine even in winter — and add color to homegrown bouquets any time of year.

Easy to grow and very low maintenance, shrub dogwoods are resilient and versatile. But these four-season beauties can be susceptible to common garden diseases and insect pests and mites. With Sevin® 3-in-1 Insect, Mite & Disease Control Flower & Shrub Ready To Spray, your dogwood shrubs can stay gorgeous whatever the season.

• Shrub Dogwood Pests and Diseases
• DIY Dogwood Pest and Disease Control
• Dogwood Care for Year-Round Beauty

Left unchecked, leaf diseases can detract from your dogwood’s year-round beauty.

Shrub Dogwood Pests and Diseases

Many favorite landscape shrubs benefit from some extra TLC to help fight diseases and pests. Shrub dogwoods, like luxurious garden roses and fragrant lilacs and hydrangeas, are frequent targets for common fungal diseases, including powdery mildew, anthracnose and septoria leaf spot. 

When gardens get overcrowded or shrubs get stressed by conditions such as drought, opportunistic diseases strike. Fungal diseases can spread in wet and dry weather and when temperatures are cold or hot. When diseases hit, other pests tend to follow.

For dogwoods, like most shrubs, aphids and spider mites are two common culprits that threaten your shrub’s buds, flowers and leaves. These prolific pests multiply at astonishing rates. As they do, they pierce and suck the plant juices out of your shrubs, impacting both their beauty and health.

Weakened by insects and mites, dogwoods struggle to deliver the color and impact you love. Plus, aphids excrete sticky “honeydew” that attracts ants, flies and aggressive wasps. Eventually, the sticky residue turns black with mold. Fortunately, you can protect your dogwoods with easy and effective do-it-yourself disease and pest control.

Healthy leaves and stems return your attention with beauty and color.

DIY Dogwood Pest and Disease Control

GardenTech® brands offer several highly effective garden insecticides and fungicides that kill common pests and protect against fungal disease. But with Sevin 3-in-1 Insect, Mite & Disease Control Flower & Shrub Ready To Spray, you can kill and prevent listed fungal diseases, insect pests, and notoriously hard-to-control mites with one product instead of two or three.

With Sevin 3-in-1 Insect, Mite & Disease Control Flower & Shrub Ready To Spray, treating your landscape and flower gardens is easy. Just follow the label instructions to attach the ready-to-spray container to a normal hose. Make sure that people and pets are out of the area, and then you’re ready to go. Forget about measuring and mixing, the container does that for you.

To keep your hose clean and dry, start with the farthest shrubs and flowers you want to treat. Extend your hose to that point, then work your way back so you don't drag your hose through the area you've treated. Spray shrubs and flowers until they’re fully wet to kill and prevent listed diseases and pests. As soon as the spray dries, people and pets can re-enter the area.

Unlike products that can't kill diseases, Sevin 3-in-1 Insect, Mite & Disease Control Flower & Shrub Ready To Spray kills and prevents listed fungal diseases for up to two weeks. Every time you treat for disease, this convenient, ready-to-spray formula kills listed insects and mites on contact to help keep your plants looking their very best.

TLC keeps dogwoods healthy and productive.

Dogwood Care for Year-Round Beauty

It’s a simple truth that healthy, flourishing flowers and shrubs are more resilient to diseases, pests and stress. While Sevin 3-in-1 Insect, Mite & Disease Control Flower & Shrub Ready To Spray keeps listed diseases, insects and mites controlled, you can help your dogwoods thrive with these simple basics:

Planting site: Always give your dogwoods and other shrubs good air circulation and room to grow. Avoid overcrowding. When you plant, leave enough room for the shrub's size when it’s mature. Whether you plant in fall or another time of year, Pennington Plant Starter reduces transplant shock to help newly planted dogwoods get established.

Sunlight: Shrub dogwoods are a versatile group that can tolerate wide ranges of light, from full sun to partial shade. However, more sun is tied to more flowers and fruits and leaf health. Plus, stems and fall foliage are more vibrant when dogwoods get at least 6 to 8 hours of sun.

Watering: Once established, shrub dogwoods can rely on nature to meet their watering needs. They adapt to varied soil and moisture conditions, even very wet soil. However, times of drought call for extra water. When you water, avoid wetting the leaves. Soak the soil at the shrub’s base instead.

Nutrition: With Pennington® Rejuvenate™ Plant Food All-Purpose 4-4-4, you can work with nature to help your dogwoods and other flowers and shrubs thrive. This blend of organic and natural ingredients revitalizes soil and helps strengthen plants against stress and drought. One application feeds your dogwood for up to 4 months and helps grow more bountiful flowers and fruit, too.

Pruning: As shrub dogwoods age, stems grow less vibrant. Annual pruning helps ensure peak stem color in your landscape and bouquets. Prune one-third of the old stems back to the ground each year to make room for more colorful young stems. Put your pruned stems to use in containers, arrangements or winter holiday décor.

With dogwood shrubs in your garden and landscape, you can enjoy their four-season beauty as it changes throughout the year. Have a question about gardening or diseases and pests — or just want to share a love of gardening with people who understand and care? Talk to us. Sevin brand has been here for generations of gardeners. We’re here for you, too.

Always read product labels thoroughly and follow instructions, including guidelines for listed plants and pests, and application frequency.

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Pennington and Rejuvenate are trademarks of Pennington Seed, Inc.