crape myrtle?

Question

I like to know why do people cut the crape myrtle tree and do you suppose to do that and if you do when do I need to cut it .
mines not getting any leaves at the top and I see some people trees is blooming and mines not and some people have pretty tree trunk and mines just got leaves all the way down my trees about four years old please give me all the advice you can about how to take care of the crape myrtle trees i will be very graiful

Answer 1

You need to shape your crape myrtle to get the nice flowering canopy that this tree is known for. Of course the trimming need to be done in late winter before the tree begins to leaf out.

You start by finding two or three middle stalks that you want to use as the trunk of the tree. If you want to, you can use just one.

Cut away all the other excess brances and if necessary, bind the remaining trunks together to force them to grow upward. Then prune the brances on the lower two thirds of the remaining trunks. In the spring, keep pruning away any lower branches and this will force the tree to grow only from the top.

Repeat this process annually until the tree is at the elevation and shape that you want. Now crape myrtle come in a dwarf style that doesn't grow as tall. I have one of these that I use as an ornamental in a large flower bed, and I also thrim the top to shape the canopy. Good gardening takes more that one season. So expect to take a few seasons to get the pretty tree that you are looking for. But onc you do, you will enjoy it.

Answer 2

Crape myrtles are reall large shrubs we prune into trees which is why you have leaves all the way down. As people above have said, you have to train your plant to be a tree by selecting just one or two stems and let them be the tree trunks.

Crape myrtles are very tender and can suffer from cold damage. So wait spring when very cold weather should be past to cut back the top a bit. The new growth will have the flowers later in the summer. If you wait to prune after all the leaves are out and the plant is growing, you risk cutting off flower buds at the tips. Best to cut in the spring.

Since your plant is already bushy, do you need to make it a tree? Could you keep the mant stems and just have a shrub? That would surely be easier.

Answer 3

Crepes bloom on new growth, which is why some people hack them to the ground. They are tough and will readily grow back. Depending on what you want, you can shape the plants any way you like. I have some shrub shaped ones, that I trim back every year some to get good bloom growth. I also have some that are now quite tall, one is about 17 ft tall, and has the nice thick, rainbow-hued trunks that I keep new lateral growth pruned back so I have a tree effect. They don't all bloom the same time, I have one white one blooming some now, but the rest of my 20 or so will gradually bloom later in the month, my big red ones won't usually bloom until late July but keep blooming well into September. There are three sizes--minature (tiny, less than 2 ft max) dwarf (3 to 4 ft) and standard size, which can grow well over 20 ft in warmer climates. Minatures are great for small sunny beds, and dwarfs make excellent accent plants. Standard size will work as either a large shrub or pruned into a multitrunk tree, as mentioned above. Give yours time, I am sure it will bloom in a few weeks.

Answer 4

hey,
(DON"T DO ANY TRIMMING OR PRUNING UNTIL WINTER)

trim all the branches lower than your head, so you have a smooth trunk. don't just lop off the rest of the crape.
In Georgia we call that crape murder. You want to find the main trunk, go to where it splits into two smaller branches, follow each one of those branches until it branches, and then one more time, then cut with a lopper.

check out www.walterreeves.com - he's a georgia gardening expert and search his site. You may not live in GA, but the advice is still solid.

Answer 5

cutting them back helps the trunk get stronger and thicker.when it loses all its leaves in the winter is when you should trim it.