Should i trim my crepe myrtles

For year-round interest, remember this Southern classic. Plant one now, and watch your tree change with the seasons. Not all soils in the South pass the acid test. Some turn oak trees yellow and cause the leaves of azaleas and gardenias to become yellow between the veins. These soils do this because they're alkaline. What's alkaline soil? It's soil with a pH above the neutral point of 7 a pH below 7 is considered acid.

It typically occurs in regions with sparse rainfall, such as West and North Texas and western Oklahoma. But it also occurs where beds of ancient limestone lie just beneath the surface. This is why people often refer to alkaline soil as "limy" or "chalky. Alkaline soil affects plants by increasing the availability of some soil nutrients while holding back on others. For example, alkaline soil supplies plants with plenty of calcium and magnesium.

But it's stingy with zinc, manganese, and sulfur. These shortfalls can stunt certain plants. The major nutrient most commonly deficient in high pH soil is iron.

Lack of iron causes chlorosis yellow leaves with green veins. Severe chlorosis eventually kills plants. To determine for sure whether your soil is alkaline, have it tested. You'll find simple soil-test kits at garden centers, nurseries, and home supply stores. If you discover your soil is indeed alkaline, you have two options. The first is to completely replace the existing soil with acid soil, so you can grow acid-loving plants.

But this is laborious and expensive and seldom succeeds over time. A far better solution is simply to select plants that like alkaline soil. There are lots to choose from and many are carefree, drought-tolerant native plants. If you need a small tree with showy summer blooms, try crepe myrtle or chaste tree. Both tolerate drought and are easy to grow. Crepe Myrtle Pruning Step-by-Step. By Steve Bender. Save FB Tweet More. Colorful Crepe Myrtle. Credit: Southern Living.

It prevents the formation of pretty, mottled bark on maturing trunks. All side branches growing from the main trunks up to a height of at least 4 feet.

Branches growing at awkward angles that detract from the tree's appearance. All rights reserved. Close Sign in. Orange-red to dark red. Bright orange-red. Deep pink to red. Proper pruning is one of the most misunderstood of all gardening practices, yet it is one of the most important procedures in a landscape. A common victim of bad, improper pruning is the crape myrtle. Crape myrtles will occasionally need pruning to obtain the desired landscape effect, but many times these plants are butchered for no good reason.

According to Dan Gill, LSU Ag Center Horticulturist, an unfortunate trend in crape myrtle pruning is to lop off their tops, which results in a tree reduced to large branches ending in stubs. The lush growth that occurs at these cut sites appears vigorous but is actually structurally weak and more susceptible to fungus diseases such as powdery mildew. And when pruning is conducted improperly over several years, unsightly large, swollen knobs form at the point where pruning is done each year.

Flowers are not the only virtue of this tree. Many varieties have beautiful bark and growth habits that can be enjoyed all year if trees are not heavily pruned. This unsightly, ugly pruning known as crape murder is not recommended. Often gardeners think they are supposed to prune their crape myrtles that way, and nothing could be farther from the truth.

Many think that crape myrtles need to be cut way back to bloom well. This is not accurate. The flower clusters may be larger on lopped trees, but the added weight on the ends of long branches causes them to bend over awkwardly, especially after it rains. And since the tree is smaller, it actually produces fewer flower clusters. Many people say they need to cut a crape myrtle back because of its size. They are supposed to be large. To prune a crape myrtle properly, first decide if it needs to be pruned.

As with any pruning project, you must have a specific, valid purpose in mind before you begin. If you do see something that calls for pruning, study the tree carefully and determine what needs to be pruned to accomplish the specific purpose identified.

There are a few valid reasons for pruning a crape myrtle. One reason is to eliminate crossed and rubbing branches because rubbing branches can lead to open wounds. Over time, branches that are too low on the trunk will need to be pruned to raise the canopy.

We often need to remove weak, thin branches from the inner part of the tree to produce a cleaner-looking tree. Selected branches may need to be pruned back to a side branch or the trunk to create a shapelier tree. Of course, you need to prune to keep suckers removed from the base of the trunk. Generally, avoid cutting back or shortening branches much larger than your finger, although cutting larger branches back to a side branch or to the trunk when needed is fine.

Visitors to our area often marvel over our crape myrtles. During summer, their colorful flowers, attractive bark and beautiful shape make them among our most valuable landscape plants. Please appreciate this — and stop the unfortunate trend of hacking them back. Pictured top: Crape myrtle trees do not need pruning for new growth.

Pictured below: These Crape myrtles were ruined with unnecessary topping. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia. I planted two Lagerstroemia Tuscarora Multi last summer.

They were about 5 ft tall. So I cut the dead branches back and let the suckers grow and bloom etc. I was going to just thin out the suckers and see if I could make it look like a tree again. Any advice?. Sprayed them with copper fungicide after they started blooming should be done just before blooming as I found out to late. Can they be saved? Have 16 trees and all are looking bad. What is the correct method? As a bonus, pruning correctly is much less work than incorrectly pruning!

What is the incorrect method? If you are going to prune, prune correctly! Bad crapemyrtle pruning: Good crapemyrtle pruning: This is the correct way to prune a crapemyrtle! Here are some images of tree crapemyrtles after both correct and incorrect pruning: Growth after incorrect crapemyrtle pruning: Growth after correct crapemyrtle pruning. Share this: Twitter Facebook Pinterest Email. Our Inventory See What's Growing. Thank you for growing with us for over 45 years! Picture Picture Picture.

What's more… When Crape Murder is committed it can literally appear that half, or more, of the plant has been removed. On the one hand This technique is used by some no professional landscapers and homeowners because it's quick, fairly easy, the plant almost always recovers..

OK… that's fine you say… but meanwhile you might be wondering "What are Suckers? Most professional lawn care services and homeowners who know what they are doing will prune these off. Now with that being said , if you want your Crape Myrtle to have a more "natural" look or would maybe would even prefer for it to grow multiple trunks, then the good news is you can leave some of the suckers to grow up.

The best part? Blooms will appear on new growth suckers. But it helps to identify which pruning style meets your ideal look, so keep reading to find out more about the three main pruning styles. In my opinion , the single trunk Crape Myrtle is one of the more beautiful shapes the tree can take on with proper pruning, however, will require the most investment in pruning each year.

Why is the case? First you'll need to remove any extra stems protruding from the ground, as well as any suckers. If you choose the single trunk method its best to start while the Crape Myrtle tree is younger as more established trees most likely can not be retroactively pruned to this style and shape.

The multi trunk look for Crape Myrtles is probably the most common professional trimming approach. It is relied upon by lawn care services all over the country to establish beautiful Crape Myrtle bushes full of blooms each spring and summer for their clients.

So you might not know this but allowing your Crape Myrtle to grow into its natural shape has been the trend in recent years. So the good news is you can tell that to your neighbors and even better this approach requires little to no pruning.

It's easy.. Just allow your plant to branch and spread naturally. Your Crape Myrtle will still bloom and be beautiful so long as it's watered and fertilized properly. Crape Myrtles are one of the most resilient and prune-able plants I have ever seen. So its really just a matter of your preference how much time and effort you are willing to invest into heir pruning and care. There's really no "wrong" way to do it, so experiment and have fun!

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