Hi. I planted Natchez Crape Myrtles last year and pruned them in mid-March to 4 main trunk limbs each.

1. In a video on crape myrtles, a person tied the trucks together in the spring/summer to get the trunk limbs to meld to create one main trunk. Won�t this occur naturally as the tree matures or do I need to prune it back to one main trunk limb next year?

2. Branches and leaves are growing along these main limbs where I pruned. Do I clip them off now or leave them until next spring? I remove the suckers as they appear.

3. Some kids split one main trunk branch near the base and it did not die. I wrapped it in a foam wire to prevent more damage, but should I just cut it off now or wait until late fall or next spring?

4. I use a 14-14-14 fertilizer on everything from roses to shrubs, and flowers. I used it on the trees when I pruned them and will do so again the end of May, June and Sept. Is this too much? The trees are planted on the side of a hill in poor soil (clay with sandy top).

I know this is a lot, but I want to make sure these grow into beautiful trees for all to enjoy and info in the web is either incomplete or conflicting. Thanks for your help!