your words confuse me.. should we substitute GRAFT ... for BUDDING ??

as in this sentence: The budding is more than 5 feet high.

so that this would now read:

The GRAFT is more than 5 feet high.

and this would read:

Will the GRAFTED Dynamite develop into a smaller crown than if it had been grown as own root?

===>>>>

if so.. then NO.. it should grow normally ... normal size.. normal everything but for the fact that it is 5 feet in the air ...

UNLESS you let the suckers.. the completely different plant at the bottom.. suck all the life out of the grafted plant... that is possible ...

the plant coming from the roots MIGHT be a much more aggressive plant.. and that might be evidenced but the fact that it grow into a 5 foot standard much faster than the foo foo one above ... that is usually why they are grafted ...

on the other hand.. the fruit peeps do use dwarfing understocks on fruit trees ...

but i have no clue if that is done on CM ...

without us knowing what the root stock is.... we cant really speculate ....

i think i got you part of the way to what you want to know.... i hope others can bring you along...

correct any presumption i erroneously made as to changing your words .... so others can work from the proper perspective

ken

Ken, thanks for replying.

Yes, I mean grafting. The "bud union" is from rose growing (British English).

I'm familiar with grafting in citrus trees, where it's done pretty low: one or two feet above ground. In such cases the grafted part turns into a direct, almost seamless continuation of the base plant.

In my crapemyrtle, on the other hand, the grafted Dynamite (It might be grafted on Muskogee) is obviously NOT a continuation of the base. From the grafting union grow 3 Dynamite branches. It's not like in citrus where the grafted part and the base form a single trunk.

So I was wondering whether those Dynamite branches - the look very thin - twigs really - are programmed to expand so much and no more.

Could it be so?

Will 'Dynamite' develop a smaller crown if budded/grafted onto a standard?
Sorry I won't be of much help, in the US Crape Myrtle is so abundantly popular because it is easily propagated by cuttings. Am not aware of anyone grafting it.
Am interested to know if CM is routinely grafted in Europe or is this just something that you are experimenting with?

The vigor of the rootstock will affect the growth rate of the scion. If the rootstock is more vigorous than the scion (and, as Ken mentioned, it is not allowed to dominate the scion by suckering) then the scion will grow normally or even more vigorously. If the rootstock is less vigorous, then the scion will be dwarfed.

As Sam mentioned, it's a very weird thing (at least for around here) that your crape myrtle is grafted onto another cultivar. Besides the fact that you're stuck with a single trunk (that may or may not be what you'd want), there's also the increased maintenance (routine removal of suckers and foliage from rootstock) and even a possibility of a shorter life-span (graft incompatibility, etc). Except in cases where very specific characteristics are desired (for example, really pretty bark on the trunk with a cultivar not known for that characteristic), I think I would avoid grafted crape myrtles.

Sam - it's not Europe, but Israel. I see lots of grafted CMs here, but that's just episodic evidence for what it's worth. The British English "bud union" I encountered in YouTube videos on rose growing by Paul Zimmerman :)

Brandon - many thanks for your very useful reply! Single trunk and high grafting suits me to perfection because I have a small urban garden and my 2 prime considerations are privacy and shade. There's an 8-storey building the other side of the street and the sun is merciless. High-grafted CMs provide me with shade but take up litle space and allow for free movement in the garden.

Wait a minute! Zimmerman is American, so I got the term "bud union" from an American. I must have thought it was British because usually when Americans don't understand what I'm saying it's British English. Or I must have thought it was British because it's midsummer & my brain's got cooked.

Hi WinterCat, the term budding is commonly used here to describe the form of propagation of roses, fruit trees, shade trees, dogwoods etc. As I write this, large gangs of laborers are working in the fields propagating such plants from a single bud slipped under the bark of the understock.
Members of the nursery trade use the term "bud union" often.
Here's a suggestion for you, why not try one of the semi-dwarf selections suggested in this link. I would think twice before putting 'Dynamite' on a 5' standard.
FWIW I cannot legally propagate any of the trademarked plants.
The reason I asked if CM is routinely grafted there is because I know in Italy, Holland, Denmark, Germany etc,some woody plants are grafted/budded that in the US we would routinely root.

Here is a link that might be useful: New Red Crape Myrtles

'Standard' form usually just refers to the way a shrub or small tree is pruned or 'limbed up' so that a single trunk (usually) is cleared of branches from the ground up to a point -- mabye somewhere around 3 to 5 feet. And it's usually on its own roots.

Some standards are created by grafting -- like in some roses, for example. But typically it's more a pruning and training technique.

Sam - thanks for the link and for your suggestion. Trouble is it's too late. I put 2 highly budded Dynamites in the ground 18 months ago. The bud union isn't 5' but nearly 6' (5.9 to be exact - I measured to make sure).

So far they're not growing fast and furious like Muskogee, which I had to take out. The nursery said it was a "small tree". I put it in the ground in January 18 months ago and by the middle of its first summer in my garden it's already managed to shoot up 5 or 6-foot branches. At that point I suspected it wasn't the small tree it was cracked out to be. Up to that point I wasn't at all aware of the huge variety of CMs. The nursery didn't know the variety name. They had only "pink" "mauve" "white" CMs - and Dynamite. I ended up identifying my small "mauve" as Muskogee and took it out because its designated spot couldn't possibly accomodate it.

The selection of varieties here is very limited compared to the US. I also have "Raphsody in Pink", "Pink Velour" and "Cordon Bleu" - all budded and standard form.

In addition to the 6 CMs I have a poinciana - not budded :) - which I limbed up (thanks for teaching me this new turn of phrase, Dave). I chopped its top and the crown starts about 7' from the ground. She's like a huge parasol and the CMs are mostly south-east of her, where she doesn't throw any shade.

Will my highly budded Dynamites turn into monster crapes? Sort of double decker CMs?

In my experience Muskogee is very fast and vigorous. Dynamite is much slower to get going with spindly stems to start. Perhaps that's why yours was grafted.

As far as I know Crapes are not grafted in the states. I would think grafting is a bad idea since Crapes freely sucker from the roots and their natural habit is to have many trunks. Seems, grafting makes a super easy tree into a high maintenance one

When I plant a crape I let it do it's own thing. I think they're prettiest that way.