Crape Myrtle Pruning Help Needed

17 years ago

Hi all,

Wanted to ask for opinions on what I should do about two crape myrtles in my yard that appear to have never really been taken care of by the previous owner. Everything I've read tells me to thin out the canopy, prune weak growth, etc. My trees have many trunks that rub up against each other, and many that have grafted together. It appears that it will be difficult to remove some of the trunks without having to cut away some trunks that have grafted together. Should I try my best to do this, cut the trees all the way back to the ground and start over, etc? The blooms are pretty nice during the summer, but the trees never really get any green leaves like I see other crape myrtles have. It's just pink flowers and a few green leaves. Suggestions?

My other tree, not quite as bad as the one in the front yard, but still a mess with rubbing branches and grafts.

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Comments (4)

JerryatTreeZoo
17 years ago
TR,

The way I look at complicated jobs is to do a little at a time. Cut a branch off, stand back and look for the next cut. Sometimes it helps to have an accomplice shake the branch you are considering removing, this will allow you to picture what the tree would be like without that branch.

It sounds simplistic, but cut off what does not belong and what is leftover usually looks pretty good. In your first pic, the first thing you remove is the dead wood. Next, there is a smaller branch that starts at the right then cuts to the left through the center of the tree, get rid of that one. Remove the crossing and rubbing branches. Eventually try to get a vase or "V" shape.

Jerry
tamparookie
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks Jerry, makes sense! Regarding the piece of dead wood and crossing branches. Some of them grafted onto other trunks. Will removing them hurt the trunk(s) that they are grafted to, and if not, what is the best way to separate them to minimize any damage?
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gatormomx2
17 years ago
Now is the perfect time to prune . Your trees could definitely use some help . It might be more beneficial to prune some old growth this year and some next year to avoid shocking the largest tree too much . I would leave the branches that have grafted together . A large wound in the bark will allow entry of insects and disease .

Crapes seem to look best when they have 3 ,5, or 7 main trunks .
That might be a good place to start .

You will want to avoid cutting them to the ground .
Severe pruning or topping can stimulate basal sprouting which can become a constant nuisance, requiring regular removal .

Well-established plants are extremely drought tolerant and have low fertility requirements, although they respond to fertilizer and water with lush growth.

You will find more info here -

Here is a link that might be useful: Crape Myrtle in Florida
tamparookie
Original Author
17 years ago
That dead wood that you can see in the 1st picture is grafted to a live trunk. Should I leave that alone or go ahead and remove it carefully and try to minimize damage to the live trunk?

I think I'm gonna take a crack at it this weekend and see what happens. Thanks for all the help!