I would submit that marginally-hardy plants, such as crape myrtle in your area, are best moved in the spring or late winter. Reason being that an established root system is present right now to help the plant draw up any needed moisture in another rough winter, should one come. If you dig now, you compromise this root system and plant could be severely stressed in a bad winter.

For plants that are bullet-proof hardy in your region, fall transplant is OK.

Do crapes typically die back in your region or do they become small trees?

Dave - what you said has been my thinking as well, but thought I'd throw out the question to see what others in my region have experienced. Crapes stems typically die back during the winter, but not always. I've never seen any tree form or very large shrub plants in my area.

Marshall

in my z5 ... MI ... due north of you a bit ... i would say its a bit late to be moving much of anything ...

we have had night temps below 32 ... which means freezes... rather than frost ...

and i highly doubt with said night temps... there is any retained soil warmth ... so you arent going to get much of any root growth ...

and if you have that famous OH clay ... i would worry about where excess planting water might go ... if it has anywhere to go ...

and i like the idea above ... why stress it now.. just before winter ... let it deal with winter in good shape.. then move it in spring ...

my gut tells me.. with the cold.. its basically going to be in suspended animation ... with most of its root mass gone... so what do you have to gain.. by doing it now???

ken

If you cut the roots now it's just going to sit there all winter in a vulnerable condition - that's why bare-rooted roses and fruits trees etc. dug in November are warehoused all winter, shipped in time for spring planting - they amount to big cuttings with some roots already present.

Assuming crape myrtles function in this respect like most temperate climate trees and shrubs if you instead dig it right before bud break in spring new roots will immediately come out of the cut root ends, when the stem buds open. But full establishment will not occur until fall, so you will probably have to water consistently that first summer after the move.

From my standpoint, SW Ohio is "down south", lol! I was thinking in terms of a long, reasonably warm soil temp period. Maybe I'm wrong about that. BTW, from most of what I've seen, it is a soil temp of right around 50F at which plants are able to initiate and extend their roots. That and above, of course. Maybe it's not so simple though. It seems at least possible that species could vary a bit in this regard. As to the species in question, I have no particular idea.

+oM

The general pattern in cold climates is new root formation in spring and existing root extension in fall, with summer root growth much less and winter basically a time of plant hibernation. Fall in this context is when winter stem buds mature, this can be as early as July where summer soils are dry.

The same cycle can even be seen in clumping, long-lived herbaceous perennials like peonies.

Thanks for all the comments - even though no one replied who had personally moved crapes this time of year in my region - I was hoping for some of those experiences. That said, I have moved many trees and shrub this time of the year with very few failures. And the arboretum where I volunteer just received 75 lilacs of various species which were dug last week in northern Ohio and will be planted next week. If transplanting this time of the year in this area is an issue, I don't think this would be happening. But then again, these are all region hardy plants whereas the crape is marginally hardy. So with the weather being good the next few days, I may find time to do the transplant. I have a few others to move and will do them next early spring and if I think about it, I might reply on my success/failure.

Marshall

i dont do CMs up in MI ...

but i have taken sucker cuttings of lilac.. IN AUGUST ... with one wisp of a root on a 8 inch stick ... and shoved then in my sand ... and forgotten to water ... and they lived thru the next winter ...

i wouldnt call that prime aftercare .. lol ... but for me.. it puts L in the category... of plants you couldnt kill.. if you ran them over with the truck ...

so i would suggest comparing them to CM ... which are probably much the same.. in their warmer more suitable climates ... might be akin to comparing apples and oranges ...

good luck... just do it.. if you insist ... thats really the only way you learn how to do it... in your clime.. in your micro climate.. in your soil.. in your garden ...

ken

I would take Embos root growth treatment one step further, to explain that "feeder roots" those upward-turned structures that do the actual absorption of water and nutrients in the "soil solution" are not permanent structures at all, reforming and dying all the time over the course of one growing season. The turf example is perhaps simpler and a bit easier to see: So, in north temperate zone turf plantings, the best growth occurs when air temps are only around 70F or a bit lower. And this top growth spurs new root formation. Around late July of most years, nearly all of these "new" roots will be sloughed off, now dead and non-functioning. In fact, depending on actual weather patters, this type of cycle could repeat many times over the course of one growing season. So if we're talking feeder roots, resist the temptation to think of them as permanent. They are not. And going back to that turf paradigm, this cycle is why it is most efficient to do the bulk of your lawn fertilizing-if any-late in the growing season, when root system reformation is ongoing. Ideally, once the heat of summer has broken, a light app. of N to get things on the mend, followed by the single heaviest application, later in the fall, but before soil has gone cold. Heh, I remember when I used to do all this stuff! Truth is, my ultra-low-input lawn is still doing fine, albeit there's a lot more weeds now than back when I actually gave a damn. I'm grampa now and having a good place for little kids to play matters more to me than not having "creeping charlie" in the turf.

+oM

mrgpag,

I think you better wait til next spring for your crape myrtle transplant.

To be honest with you, I'm surprised you have had a crape myrtle not die on you in 10 years! Seriously, I'm surprised. Anyway, be on the safe side if you like it. If not, transplant it, and if it dies, it dies.