How to prune this tree?

8 years ago

This is a crepe myrtle I started about 4 years ago from a root sucker. I transplanted it into my hellstrip a couple years back. I haven’t pruned it at all. It’s maybe 6’ tall?

photos are looking at it from both directions.

how can I make this thing look good? I want the crepe myrtle look where you have 3 trunks with some space in between them, and then on top of the trunks a ball of leaves and flowers in the summer.

thanks for any advice. It might be hard to see, but there are multiple stems coming out of the ground.

Featured Answer

sam_md

8 years ago

hi mattp321,

You have the makings of a nice CM. You are doing the right thing by starting while it is small. If you have inward branches they should be removed. If you have branches which rub remove the weakest one. No need to limit yourself to 3 trunks. If you have adequate space you may one day have one that looks like this:

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Comments (7)

mattp321
Original Author
8 years ago
Okay I can do that. With regards to the way it grows, can someone confirm whether new growth comes from the tips (at top of plant) or does the whole plant like lift up as the trunks elongate from the base? Beginner question but it’s something that confuses me.

reason I ask is, if I leave a branch split location at a particular height, say 24” off the ground, will that joint always be there 24” off the ground, or will it be located higher up in the future?
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sam_md
8 years ago
I should also mention that some selections are naturally more upright than others. Here is 'Biloxi' in Annandale VA. Notice how it varies from previous pic.

To answer your question, think of how lovers carve a heart in a beech tree. If they come back 20 years later the carving is at the same height.
mattp321
Original Author
8 years ago
Nice pic... I actually live 5 mins from GSG in that pic...

it makes sense what you say about carving names in the tree, however I have difficulty reconciling that with my experience hiking in forested areas, where I oftentimes see trees with basically a single trunk like 50’ long and then opening up to a canopy. Obviously these trees didn’t just grow straight and unbranched for decades then open up. So that’s where my thought about the entire tree structure being lifted up from below came from... but obviously you’re correct and they grow from the tips
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
does the whole plant like lift up as the trunks elongate from the base?

==>>>im not aware of anything that grows like that ...

you should be able to tell how much a tree/shrub grows.. by how the bark ages .... matures ...

go out there and look at a tip.. the stick is green ... track back on the branch.. and at some point.. you will not its a different color.. probably brown or grey ... thats last years growth ...

track back even further.. and you will probably see a texture starting to develop ... etc ..

in fact.. i can see it in your second pic ...

by studying this.. you can estimate annual growth.. and future potential size ...

ken
Sara Malone Zone 9b
8 years ago
Ken - that's how grass grows. The meristem is at the base not the tip. But other than grasses I don't know of any plants that don't have the meristem at the tip.
mattp321
Original Author
8 years ago
Took a shot at pruning... first time doing this... the leaders look too “wide” or too spread apart to me:
perhaps more will grow out of the base in the future?