Talk of The Villages Florida - Rentals, Entertainment & More
Talk of The Villages Florida - Rentals, Entertainment & More
#1
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I purchased two nice Crepe Myrtle Trees from Fairfield Farms Nursery. (Watermelon Red, 5-6 inch trunk) While golfing yesterday, I was told you should trim back tree each year to get more flowering!! Does anyone know about this? I love the look of these trees, and how long the flowers last for the whole summer. Thanks
![]() Last edited by PaPaLarry; 05-21-2012 at 06:06 AM. |
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#2
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When it's bloomin' time I will report on ours.
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#3
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#4
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There is a right way and a wrong way to trim them back, and I don' know how
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#5
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__________________
It is better to laugh than to cry. |
#6
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They are very hard to kill...no matter what you do they will grow...I dug up mine & replanted it & chopped it down to nothing, it grew bigger than before!!
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#7
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Trim about 1/3 of the branch length when the tree is dormant each winter. Blooms occur on new growth in the spring and summer. Don't cut the branches all the way back to the main stem. That's what is called crepe murder.
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#8
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#9
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PapaLarry....Here is great site to tell you about pruning Crape Myrtles, also has some good illustrations.
How To Prune A Crape Myrtle We actually cut ours back more severely this year because I don't like the long "leggy" look of the trunks with just the tops having leaves. Prefer more leaves and less trunk. I was concerned, but not only did it come back, but it came back fuller and is still growing! My hubby is just amazed how they come back. We cut ours back in March. We even have a baby one that has sprouted beside the big one. It came up last summer and this year is about 2 feet tall so far. Waiting for the trunks to get a bit larger to transplant. If you have Japanese beetles down there (we are still in SC), I strongly recommend using a systemic pesticide on them because Crape Myrtles are one of the beetles fav food. The one year I didn't use it you could actually hear them munching on the leaves as you walked past, and the tree seemed to "move" with them. It was disgusting and they would fall out of the tree all over the ground and all over you if you were standing near it. I use the Bayer Advanced granules and put it on in the winter. |
#10
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I've had Crape Myrtle's for the last 25 years and if you want them to really bloom they must be cut back in the winter. The blooms only come on the new growth and they look better if they have some shape to them, to me anyway. I had both types the tree that grows tall and the bush type that only gets about 3 feet tall.
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#11
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#12
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Thanks everyone for your suggestions!!! I'll make sure I don't "Crepe Murder" them. They look good already, and hope to see blooms in a few weeks.
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#13
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__________________
It is better to laugh than to cry. |
#14
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Read an article in the paper that said not to trim them until late Feb.
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#15
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Dormant time is when to shape and trim them. Just look at how nice the mature trees are on the golf courses and public roadways. However we learned (and it works) that if you trim the flower heads off when the flowers fall, so that the green seed pods don't develop, the tree will bloom again about 6 weeks later, and depending on the timing you can force a 3rd flowering.
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