Crepe Myrtles
 

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:wave:

PapaLarry...There was a thread on this and I think it was called Crepe Murder...about trimming them back. Half did, half did not think it was the thing to do. We did, the guy next door did not. We are waiting to see when they bloom who wins. I think it may be too late now to trim them and you could cut off where they will blossom.

When it's bloomin' time I will report on ours.

Thanks Gracie!!! Just heard this yesterday, and thought I would ask.

There is a right way and a wrong way to trim them back, and I don' know how

We cut off their little berries/little round things:shrug: at the top.:D

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!!

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.

I have read some websites about trimming. Basically, trimming is recommended, to a degree. Like anything else it can be overdone. You want to trim them just enough to prevent the branches from getting so long they sag. Whenever I think about overdoing things I think of my father. He overdid everything. It was the German in him. :2excited:

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.

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.

Thanks so much. I will remember that in late fall, winter:bowdown:

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.:BigApplause::bigbow:

omigosh. Sis!

Read an article in the paper that said not to trim them until late Feb.

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.