Crepe Murder

[porsche tech]

I have a spindly crepe myrtle in my side yard that has been in need of pruning for a long time. I hacked it away a bit this afternoon. Anyone who might know about this stuff (Baz)...do you think I committed Crepe Murder or does this bush have a chance of survival? Thanks for any input.--Dave

[Sooner or later]

Now is when you should be pruning them

[beatnavy]

+1 ^

Prune any time between now and March. That is basically what you should do, assuming you want it to remain a tree (which is what it should be).

I actually don't like crepe myrtles because of the pruning maintenance.

[stomachmonkey]

I've seen worse that came back.

[Evans, Marv]

I just planted a Crepe Myrtle last Fall, so I'm not knowledgeable enough on them yet. Mine seemed to die back toward winter but I understand they are deciduous. I did send a PM to Baz asking him about it but never heard anything back. I'd say generally yours looks like it would spring back OK.

[mattdavis11]

My experience says you can't kill them no matter how hard you try. I ended up ripping them out of the ground with a F350 7.3 Power Stroke and a 12,000 lb warn winch. That got the job done.

[Jim Richards]

I was expecting this...

[seafeye]

I think I’d cut further down to the knuckle. Then also cut at an angle. Each year you trim back you can just go to the same spot or knuckle. The trunk will get stronger and thicker. I cut mine every two years. I think every year is excessive. 3 might. E perfect.

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by Evans, Marv

I just planted a Crepe Myrtle last Fall, so I'm not knowledgeable enough on them yet. Mine seemed to die back toward winter but I understand they are deciduous. I did send a PM to Baz asking him about it but never heard anything back. I'd say generally yours looks like it would spring back OK.

They are damn near impossible to kill
Trim them mid to late winter. You can cut them back quite a bit.
Cut off new stalks to keep it tree like. Some varieties may do better as a bush.
They only bloom on new growth.
As soon as you see a seed start to develop pull it off. That will cause more and longer lasting blooms. No actually necessary

[Bill Douglas]

A chick at a party call called me a Crepe. I guess she meant I was something sweet she would like to devour.

[Baz]

Thanks for the pic, P-tech.....something that always helps when one is looking for input.

There are two schools of thought on this.

Some prefer to cut off all the branches each year down to a certain level, as you have done.

Others believe in leaving much of the vertical branches as long as they contribute to the desired growth habit.

What everyone does agree on is removing all suckers and small branches that criss cross in the canopy along with the seed pods up top.

BTW...is it Crepe....or Crape?

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Baz

BTW...is it Crepe....or Crape?

It's Crape.

But without Crepe we would not have heard Bill's scintillating story from 1983.

[Baz]

Quick anecdote.......

When I was in college studying Ornamental Horticulture, we had classes called Plant Identification. There were three different courses with over 20 plants per week. We had to learn everything about the plants....with a weekly quiz that included identifying sample plants in a lab plus spelling their names - including the Latin (or Botanical or Scientific) names.

I had a fellow classmate and we would come up with word-association to help us where possible.

The Holly family is Aquifoliaceae - so Aqua is Latin for water, which is shiny like a holly leaf - for example.

My buddy gets credit for the C.M.....it's Latin name is Lagerstroemia indica. Lager=beer - we like CM's......and we like beer.....and there you have it....lol.....

[gtc]

Crepe murder is what they do at The Crepe Place in Santa Cruz, CA. Those abominations they serve don't deserve to be called crepes.

[Noah930]

FWIW the crepe truck at the Culver City farmer's market on Sunday mornings is pretty good, Graham.

[id10t]

I grow mine long and spindly starting about at the height yours are. Trim them every 3 years or so, or rather a friend does. He uses 'em as stock to make wands to sell at ren fairs and makes an OK living

[COL911]

You should see it sprouting again in a week!

[rattlsnak]

I have two of the biggest ones of those I have ever seen in my backyard. Prune them every year and they are easily @30ft. tall..

[porsche tech]

Thanks for the input. A guy I play golf with said his yard guy said to trim them about 8" or so above the knuckle so that's what I did. I also cut off all the little sucker pieces too, as Baz suggested. Time will tell.

[Noah930]

I must be doing something wrong. I got a freebie (Crape Myrtle) tree from the City of LA last spring for Earth Day. I don't think it's grown an inch (upwards) since I put it in the ground. It's gotten wider and leafier, but not taller. Heck, I'm still taller than it.