Hard Pruning of Crepe Myrtle

[MikeK]

Hi All,

One of my Christmas presents this year was a collected Crepe Myrtle, which I've not had any experience with before.

When collected it was cut back to a stump and it has since shot back with lots of new branches but these haven't been managed and are all going the wrong direction (straight up), poor placement, etc. They're also pretty brittle, so not sure I can bend too far

My plan is to cut back to the trunk and start again with new branch selection & early wiring (i.e., remove pretty much all the new growth).

Is it OK to do this now (January/mid summer in Sydney) or should I be waiting until just before the new spring growth?

cheers
Michael

[Beano]

How long ago was it collected? Have you seen the roots? If it was only collected in the last year maybe best to let it grow a little. I’ve discovered that while hardy they aren’t bomb proof (as someone else on here put it, haha!). I’d love to see a picturi love crepes as bonsai.


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[shibui]

I was going to say that you should be able to prune back and start again but Beano has picked up on the 'collected'. Definitely need to allow some time for new roots to establish well before subjecting it to another massive prune.
If you can see plenty of new roots at the drainage holes of the pot and you have been feeding and watering well complete removal now should be OK, otherwise leave it until next spring.
The new shoots should be quite flexible. The weakest part is the base where they may not be well attached to the trunk and many will peel off if pushed too far.