Crape Myrtle Progression

dbonsaiw

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How vigorously do you go at the roots at repotting? Mine is currently in a 3 gallon nursery pot and I will need to reduce the roots considerably. Can I do it in one go or better to go in stages? OK to bare root? Bare root and reduce canopy in one go? I've grown accustomed to maples and am a little bit in the weeds on this one.
 

VAFisher

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How vigorously do you go at the roots at repotting? Mine is currently in a 3 gallon nursery pot and I will need to reduce the roots considerably. Can I do it in one go or better to go in stages? OK to bare root? Bare root and reduce canopy in one go? I've grown accustomed to maples and am a little bit in the weeds on this one.
I've been pretty ruthless with them and they have done just fine. This particular tree was dug, chopped, bare rooted and severely root pruned in one go.

And here's dwarf crape that got even more brutal treatment. These 2 pics were about an hour apart, taken in May 2017.

2017-05-28 10.04.12_zpsvwh55tuc.jpg
20170615_190242_zpshzbzi43w.jpg

And this is the tree later in 2017.
2018-10-06 07.24.37.jpg

And this is the tree in 2020 starting to make some progress. Sadly, I killed it that winter. I think the tiny pot just got too dry.

20200626_162337.jpg

All of that to say that I wouldn't hesitate to go brutal if it was mine. But there's nothing wrong with playing it safe either.
 

jandslegate

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I've been pretty ruthless with them and they have done just fine. This particular tree was dug, chopped, bare rooted and severely root pruned in one go.

And here's dwarf crape that got even more brutal treatment. These 2 pics were about an hour apart, taken in May 2017.

View attachment 462333
View attachment 462334

And this is the tree later in 2017.
View attachment 462335

And this is the tree in 2020 starting to make some progress. Sadly, I killed it that winter. I think the tiny pot just got too dry.

View attachment 462338

All of that to say that I wouldn't hesitate to go brutal if it was mine. But there's nothing wrong with playing it safe either.
That's fantastic. I have a dwarf that will be ready to repot this spring. I did light shaping this season with caution being my priority. Now I feel more at ease as to what I had planned, lol . Out of curiosity, what cultivar is your dwarf? It looks a lot like mine which is a pocomoke. Thing grows like it's on steroids lol.
 

VAFisher

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That's fantastic. I have a dwarf that will be ready to repot this spring. I did light shaping this season with caution being my priority. Now I feel more at ease as to what I had planned, lol . Out of curiosity, what cultivar is your dwarf? It looks a lot like mine which is a pocomoke. Thing grows like it's on steroids lol.
It is/ was a pokomoke.
 
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