Crepe Myrtle from Seed: When to make the first cut?

Megan

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Hello lovely community!
I’m brand new in this bonsai world and seeking some advice! I planted a crepe myrtle from seed at the start of the pandemic and she’s now grown to 30” tall! When should I first trim her back? Will doing so earlier encourage a thicker trunk? Any thoughts are welcome!
 

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Shibui

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When and where to cut depends on your aims and aspirations.
Cutting definitely won't help thicken the trunk - quite the opposite. Trunk thickening is related to how many leaves/ how much growth is happening. Pruning reduces the growth and therefore reduces thickening.

Most bonsai growers trying for thick trunks allow the trees to grow as big as possible to get maximum thickness quick but there is a drawback with lack of taper and large scars after chopping a thick trunk.
Some of us forgo the really quick thickening to get better taper and smaller scars by semi regular pruning. Result may take a couple of extra years but results are usually better. I'd agree with @SeanS about a couple of year with no pruning then chop hard followed by more rounds of grow and chop with the cycles getting closer together each time until you have the result you're happy with.

Fortunately crepe myrtle are really good at growing new shoots on old, bare wood so you can allow it to grow as much as you like then chop back confident that the trunk will sprout new shoots.
 

sorce

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Welcome to Crazy!

I think a good balance would be cutting the smaller top shoot off.
So you keep more than half of the vigour of above to build trunk, while giving yourself more future options from resulting backbudding.

Sorce
 
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