Prevent Crepe Myrtle New Leader From Flowering

RobertB

Chumono
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I have three crepe myrtles that were trunk chopped in later winter and had their roots significantly reduced, almost to nothing, this past spring that I am trying to grow the next section of trunks on. These trees are sooooo vigorous after recovering from the repot! I have removed the flower buds off the leader two times now trying to force vegetative growth but the leaders keep pushing flower buds only. It only splits the 1 flower bud into several, every time I remove the bud from the leader.

Should I just let the dam things bloom? I just really wanted to try and keep the tree growing at the pace it was before it started trying to flower. Any tips on this?
 

just.wing.it

Deadwood Head
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That's weird....never heard of this problem before.
I have one that I trimmed a few times this year, not a bloom in sight.
 

RobertB

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Ok, I will try to go full flower bud plus 5 nodes or something.
 

JudyB

Queen of the Nuts
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Stressed plants do tend to try to propagate themselves, as it's a sort of survival mechanism. I imagine once the tree has bloomed it will settle down some, cutting back harder is also a good option.
 
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