Tiny the Crape Myrtle - A Progession

VAFisher

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I bought this little crape from a local guy last year that was getting rid of his entire collection. He helped me load it into the bed of my pickup but I about gave myself a hernia moving it onto one of my benches. That tub is about 23" around and 8 or 9" deep so this thing was heavy. I was initially looking at this for the front.

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But later decided on this.

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VAFisher

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Here it is later in the summer after I compacted the canopy just a little.

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I got a few flowers last year even with all of the pruning. I don't usually let my crapes flower because they get pruned so often and the flowers are so big but it might be in scale on this size tree. I'll have to experiment with that a little.

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VAFisher

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I had a pot ready to go for this tree that I thought was going to work but even after about 3 hours of work on the rootball I wasn't able to get it to fit in that pot. Luckily I had a huge, cheap forest pot that I bought a few years ago for something and never ended up using it. This pot is way too shallow for the tree so I had to do some mounding. I'm working on a better solution for next year but it least I can move the tree now.

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The original owner had never carved the chop so I took care of that last winter with a dremel. I also removed some heavy branches that were emerging in bad spots in the upper trunk. Everything is healing pretty quickly.

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VAFisher

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My big boy turned a nice red this year. Sorry about the bad background - the tree is a bitch to move around and I try to avoid it unless absolutely necessary. I have some plans for this tree next year. For one, it's going into a deeper pot so I don't have to mound up the soil. Also, it's getting a major cutback. I want to really emphasize the big trunk, so the 2 leaders and all of the branches are going back to stubs. I really want to compact the canopy and develop some ramification closer in. Hopefully, I'll get some buds popping on the trunk as well.

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Colorado

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Very nice, excited to see what you do with it moving forward with compacting the branching. I agree that the trunk could be much more powerful. Great tree!
 

VAFisher

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Very nice, excited to see what you do with it moving forward with compacting the branching. I agree that the trunk could be much more powerful. Great tree!
I should have made that move this year. They develop pretty fast, so no big deal on the lost year. I'll be doing a lot more root work as well. I don't know how long it was growing in that tub, but the roots were a mess.
 

VAFisher

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Deed has been done on this big crape. I did a lot more root work this year and managed to squeeze it into this 18" pot. I took the branches down to stubs and removed several entirely that weren't in good spots after a slight rotation on the repot.

The thick branch on the left is odd but I'm leaving it for now. Will try to thicken the lower right branches to balance it a little.

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Hartinez

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Deed has been done on this big crape. I did a lot more root work this year and managed to squeeze it into this 18" pot. I took the branches down to stubs and removed several entirely that weren't in good spots after a slight rotation on the repot.

The thick branch on the left is odd but I'm leaving it for now. Will try to thicken the lower right branches to balance it a little.

View attachment 483363
Hey yo Dan! Crape looking good!
 

Carol 83

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I have crapes now because I admire yours so much. I repotted one last weekend, buds just beginning to push. It seems to have survived, they're still growing! Thanks for the inspiration.
 

Srt8madness

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I have crapes now because I admire yours so much. I repotted one last weekend, buds just beginning to push. It seems to have survived, they're still growing! Thanks for the inspiration.
I repotted a crepe last week, it's been leafed out for months, didn't skip a beat. Last time I repotted the same tree I took it from a 5 gal to 1.5 gal rootball during the fall, no prob. Bulletproof!
 

Srt8madness

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Deed has been done on this big crape. I did a lot more root work this year and managed to squeeze it into this 18" pot. I took the branches down to stubs and removed several entirely that weren't in good spots after a slight rotation on the repot.

The thick branch on the left is odd but I'm leaving it for now. Will try to thicken the lower right branches to balance it a little.

View attachment 483363
Bold move!
 

19Mateo83

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This is a killer crepe, I can’t believe I missed this one. You are gonna have me finding another one to dig or air layer now 😂
 

VAFisher

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I love how fast crapes develop. I've had wire on and off this tree 3 or 4 times already this summer. Working on getting divisions and movement in the branches. Really glad I made the move to take everything back to stubs.

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mike3m

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I love how fast crapes develop. I've had wire on and off this tree 3 or 4 times already this summer. Working on getting divisions and movement in the branches. Really glad I made the move to take everything back to stubs.

View attachment 500524
After cutting back to stubbs did you let the new shoots run for the full growing season?
 
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