As a master gardener and landscaper, I have to do this every late winter/early spring. I can tell you that this guy did everything exactly right and by the book. Every tip and guideline he mentioned is ON POINT!!! Great Job and video. Thanks
I have used this video over and over again as a guide, and sent the link to others! My crepe myrtle looks so beautiful each year in part due to this cutting guidelines. My tree has grown enough that I have to get a pole pruner now : )
After a year of no exercise while watching RUclips videos, I'm nearly out of breath just watching him work. My Crape Myrtle is a dwarf, so I'll be able to sit during much of the pruning. Good video!
Finally I finally learn something about pruning my CM that will help me. without the extra talk. (No offense ) Thank you. It would be great though if we could see the results of some trees a couple years later after pruning.
Amazing! Super helpful to have both of these guys in the video. Is there a link you can provide with what the tree looked like in full bloom next season?
Great pruning video I am a professional lawn maintenance man and do a lot of pruning on crape myrtles all very good points he makes as for the roundup thing it want hurt the tree to use it to kill the grass it cant be absorbed through the roots it can only be absorbed through foliage
Was so happy when i first saw this on TV. People thought and still think i am crazy when i show up with three different size pruners to trim their bushes. Now i try and send this to people I work with! Thank you Roger! And This Old House!
This is great. I have two crepe myrtles in my front yard....one that 100% is gone, but the other I'm going to try and trim back, via this video. Thanks for this!!
nicely done. Iv worked with too mamy lawncare companies who use the crape murder cut style and say the weather killed them when customers complain. now that Im running my own (knowing they were murdering them) I wanted to double check and make sure I was right thinking they were doing it wrong. nicely done and great video! thanks
Thank you so much. I have a couple of crepe myrtles that had been chopped ( Crepe Murder ). This is the second yr I have just let it grow to give a chance to rebound. I have plans to prune this year. Had no idea how to fix the damage. Now I do. Thank you.
This tutorial was a privilege to watch, from the teacher to the questions asked. You two really have something here. The only thing that I need answered now is how to determine it’s end size by means other than known origins or a name on a bucket
You will have to find out what cultivar the plant is and do some research. Often trees grow much larger than the nursery tag says. If you can find the group that did the original breeding they might have quite a bit of information available. But, It will take some digging.
I’ve been shocked at the crape murders I have seen. This seems to me to be a fairly recent problem. I don’t remember that happening as a child. When I moved from Louisiana to Northwest Florida I noticed almost everyone there crape murders. When I’m pruning I think of it as a large scale bonsai! They are such beautiful trees when properly cared for. Add such interest to landscaping. Spread the word! Stop the crap murder!!!!
I just moved to the south and I see a lot of people chopping off the tops. Since many of there properties look nice I assumed that may be how it is done. I am glad I looked it up before chopping off my Crape Myrtles.
5 лет назад+19
Wow, this guy's a pro. Great tutorial. Needed to see this
5:50 Nah just depends on the hight the customer wants it. Thats what makes us get more trash and, the lack of maintenance done to the tree and, if its blooming
We had two gigantic crape myrtle trees in our backyard in our previous home. However, they grew so big that they looked like two big pink bushes next to our fence, between us and our neighbor. So, I understand why people want these trees to grow big and bushy for privacy from their neighbors. Then, these trees become gigantic bushes, instead of trees. I guess it depends on how you want them trimmed. That's what our tree surgeon told us. 😊
I have a 4 year crepe myrtle tree. Well we have a lot of snow one time and all the branches broke so now I only have a long cane. So I'm hoping this year my tree revive again and give me lots of beautiful flowers. 😘😘
A battery operated sawzall with pruning blades are wonderful for removing big branches when necessary. I even used it to cut the knots off the stumps where the water shoots keep springing out. Hopefully that's going to greatly reduce if not eliminate sucker formation. I always cut the new growth back to about a foot above the previous years pruning cut. Unfortunately, due to a bad shoulder, I had to cut my mains back to a height I can safely reach. I never cut in the same place and let those nasty "crowns" form.
You know what you are doing. But so many people butcher crape myrtles and really any specie of tree. And professional tree companies often just do the quickest form of cutting a tree back, ignoring the aesthetics and health of the tree. If people would just read a book or two on pruning techniques before picking up a saw, the world would be a prettier place.
@@johnvinga5446 it's not professionals, it's tye customer. They have them planted in the wrong place, sometimes don't care if it's crepe murdered. I spoke to one home owner about people crepe murder their trees bc I see them everywhere and planted in the Ron places. Whenever I talk to a a homeowner who has a crepe myrtle, I try to inform them and about crepe murder and how they're suppose to be trimmed
Family Plot Wes, can you pass along the make and model of the hand pruners you are using in this video? With the longer handles they look much more efficient than the standard variety that are usually sold. Perhaps Felco brand? Thanks!
Thank you for this excellent video. We just moved here and have 5 poorly maintained CMs. I have watched 11 videos regarding how to trim these trees. This is the most complete and easy to understand.
Had a crape myrtle at my parents old house. Used to accidentally mow over it with a lawnmower. Then one day, that tree out of nowhere, shot up 2 feet in a few months. Couldn't run over it anymore.
I am in total disagreement with this man. First off, he does not know how to use a pruning shears! The blade should always be held towards the portion of the tree that is going to be retained. This man sometimes has the Anvil towards the portion to be retained and sometimes it is the blade. When the Anvil is the portion of the pruning shears against the tree the branch collar is crushed and has a hard time sealing the wound. Water sprouts, sometimes called Suckers, occur when a tree is stressed and needs to create more food as quickly as possible. This vegetation grows very fast and is subsequently very weak. In response to what I believe is excessive pruning this tree will once again be stressed and will once again produce a multitude of water sprouts. If there was a picture of this tree one year after pruning we would see a very messy tree indeed. The main goal of pruning, other than clearance issues, should be to maintain or develop a strong central leader. Trees have evolved over millions of years to have the structure of a strong central leader. We should go to the forest to learn how trees grow, not to RUclips to get one man's interpretation. A bad haircut grows back but a bad tree cut is forever!
Ok so it is spring and of course no new leaves coming out, but when I went to start pruning and shaping there is no green in any of the branches I cut off. I know they don't start until May. Does that mean my crepe myrtle is dead? My tree is a young one. The Tree is maybe 1-3 years old? I have no idea. A one stem Tonto Crepe Myrtle which is supposed to be hardy in winter. So how do I know if it is still alive? We had a very cold winter/frost? I did mulch around the roots but I did not protect the umbrella of the tree. I planted 22 of them down my long driveway in Zone 7 - Tennessee. I pray they are still alive!!!
Did I understand correctly that the Crape Mertyle should be pruned in the late fall after the flowering is done but only the small shoots at the bottom should come off in the summer?
Chris, I wish he would have said something about that ugly crooked branch on the left. If I had it on my tree it might be gone. What would you do about that?
Wes did a realy nice job pruning this crape myrtle, but since then the normal landscapers got a hold of it and murdered it again. The cuts from murdering will slowly become less and less apparent as the tree grows, but it will probably always be visible if you look.
@@FamilyPlotGarden Too bad the normal landscapers can't be told to leave the tree alone. :(. Crepe myrtles are one on the most beautiful trees when they are allowed to grow open with a few stems. I love them when they have been properly trimmed. Thank you for the video, and thank Wes too.
I've seen some videos where they say to cut at an angle. Maybe it produces fewer knolls when you do this. There are dwarf crape myrtles you can trim like a hedge. Go a foot past where you need to go, so when it blooms it blooms full. Otherwise it's mostly leaves like a bush.
Help! I have a miniature smoke tree that has gotten much taller than I prefer. Can I cut all its branches down without killing it, and how long will it take to recover?
I am not an expert on smoke trees. Here are some instructions from Master Gardeners in California: sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Cotinus/. Smoke trees bloom on old wood so if you want blooms you need to leave some of last year's growth.
@Family Plot. Thank you for sending the link. It helped me find the exact answer I was looking for. I can live without them blooming for a year to achieve my desired look. Thanks again.
No, trees are very good at making a callous over the damaged tissue (cut). Wound cover has not been shows to do anything, and it may even increase the probability of rot by trapping moisture in the dead wood.
No it is not. When it first came on the market it was promoted as a way to stop insects and disease from getting into the cut. After many years of research it has been found that it does keep insects out to start, but it traps moisture in the cut which prevents the tree from healing properly and can cause rot under the sealer. Trees do a very good job of compartmentalizing injury and it is best to just let nature and tree tree do its thing.
You are not the first to ask. I asked Wes and he said he bought the clipper at Costco (of all places) many years ago. The saw is a folding tree saw. They are available at local stores and online.
Good instructions, explanation, and demonstration. Will share this with friends and family when they ask how to prune their Crapes. IMO it helps to see mature (properly pruned) crapes in all their glory when convincing people to stop the murder especially because many people have come to believe (monkey see monkey do) that the mid trunk chop job is the right way. Sadly a poor prune job leads to more maintenance and worse looking plants. I meticulously pruned 2 crapes tapes on mother in-laws property over 3 years to restore them and fix trunk crowding and self rubbing damamge.... only to see she had paid someone to murder prune them... she commented on how good a jib they did as. looks just like the ones at cvs and the bank. FACEPLANT
When is the best time to prune a crape myrtle? I have one and I have been pruning it in the early spring. It normally has lots of flowers on it, but this year it hasn’t bloomed at all. I live in Arkansas and the summers are very hot so I’m thinking the heat may be getting to it. I love my crape Myrtle though and want it to be pretty again. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Thank you for your reply. I planted it two years ago, and it has really gotten big. I just worry that it won’t be as pretty as was the first year it was planted. It hasn’t done anything this summer so far. It does have a lot of blooms on though so I haven’t given up on it yet. It has lots of leaves down at the bottom of it though where I pruned it but I’m afraid If I cut them it will die. This is my first thing to ever plant and I love it so I don’t want to risk it dying.
How tall should these be allowed to grow? I ask because we just bought a house with several withinabout 4-5 feet of the house. Some are at the second story windows. I am thinking they could be shortened some since the are right in front of the windows.
If you let them go they can get up to about 20 feet depending the cultivar. Unfortunately many crape myrtles are planted right up against houses, which is really the wrong place for them. You can reduce the size of the trees by correctly pruning them back. Remember not to just whack them off.
If you can, find out what variety you have and the mature size of that variety. If these plants are a miniature variety you will just need to maintain them. I had to move four crapes that were planted too close to the house I bought. They made a wonderful island bed in the middle if a bland piece of turf and a nice accent planting at the mailbox. They have now recovered from the transplant shock and will be tree formed this spring and landscape up lighting added to accent them. Fortunately they were still fairly small when I moved them.
@@lanarober8952 Looks better, but who/whom ever chopped on the tree (the same way I just did with the King's English) before shouldn't be allowed any saws, pruners or anything that's related in their hands any longer for all eternity. They can pick the fruit off the Tree Of Life, but don't touch the wood! You'll ruin it for the rest of us.
Most of the time you won't have to prune it nearly that hard. Just remove any branches that grow back toward the middle and will cause future problems. Also take out one of each pair of branches that are touching or rubbing. Then remove the dead wood and cut back any suckers from the base. Overall they need very little pruning.
This video was very helpful. Some other videos show cutting the long branches down to about a foot... leaving two to three out of the trunk. But only about a foot. You leave them very long. Any thoughts? Advice?
The thing to remember is crape myrtles are trees, not shrubs. As such you need to prune them like a tree. The "murdering" that Wes is talking about is when people just wack them off straight across with no thought for the structure of the plant. Doing this year after year creates an ugly knot where they are repeatedly cut. Also, the branches that grow from a murdered crape myrtle are not as strong as a natural branch. I would try to prune it like a tree. A mature crape myrtle that has not been murdered in its life is a very beautiful plant. If murdering is necessary, the tree is probably not planted in the right spot and should be replaced with another plant.
Overgrown is relative. Crape myrtles generally need very little pruning. This was an extreme case because the tree had been murdered before. Just remove dead and rubbing/crossing branches and it will be fine. If you would like to gently shape the tree prune it like you would any other tree.
People love throwing around the term Crape Murder. Truth be told, you could cut one all the way down to the ground and it will still sprout back up the next Spring. In reality it's just a matter of aesthetics.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
As a master gardener and landscaper, I have to do this every late winter/early spring. I can tell you that this guy did everything exactly right and by the book. Every tip and guideline he mentioned is ON POINT!!! Great Job and video. Thanks
Thanks!
Agree.
I looked for a long-handled pruner on Amazon, but there was none.
@@frankrizo5387 look up big Felco pruner or Felco F-13 pruner
well done, the interview style during a demonstration is particularly helpful to us amateurs.
Glad we could help out!
Agreed, just enough questions and good host presence.
I have used this video over and over again as a guide, and sent the link to others! My crepe myrtle looks so beautiful each year in part due to this cutting guidelines. My tree has grown enough that I have to get a pole pruner now : )
Glad to hear! Keep up the good work.
After a year of no exercise while watching RUclips videos, I'm nearly out of breath just watching him work. My Crape Myrtle is a dwarf, so I'll be able to sit during much of the pruning. Good video!
Finally I finally learn something about pruning my CM that will help me. without the extra talk. (No offense ) Thank you. It would be great though if we could see the results of some trees a couple years later after pruning.
Amazing! Super helpful to have both of these guys in the video. Is there a link you can provide with what the tree looked like in full bloom next season?
Great pruning video I am a professional lawn maintenance man and do a lot of pruning on crape myrtles all very good points he makes as for the roundup thing it want hurt the tree to use it to kill the grass it cant be absorbed through the roots it can only be absorbed through foliage
Was so happy when i first saw this on TV. People thought and still think i am crazy when i show up with three different size pruners to trim their bushes. Now i try and send this to people I work with! Thank you Roger! And This Old House!
This is the VIDEO and Technique to watch and use to prune your entire Crape Myrtle!!! Perfect! Thank you!
Thank you for showing me how to not "murder" my crape myrtle. I am going to use his suggestions this winter when I trim my tree. Thank you.
This is great. I have two crepe myrtles in my front yard....one that 100% is gone, but the other I'm going to try and trim back, via this video. Thanks for this!!
nicely done. Iv worked with too mamy lawncare companies who use the crape murder cut style and say the weather killed them when customers complain. now that Im running my own (knowing they were murdering them) I wanted to double check and make sure I was right thinking they were doing it wrong. nicely done and great video! thanks
Thanks! Glad we could confirm the truth.
Thank you so much. I have a couple of crepe myrtles that had been chopped ( Crepe Murder ). This is the second yr I have just let it grow to give a chance to rebound. I have plans to prune this year. Had no idea how to fix the damage. Now I do. Thank you.
Glad we could help! Good luck on the crape myrtles. It will take a few years but they are very resilient plants.
Wow! I like this video his working while talking. Not wasting time of viewer😉 informative video.
This tutorial was a privilege to watch, from the teacher to the questions asked. You two really have something here.
The only thing that I need answered now is how to determine it’s end size by means other than known origins or a name on a bucket
You will have to find out what cultivar the plant is and do some research. Often trees grow much larger than the nursery tag says. If you can find the group that did the original breeding they might have quite a bit of information available. But, It will take some digging.
id agree
Beautiful job on that tree, perfectly done
Thanks! Also thanks for watching.
I’ve been shocked at the crape murders I have seen. This seems to me to be a fairly recent problem. I don’t remember that happening as a child. When I moved from Louisiana to Northwest Florida I noticed almost everyone there crape murders.
When I’m pruning I think of it as a large scale bonsai!
They are such beautiful trees when properly cared for. Add such interest to landscaping.
Spread the word! Stop the crap murder!!!!
I just moved to the south and I see a lot of people chopping off the tops. Since many of there properties look nice I assumed that may be how it is done. I am glad I looked it up before chopping off my Crape Myrtles.
Wow, this guy's a pro. Great tutorial. Needed to see this
Tell me what you learned from this video...
Awesome job! I work at a property that has several Crape Myrtles, this will help me .
5:50
Nah just depends on the hight the customer wants it. Thats what makes us get more trash and, the lack of maintenance done to the tree and, if its blooming
Great video! Very informative. Thanks for posting!
Glad we could help!
Thanks for the video. Super helpful
Thank You for this video! I would love to see how this crape myrtle looks when completely filled out with blooms.
I like my crepe myrtles growing as bushes they make a beautiful barrier to my neighbor's yard
You like crape myrtle bushes then, not crape myrtle trees. The two are different.
We had two gigantic crape myrtle trees in our backyard in our previous home. However, they grew so big that they looked like two big pink bushes next to our fence, between us and our neighbor. So, I understand why people want these trees to grow big and bushy for privacy from their neighbors. Then, these trees become gigantic bushes, instead of trees. I guess it depends on how you want them trimmed. That's what our tree surgeon told us. 😊
I have a 4 year crepe myrtle tree. Well we have a lot of snow one time and all the branches broke so now I only have a long cane. So I'm hoping this year my tree revive again and give me lots of beautiful flowers. 😘😘
This was a marvelous video!
Respect ✊ to him for saying that LET THE WILD LIFE LIVE i AGREE ☝️
Yet he uses Roundup to kill everything....birds, bees, butterflies and causes cancer!
great show.nice to get to learn more about this subject.mine are not tall enough yet but nice to know when they are what to do.
Did you ever take a picture of it in bloom that summer? Or maybe the next year? Would be nice to see the difference.
Just found your video and subscribed!!! Great video!!!
A battery operated sawzall with pruning blades are wonderful for removing big branches when necessary. I even used it to cut the knots off the stumps where the water shoots keep springing out. Hopefully that's going to greatly reduce if not eliminate sucker formation. I always cut the new growth back to about a foot above the previous years pruning cut. Unfortunately, due to a bad shoulder, I had to cut my mains back to a height I can safely reach. I never cut in the same place and let those nasty "crowns" form.
You know what you are doing. But so many people butcher crape myrtles and really any specie of tree. And professional tree companies often just do the quickest form of cutting a tree back, ignoring the aesthetics and health of the tree. If people would just read a book or two on pruning techniques before picking up a saw, the world would be a prettier place.
Ya agreed. Let a tree be a tree. If you want a bush then plant a bush. When selecting plants... select for what it will be when mature.
@@johnvinga5446 it's not professionals, it's tye customer. They have them planted in the wrong place, sometimes don't care if it's crepe murdered. I spoke to one home owner about people crepe murder their trees bc I see them everywhere and planted in the Ron places. Whenever I talk to a a homeowner who has a crepe myrtle, I try to inform them and about crepe murder and how they're suppose to be trimmed
Family Plot Wes, can you pass along the make and model of the hand pruners you are using in this video? With the longer handles they look much more efficient than the standard variety that are usually sold. Perhaps Felco brand? Thanks!
just make a tree well with edging and mulch around the tree, no need for Roundup spray repetition Cowboy 🤠
I learned so much from this video.
WHEN IS THE BEST TIME OF YEAR TO PRUNE THE CRATE MYRTLE,S
Awesome video!
Best video on Myrtles
Thanks for picking a maintenance nightmare to fix. I live somewhere with 3 of them that are...ugly.
Thank you for this excellent video. We just moved here and have 5 poorly maintained CMs. I have watched 11 videos regarding how to trim these trees. This is the most complete and easy to understand.
Thanks for watching! Glad we could give you the information you needed. Good luck with trees!
Thank you! This was very helpful!
Had a crape myrtle at my parents old house. Used to accidentally mow over it with a lawnmower. Then one day, that tree out of nowhere, shot up 2 feet in a few months. Couldn't run over it anymore.
Only tip I don’t agree with was spraying round up around the base of the tree. Never do that next to the tree.
Great Job!
Awesome job!
I am in total disagreement with this man. First off, he does not know how to use a pruning shears! The blade should always be held towards the portion of the tree that is going to be retained. This man sometimes has the Anvil towards the portion to be retained and sometimes it is the blade. When the Anvil is the portion of the pruning shears against the tree the branch collar is crushed and has a hard time sealing the wound. Water sprouts, sometimes called Suckers, occur when a tree is stressed and needs to create more food as quickly as possible. This vegetation grows very fast and is subsequently very weak. In response to what I believe is excessive pruning this tree will once again be stressed and will once again produce a multitude of water sprouts. If there was a picture of this tree one year after pruning we would see a very messy tree indeed. The main goal of pruning, other than clearance issues, should be to maintain or develop a strong central leader. Trees have evolved over millions of years to have the structure of a strong central leader. We should go to the forest to learn how trees grow, not to RUclips to get one man's interpretation. A bad haircut grows back but a bad tree cut is forever!
What if you just left the top canopy untrimmed? Some crapes are so tall that it would be a lot of work to trim the canopy.
I would like to know too! Mine are too tall
@ steve mirabile and @ Cosmo The Teddy Bear: You can leave the tops pruned if you like.
How is the tree looking in spring ?
Great lesson
Ok so it is spring and of course no new leaves coming out, but when I went to start pruning and shaping there is no green in any of the branches I cut off. I know they don't start until May. Does that mean my crepe myrtle is dead? My tree is a young one. The Tree is maybe 1-3 years old? I have no idea. A one stem Tonto Crepe Myrtle which is supposed to be hardy in winter. So how do I know if it is still alive? We had a very cold winter/frost? I did mulch around the roots but I did not protect the umbrella of the tree. I planted 22 of them down my long driveway in Zone 7 - Tennessee. I pray they are still alive!!!
Very helpful.
I wonder if he could share the brand name of his pruner.
You are not the first to ask this question. I asked him and he said he got it at Costco one year but has not seen it sense. The large handle is nice.
3 x 3 x 3 ... 3 feet around the base, 3 inches deep, 3 inches away from the root crown. Mulch rules.
good video, unlike the one I watched before which was two dudes talking and pointing about what to prune without actually doing any thing...lol
Did I understand correctly that the Crape Mertyle should be pruned in the late fall after the flowering is done but only the small shoots at the bottom should come off in the summer?
Chris, I wish he would have said something about that ugly crooked branch on the left. If I had it on my tree it might be gone. What would you do about that?
Is there an “after” video? I’d like to see how it looks after blooming.
@gsweater :D
gsweater lmao niñito did not 😂😂😂
gsweater hahaha
Maybe it died 😆🤷🏻♂️
Good job!
Awesome video. This has helped me a lot. Very nice nformative
Can you share what trademark tools are the best for the job?
What does the tree look like now, a few years later? I keep trying to see what the outcome is of doing significant pruning like this.
Wes did a realy nice job pruning this crape myrtle, but since then the normal landscapers got a hold of it and murdered it again. The cuts from murdering will slowly become less and less apparent as the tree grows, but it will probably always be visible if you look.
@@FamilyPlotGarden Those "normal landscapers" need to be fired!
@@FamilyPlotGarden Too bad the normal landscapers can't be told to leave the tree alone. :(. Crepe myrtles are one on the most beautiful trees when they are allowed to grow open with a few stems. I love them when they have been properly trimmed. Thank you for the video, and thank Wes too.
@@FamilyPlotGarden That's really unfortunate! Thank you for the reply though
same nonsense happened to me; my careful work undone by someone all “IM hELpiNG”!
When should you prune the Crape Myrtle? I've heard late February. Its April now is it too late?
You can prune them now if you would like. You may be cutting off some of the flowers, but your won't hurt the tree.
Excellent Thank you
Thank you awesome!!!!
I've seen some videos where they say to cut at an angle. Maybe it produces fewer knolls when you do this. There are dwarf crape myrtles you can trim like a hedge. Go a foot past where you need to go, so when it blooms it blooms full. Otherwise it's mostly leaves like a bush.
Are they called “water sprouts” or “suckers”? I’ve heard the latter.
Water sprout grow nearly straight up from a branch, almost like another tree. Suckers grow from the roots.
Good video. I've got one about six feet tall that I'm going to try to save.
What time of the year is best to do this? Please respond!
Early spring.
I just watched this today...April 10th. Is that too late to prune? I live in central TX.
I watched a few of these crepe myrtle pruning videos and the response is prune in late February!
Very helpful!
❤️🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸❤️
I see it like making more mulch or compost depending on what you use it as .
What kind of hand pruner is he using (Brand)?
Felco pruners...not sure what model.
Sucker sprouts or root sprouts similar to ball hole sprouts
Help! I have a miniature smoke tree that has gotten much taller than I prefer. Can I cut all its branches down without killing it, and how long will it take to recover?
I am not an expert on smoke trees. Here are some instructions from Master Gardeners in California: sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Plant_of_the_Month/Cotinus/. Smoke trees bloom on old wood so if you want blooms you need to leave some of last year's growth.
@Family Plot. Thank you for sending the link. It helped me find the exact answer I was looking for. I can live without them blooming for a year to achieve my desired look. Thanks again.
won't those 'water sprouts' reappear at those nodes? I keep cutting my bottom 'sprouts', but more keep coming back.
No, they dont usually come back..
Great job
When Should I prune a crape myrtle tree? I live in Hightstown, NJ
Small world! I live in East Windsor and was wondering the same thing!
In the early spring. You want to do it ideally after the hard freezes are over but before it leafs out.
Do you need to put some kind of bug guard or wound stuff on the big cuts?
No, trees are very good at making a callous over the damaged tissue (cut). Wound cover has not been shows to do anything, and it may even increase the probability of rot by trapping moisture in the dead wood.
What time of year was this??
Early Spring
Is using Pruning seal after trimming them a good idea?
No it is not. When it first came on the market it was promoted as a way to stop insects and disease from getting into the cut. After many years of research it has been found that it does keep insects out to start, but it traps moisture in the cut which prevents the tree from healing properly and can cause rot under the sealer. Trees do a very good job of compartmentalizing injury and it is best to just let nature and tree tree do its thing.
Thank you!
What saw and clippers do you use?
You are not the first to ask. I asked Wes and he said he bought the clipper at Costco (of all places) many years ago. The saw is a folding tree saw. They are available at local stores and online.
Thanks
Good instructions, explanation, and demonstration. Will share this with friends and family when they ask how to prune their Crapes. IMO it helps to see mature (properly pruned) crapes in all their glory when convincing people to stop the murder especially because many people have come to believe (monkey see monkey do) that the mid trunk chop job is the right way. Sadly a poor prune job leads to more maintenance and worse looking plants.
I meticulously pruned 2 crapes tapes on mother in-laws property over 3 years to restore them and fix trunk crowding and self rubbing damamge.... only to see she had paid someone to murder prune them... she commented on how good a jib they did as. looks just like the ones at cvs and the bank. FACEPLANT
she paid someone $800 to crape murder a mature (non problematic) Maple tree too. FML
Thanks for watching. Good luck with you crape myrtles! Stop the chop.
When is the best time to prune a crape myrtle? I have one and I have been pruning it in the early spring. It normally has lots of flowers on it, but this year it hasn’t bloomed at all. I live in Arkansas and the summers are very hot so I’m thinking the heat may be getting to it. I love my crape Myrtle though and want it to be pretty again. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
You are pruning it at the correct time. Some years they bloom more than others.
Thank you for your reply. I planted it two years ago, and it has really gotten big. I just worry that it won’t be as pretty as was the first year it was planted. It hasn’t done anything this summer so far. It does have a lot of blooms on though so I haven’t given up on it yet. It has lots of leaves down at the bottom of it though where I pruned it but I’m afraid If I cut them it will die. This is my first thing to ever plant and I love it so I don’t want to risk it dying.
I would keep the twigs that are coming from the ground (suckers) cut off.
@@FamilyPlotGarden ok thank you
Wow he did awesome
How tall should these be allowed to grow? I ask because we just bought a house with several withinabout 4-5 feet of the house. Some are at the second story windows. I am thinking they could be shortened some since the are right in front of the windows.
If you let them go they can get up to about 20 feet depending the cultivar. Unfortunately many crape myrtles are planted right up against houses, which is really the wrong place for them. You can reduce the size of the trees by correctly pruning them back. Remember not to just whack them off.
If you can, find out what variety you have and the mature size of that variety. If these plants are a miniature variety you will just need to maintain them. I had to move four crapes that were planted too close to the house I bought. They made a wonderful island bed in the middle if a bland piece of turf and a nice accent planting at the mailbox. They have now recovered from the transplant shock and will be tree formed this spring and landscape up lighting added to accent them. Fortunately they were still fairly small when I moved them.
Okay, so this is a good video of you DOING the work. But I am not sure what you are doing and why.
Joey Ingles ...there is nothing left😱
Pruning a crepe myrtle into the ideal shape.
@@lanarober8952 but with no explanation ... Just watching him work.
@@lanarober8952 Looks better, but who/whom ever chopped on the tree (the same way I just did with the King's English) before shouldn't be allowed any saws, pruners or anything that's related in their hands any longer for all eternity. They can pick the fruit off the Tree Of Life, but don't touch the wood! You'll ruin it for the rest of us.
@@CapedCrusader77 He was explaining the entire time- watch again.
Now are you suppose to always prune like that every year? Or can you let it be if you think it doesn’t need it.
Most of the time you won't have to prune it nearly that hard. Just remove any branches that grow back toward the middle and will cause future problems. Also take out one of each pair of branches that are touching or rubbing. Then remove the dead wood and cut back any suckers from the base. Overall they need very little pruning.
I learnt a long time ago that wildlife is also affected by people spraying roundup around tress because they cant be bithered to mow round trees.
They hard to prun right
Thank you for a well done, informative clip. Round up?
When is the appropriate time of year to prune?
Late winter or early spring is the best time.
Ugly arse trees in the winter good video
Hey great show have a cherry tomatoes plant and have a question wt is the best natural solution for bug spay ty
Neem oil works great also pure ivory soap shavings and water. Light solution.
I like your pruners, what make and model are they?
Am I able to trim mine now that it is in bloom?
If it is blooming I would wait till next year. If it just leafing out you can still trim it.
This video was very helpful.
Some other videos show cutting the long branches down to about a foot... leaving two to three out of the trunk. But only about a foot. You leave them very long. Any thoughts? Advice?
The thing to remember is crape myrtles are trees, not shrubs. As such you need to prune them like a tree. The "murdering" that Wes is talking about is when people just wack them off straight across with no thought for the structure of the plant. Doing this year after year creates an ugly knot where they are repeatedly cut. Also, the branches that grow from a murdered crape myrtle are not as strong as a natural branch. I would try to prune it like a tree. A mature crape myrtle that has not been murdered in its life is a very beautiful plant. If murdering is necessary, the tree is probably not planted in the right spot and should be replaced with another plant.
Thank you!
Yesterday I was clearing some property of mine a discovered a creap myrtle, very much over grown and don't know what I should do
Overgrown is relative. Crape myrtles generally need very little pruning. This was an extreme case because the tree had been murdered before. Just remove dead and rubbing/crossing branches and it will be fine. If you would like to gently shape the tree prune it like you would any other tree.
that hand saw must be sharp af to cut through crepe myrtle so easy
People love throwing around the term Crape Murder. Truth be told, you could cut one all the way down to the ground and it will still sprout back up the next Spring. In reality it's just a matter of aesthetics.
I assume this is being done in the fall?
This is a spring pruning.
@@FamilyPlotGarden Can you prune in the fall?
Very helpful. Thanks.