Have a 20' tall Crape Myrtle tree, not sure what kind, the leaves are as big
as a man's hand, and a lot of leaves to sweep up in late winter early spring
each year. Located in south Florida, zone 10.

Two of the branches were split from hurricane Frances and need to be trimmed
back. A friend told me it needs to be pruned all the way back to the trunk,
I thought this is only true for the shrub variety and not the tree variety.
Any idea how much I should prune this one?

Thanks,

O

--

Trust me, for starters try starting here. Learn where the targets are.
A WORLDWIDE PHOTO GUIDE
A NEW BOOK on the correct pruning of trees.
EASY to read. EASY to understand.
EASY to put into practice.
http://www.chesco.com/~treeman/TPRUNING.html

Remember: When a tree is wounded, you should not treat only the wound but
the entire tree. (Tree Pithy Points, SHIGO, 1999 Point #587) So I
recommend this book:
MODERN ARBORICULTURE
A SYSTEMS APPROACH TO PRACTICAL TREE CARE
311 LARGE, CLEAR DIAGRAMS
16 LARGE FULL-COLOR PHOTOS
Hardcover, 440 pages, 600 references, index.
http://www.chesco.com/~treeman/MARBOR.html
DO NOT USE WOUND
DRESSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS: Remember, people will spend a lot of money on treatments they do not
understand. But, will not spend money on books that will help them
understand.
--
Sincerely,

John A. Keslick, Jr.
Tree Biologist
www.chesco.com/~treeman
Beware of so-called TREE EXPERTS who do not understand TREE BIOLOGY!




"orangetrader" wrote in message
...
Have a 20' tall Crape Myrtle tree, not sure what kind, the leaves are as
big
as a man's hand, and a lot of leaves to sweep up in late winter early
spring
each year. Located in south Florida, zone 10.

Two of the branches were split from hurricane Frances and need to be
trimmed
back. A friend told me it needs to be pruned all the way back to the
trunk,
I thought this is only true for the shrub variety and not the tree
variety.
Any idea how much I should prune this one?

Thanks,

O

I don't believe crape myrtle is considered a tree. It is a perennial shrub, and
of course some can be grown as a tree. My shrub can go as high as 20 feet, but
I cut it back almost to the ground every 3 years of so, and keeps coming back
strong. Right now, i took some cuttings this past spring and they are blooming
for me in 14 to 15 inch baskets, and they are only 2 feet high, because I'm
containing them. I live in NYC and these won't last long outside during the
winter, so i guess i have to bring them indoors and hope to carry them over
till next spring.

I think what I have is a Crape Myrtle Nanchez. The nusery where I bought
them from had a few that are 50' tall and they are definitely of the tree
variety. The one I have is about 20' tall and the main trunk is about 12
inches in diameter.

I don't think I want to cut them back to the ground. I did a search and
some recommend cutting them back and some said this is "crape murder".
Opinions seem to vary. I am very confused now.

O

"Wishy13764" wrote in message
...
I don't believe crape myrtle is considered a tree. It is a perennial
shrub, and
of course some can be grown as a tree. My shrub can go as high as 20 feet,
but
I cut it back almost to the ground every 3 years of so, and keeps coming
back
strong. Right now, i took some cuttings this past spring and they are
blooming
for me in 14 to 15 inch baskets, and they are only 2 feet high, because
I'm
containing them. I live in NYC and these won't last long outside during
the
winter, so i guess i have to bring them indoors and hope to carry them
over
till next spring.

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:23:21 -0400, "orangetrader"
wrote:

I think what I have is a Crape Myrtle Nanchez. The nusery where I bought
them from had a few that are 50' tall and they are definitely of the tree
variety. The one I have is about 20' tall and the main trunk is about 12
inches in diameter.

I don't think I want to cut them back to the ground. I did a search and
some recommend cutting them back and some said this is "crape murder".
Opinions seem to vary. I am very confused now.

"Crape murder," as discussed here within the past few weeks refers to
topping or pollarding, not regular pruning for shape, health, or
damage removal.

While the Natchez variety (white blooms?) is often referred to as a
tree because of its possible mature height, it's not distinct from
other crape myrtles which can be shrubs or trees, depending on climate
and/or pruning.

I am puzzled by your leaf description. Most crape myrtle leaves are
small -- 1" to 3" long. Are you sure this is a crape myrtle? I do seem
to recall a long-ago post about a Florida tree that was famously messy
for dropping leaves. Perhaps some variety unique to the area?

At any rate, you can probably find specific information by searching
on

"crape myrtle" pruning

My experience is with mid-Atlantic trees/bushes which have been
extremely tolerant of pruning from lopping off dangling branch ends to
sawing a 3" limb to keep a cat from climbing on the porch roof.

Hi,

I live in Zone 7 and have 12 "Natchez" crape myrtles. After
hurricane Isabel last year I decided to seriously cut them back
because during the hurricane the branches hit my windows and ripped
some of the screens. I had read several articles indicating that
pruning them was your first step to Hell :-) so I had not pruned them
since 1997 when I planted them. Before I cut them they were about 25
feet tall and I remove about 10 feet off each of them in Jan/Feb.
They looked really sad when the first spring growth appeared, but they
quickly grew so that no one would notice the "haircut". The blooms
this year have been more profuse than any year since I planted them so
I am inclined to believe the pruning did no lasting damage and
probably encouraged the heavy bloom.

BTW, A couple of the trees are shading by my house and my
neighbors house and their leaves do get bigger in an attempt to reach
more light. They are about the size of an adult's hand, whereas the
leaves in full sun tend to be smaller.

Happy pruning.

Mark
On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 12:14:49 GMT, Frogleg wrote:

On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 23:23:21 -0400, "orangetrader"
wrote:

I think what I have is a Crape Myrtle Nanchez. The nusery where I bought
them from had a few that are 50' tall and they are definitely of the tree
variety. The one I have is about 20' tall and the main trunk is about 12
inches in diameter.

I don't think I want to cut them back to the ground. I did a search and
some recommend cutting them back and some said this is "crape murder".
Opinions seem to vary. I am very confused now.

"Crape murder," as discussed here within the past few weeks refers to
topping or pollarding, not regular pruning for shape, health, or
damage removal.

While the Natchez variety (white blooms?) is often referred to as a
tree because of its possible mature height, it's not distinct from
other crape myrtles which can be shrubs or trees, depending on climate
and/or pruning.

I am puzzled by your leaf description. Most crape myrtle leaves are
small -- 1" to 3" long. Are you sure this is a crape myrtle? I do seem
to recall a long-ago post about a Florida tree that was famously messy
for dropping leaves. Perhaps some variety unique to the area?

At any rate, you can probably find specific information by searching
on

"crape myrtle" pruning

My experience is with mid-Atlantic trees/bushes which have been
extremely tolerant of pruning from lopping off dangling branch ends to
sawing a 3" limb to keep a cat from climbing on the porch roof.