I had some cuttings from my outdoor hardy crape myrtle. During this past
spring, I had planted some of them in small 12" pots to see if they would
survive. They did and in fact 2 of them even bloomed slightly. Being in NYC,
with oncoming Fall and winter, I dragged them indoors after they had shown
their Fall leafs color and dropped all leaves. A couple of them went into a
cool unheated basement with so far temperatures have not gone below 59 degrees.
The other 2 are in another unheated room, but the temp there has not gone below
68 degrees. This was all done in mid October or early november..don't recall
exactly. I was told while they are in a dormant stage to water sparingly, like
once a month or a couple of weeks. I never watered them enough to cover the
depth of the pots. Now, to my suprise today, I happened to notice that the
branches of the 68 degrees are starting to sport leaves, not so with the
basement one. I don't know what to do now. Should I start watering it as I did
when they were outside or just stop watering them and hope it drops its new
leaves and go dormant again? If I do start watering them again should I also
fertilize them because they are in pots? Hopefully someone here who has
knowledge of these shrubs would assist me? BTW, the sticker just says "Hardy
crape myrtle"...no other title. I do have the parent shrub now almost 15 years.

This is a hard call. Crape myrtles are native to the subtropics. The
subtropics do experience frost, but rarely. However, crape myrtles do go
dormant as soon as cooler weather becomes consistent (temps below 40 at
night). It is not unusual however, for the subtropics to experience
prolonged warm spells in winter, followed by more cool weather. During those
periods, sometimes crape myrtles will leaf out, and then lose their leaves
again if another frost strikes. Generally this didn't kill my crape myrtles,
but they were in the ground. I guess I would advise keeping th plant which
is leafing out "barely alive" -meaning not watering until the soil is quite
dry on top, keeping it in the very coolest part of the room, as long as
there is sufficient light, etc. In February and March, as the light gets
stronger, you could increase watering, maybe fertilize lightly - and
obviously as the days get warm enough, perhaps as early as mid-April, start
keeping it outside in a very sheltered location.
"Wishy13764" wrote in message
...
I had some cuttings from my outdoor hardy crape myrtle. During this past
spring, I had planted some of them in small 12" pots to see if they would
survive. They did and in fact 2 of them even bloomed slightly. Being in
NYC,
with oncoming Fall and winter, I dragged them indoors after they had shown
their Fall leafs color and dropped all leaves. A couple of them went into
a
cool unheated basement with so far temperatures have not gone below 59
degrees.
The other 2 are in another unheated room, but the temp there has not gone
below
68 degrees. This was all done in mid October or early november..don't
recall
exactly. I was told while they are in a dormant stage to water sparingly,
like
once a month or a couple of weeks. I never watered them enough to cover
the
depth of the pots. Now, to my suprise today, I happened to notice that the
branches of the 68 degrees are starting to sport leaves, not so with the
basement one. I don't know what to do now. Should I start watering it as I
did
when they were outside or just stop watering them and hope it drops its
new
leaves and go dormant again? If I do start watering them again should I
also
fertilize them because they are in pots? Hopefully someone here who has
knowledge of these shrubs would assist me? BTW, the sticker just says
"Hardy
crape myrtle"...no other title. I do have the parent shrub now almost 15
years.

It is not unusual however, for the subtropics to experience
prolonged warm spells in winter, followed by more cool weather. During those
periods, sometimes crape myrtles will leaf out, and then lose their leaves
again if another frost strikes. Generally this didn't kill my crape myrtles,
but they were in the ground. I guess I would advise keeping th plant which
is leafing out "barely alive" -meaning not watering until the soil is quite
dry on top, keeping it in the very coolest part of the room, as long as
there is sufficient light, etc. In February and March, as the light gets
stronger, you could increase watering, maybe fertilize lightly - and
obviously as the days get warm enough, perhaps as early as mid-April, start
keeping it outside in a very sheltered location.

Well, no need to be concerned about frost while they are indoors. I watered
when I spotted the leaves, and at that time the soil was dry. Maybe I should
move it down to the basement with the others, who so far, at 59 degrees have
not spouted new leaves?

If you want it to go dormant, get it cold again. I live in Texas myself so I
understand about the releafing out.

You will have to water it more while it is leafed out, but just not too much
nor too little. Whether the tree is dormant or not, if it dries out too much
it will die, so don't use the cutting back on the water to try to make it go
dormant -- use the lower temperatures.

You could probably bury the pots in a south facing bed against the house,
too, but I've never lived further north than Dallas so...I'm not sure I'd
take my word for that. In Austin and Houston, I leave my pots out where they
do freeze a few days or weeks a year so I know a light freeze doesn't kill
even potted roots.

hth,
John


"Wishy13764" wrote in message
...
It is not unusual however, for the subtropics to experience
prolonged warm spells in winter, followed by more cool weather. During
those
periods, sometimes crape myrtles will leaf out, and then lose their leaves
again if another frost strikes. Generally this didn't kill my crape
myrtles,
but they were in the ground. I guess I would advise keeping th plant which
is leafing out "barely alive" -meaning not watering until the soil is
quite
dry on top, keeping it in the very coolest part of the room, as long as
there is sufficient light, etc. In February and March, as the light gets
stronger, you could increase watering, maybe fertilize lightly - and
obviously as the days get warm enough, perhaps as early as mid-April,
start
keeping it outside in a very sheltered location.

Well, no need to be concerned about frost while they are indoors. I
watered
when I spotted the leaves, and at that time the soil was dry. Maybe I
should
move it down to the basement with the others, who so far, at 59 degrees
have
not spouted new leaves?

f you want it to go dormant, get it cold again. I live in Texas myself so I
understand about the releafing out.

You will have to water it more while it is leafed out, but just not too much
nor too little. Whether the tree is dormant or not, if it dries out too much
it will die, so don't use the cutting back on the water to try to make it go
dormant -- use the lower temperatures.

You could probably bury the pots in a south facing bed against the house,
too, but I've never lived further north than Dallas so...I'm not sure I'd
take my word for that. In Austin and Houston, I leave my pots out where they
do freeze a few days or weeks a year so I know a light freeze doesn't kill
even potted roots.


My size pot is about a foot deep and 17" wide. I do get a lot of south sun this
time of year, but by January it would be just a little. I'm going to experiment
and try to grow this indoors now that it sprouted new leaves and just
fertilized, which I rarely had done to my 15 year old garden shrub, and it
keeps on flourishing. The watering is a puzzle. You say water it occasionally
and not very much. But if i don't see water coming into the saucer, then those
bottom roots would not get any water and may die. Wouldn't that kill the plant
then? BTW, this pot is too heavy to move around. Almost broke my back. Do you
know how I can 'lighten' the soil as to make it moveable for the future? Thanks