pruning crepe myrtles

[mel]

I have a crepe myrtle that was planted 2 yrs ago, at about 2 feet in height. It has grown quickly, and I have not pruned it. It seems to be growing more full than tall. Is it necessary to prune it at some point? I want the tree to be full when it is mature, and a lot of crepes in Fl. are pruned so that they look butchered and even when they bloom they don't really look like a tree.

 

[Jay Banks]

I prefer to prune crepes as such, after they bloom remove the top spent flower portion down to the thickness of a pencil.
Any additional structural pruning can be done at that time as well.

 

[George777]

I Perfer to prun crapemyrtles in Feb. Most people out in my neck of the woods use a chainsaw to chop it almost in half.

I would thin it out this will allow air to pass through and maybe cut down on powdery mildew. The reason I like to wait until Feb is because the chances of diease is low unlike prunning in the middle of summer.

you can however prune the spent flowers after bloom in july prune back to stems no larger than your small finger. this will promote another bloom

Hope this helps

 

[tree md]

crepe myrtles definitly need to be pruned yearly to maintain a nice appearence. I always prune them during the fall/winter. if they are only two years old they shouldn't be two wild and you aught to be able to shape them up pretty easy. cut them at the forks leaving about 6-8" on each fork.

 

[tree md]

something I forgot to mention, try to use hand pruners chainsaws tend to shred the limbs.