black diamond crape myrtle

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lornamoon Oklahoma City, OK Feb 01, 2016

Howdy, folks!

Last year I purchased one of the newfangled dwarf crape myrtles-- crimson red. My garden faces north, so that from the fall equinox to the spring equinox it's in shade (30 minutes morning sun). From late March, its exposure to sun increases rapidly from less than an hour to 3 hours (April) to 6 hours (mid May) to 8 (June and July). By mid august it slips under 6 hours and so on.

I transplanted it from pot to garden, keeping the nursery's potting mix (compost) and surrounded it with an average, well-drained loam. The care instructions say fertilize once a year as new growth appears, and other gardeners have confirmed for me that these new varieties do benefit from feeding/ fertilizing-- just don't overdo it. Unfortunately, I can't get specific info. Rather than use my all-purpose 10-20-10 granular fertilizer, I want to give the plant an annual boost with 5-10-5 analysis liquid plant food, only a gallon or so because the plant is just over 2 feet tall. Is 5-10-5 too high? Because the phosphate and potash will stick around and leach slowly into the soil and root system, perhaps 3-6-3 is better?

Please advise. It will probably start emerging here --Oklahoma City-- in early March. Thanks!

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ViburnumValley Scott County, KY(Zone 5b) Feb 01, 2016

I think your 5-10-5 or 3-6-3 analysis will be just fine.

That said, any concerned gardener should have a soil test done for their garden soils to determine what they actually have before adding any type of fertilizer - so you aren't throwing money away or creating an imbalance in nutrients/minerals/chemicals inadvertantly.

Crapemyrtle is a pretty versatile and vigorous plant. It will probably take all your added nutrients, and then mug nearby plants for some of theirs when you aren't looking. It should perform very well in OK, though I'll be interested to hear how darker foliage tolerates your Plains summer heat.

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