Is it ok to prune them now, or should we wait a little longer? Well, I guess I can't wait much longer because spring will be here before we know it. It just doesn't seem like winter yet and I want to do it at the right time. I have 2 Shumard Red Oaks and a Chinese Pistache that need their first real, hard pruning.
Pruning trees
I have pruned mine already, we usually do it in December, with no problems.
Josephine.
Same here... I have all mine down already. I do it right after they drop their leaves.
Mitch
Yay! They're finally big enough that their lower limbs are making a difference. Soon they'll look like real trees. :)
It's a good thing my dh is going to be having to cut the large limbs or I might get carried away. I'll go out to just piddle around and end up taking on a whole project.
I tend to do that... I go out to take one limb and before I know it the poor this looks like a sapling again oh well they will grow right? I am trying hard not to trim up any more trees - untill next year...
Yes Mitch, that's exactly what I'm afraid I'd do. I learned how tough some of my bushes were when I started pruning them. I can tell my neighbor's now "oh no, you can chop that thing to pieces and it will still grow". lol
I've got a big Crepe Myrtle to prune too but there seems to be an art to it. It keeps growing new stalks (lack of correct word here) and I just can't seem to keep up with it. I want it to look like the ones I see around town that have been professionally pruned. (not murdered tho)
I bet Dave could tell us about pruning the Crepe Myrtle.....??? I have one I have pruned every couple of years but not sure I am doing it right. I do know that the new growth is where it blooms from, so you don't want to prune after it starts to send out new shoots.
Crepe Myrtles - there are two groups of thought here... One is a hard pruning now removing all branches under 1 inch in size, or standing too tall (flat top you might call it). The other is a crepe myrtle is a tropical tree and needs to be let grow into a tree - let the branches grow and just take out low branches you need to remove for underplantings. Most major Crepe Myrtle growers are strong on the second choice - for the longest lived and best long term blooms leave it a tree, or let it start to be a tree.
This one is definitely a tree, and large. I pruned it either last year or the one before and cut down the new shoots that were small. I thought I had the trunk(s) all settled but then more shoots came up. They usually don't grown out the right direction either. They cross over another branch so I need to cut them so they won't be rubbing on the others. I'll go out later and take a pic and see what y'all think. I don't know enough about pruning and don't want to hurt the tree.
Will give it a shot - went to a meeting in Waxahachie (and crepe myrtles are treated like gods down there) on Crepes and how to trim them.
Cool! I'd love some advice. I won't tell my city about Waxahachie tho because we are "The Crepe Myrtle Capital of Texas". lol
There are several trees they showed us down there well over 100 years old - I mean trunks that I can not reach around... big ones. They really take care of them down there. So what color is yours - and why do you only have one being in the capital ? (lol)
Well, not a day goes by that I don't learn something new on DG !
Crepe Myrtles can be trees ? Cool. I've got some seedlings
coming up that are about 3 feet tall now - they just popped up near
the mother plants - and I'm gonna prune and transplant them to where
they will have lots of room to grow. Crepe Myrtle trees. How cool is that ?
Thanks.
Yes, they have an area at the Dallas Arboretum they call Crepe Myrtle Allie and the trees touch across the path on the top and make a beautiful canopy for people to walk under, it is really worth going to see.
Josephine.
Sounds beautiful, Josephine. I'll have to go see it.
lol...actually I never liked CM's until a few years ago, but now I have 3. What made me want one was how the bark peels and the trunks are smoooothhh.
My big one peels and it's so cool! It's a white one, Natchez I believe. I got it for like $2 at Lowe's one year. It died to the ground that winter and came back full force. I wasn't sure if it was going to come back this year, but it did. A friend lost her large white one and I read a few other posts where others lost their white ones. ?
My other 2 are red and grow more vertical. If their bark peels, it hasn't yet. I didn't know how any of these grew so I lucked out when I put these 2 on the side of the house and the larger spreading white one in the back corner of the yard.
I'll get that pic tomorrow.
Sounds lovely, Konkreteblond.
Yes, the Dallas Arboretum has some very beautiful features, on mothers day they are usually so busy that they have to have remote parking and bus people over to the garden. The do charge an admittance fee.
That they do but they have some of the best displays there. When we take the school kids for their day I like to book it in the spring so I can see the trial gardens to see what works (they keps from the year before) and anything new. I also love to spend a lot of time in the bamboo grove.
Paige - that sounds wonderful, post pics and what you are thinking about pruning and will help where I can.
Ok, I made it outside for a quick pic. I'm not sure if you can tell anything from this pic. If not, give me an idea of what you'd need to see.
Pardon the mess but I've not cut anything down or cleaned up yet. It's amazing that it's the same garden that looked so pretty recently. lol
Easy going - you have several "trunks" if you will. You need to focus on the trunks with the best shape, form, and size. I would think keeping 4-6 of the best would be good. Mark them well or you just might cut too many.... anyway leave the top branches for this year the way they are. Cut all the others at the base and treat any new growths down there like waterspouts. This will help the tree shape start to form - it will stop growing out and start growing up. Next fall trim any crossing major branches, any weak branches or badly placed branches.
Easy right? it is a great looking tree and will look great tree form.
The other wy to be to cut all the branches flat at the height of the fence.. would not look the best.
Forgot to say - take two years or that much lose of wood could really hurt your tree.
You have a lot of crepe myrtle there.. You can definitely grow it as a shrub and get more flowers. That dude sends up lots of "babies" and unless you want a mess of myrtle you need to clean it up from the ground up. As to height: it you want a tree (s) I would top it. I don't think anything will really hurt a CM. I'm one of those people who sees the landscape as a whole, not individual plants so the beauty of the bark and all that is not what I enjoy. Others do. One thing I have learned in gardening is that you can't concentrate too much on just one plant of any sort or the plant owns you and not the other way around. Just my 2 cents worth......
Ann
Ann - Topping trees is a bad pratice for the tree. It will give you more flowers today but will be shoreter lived and it can kill a crepe myrtle. There are many good articles out there that stress crepe myrtles should not be toped if they are to be a long standing part of your landscape.
My gardening book refers to it as "Crepe Murder". I personally don't like how they end up looking so I won't be doing it. (I don't have time to do it anyways)
This tree has always had quite a few large trunks but it shot up about 4 more this year. I guess I should have cut them down earlier but I just wasn't sure if I should or if I would want to. So I should only cut some of them now?? If I wait tho they might damage the tree more by rubbing on other branches.
Any idea how to cut them down at the base? I know how to cut a limb but never had to do this. (time for some reading)
I guess I think differently about my garden tho. I think of it as a whole but it's made up of individual plants that I love. They have a characteristic about them that has earned them a right to be in my valuable dirt. (very improved clay) If they fail to please me or become bothersome to me then they usually get replaced.
This CM is definitely a tree. It never planned on being a bush. It's well over 6' tall now even with the branches heavy from blooms. It was a lot thicker last year but lost some of the smaller branches during last years drought. (even tho my water bill was high) And it smells wonderful! I didn't know they even had a scent until a few years ago.
It is definitely not the center of my garden and controlling me in any way. If it did, I would have focused more on it and done something sooner. It actually sits in the corner behind where our swimming pool goes up in the summer so it gets pretty ignored. But still, the reason I have it and love it is because of it's cool peeling bark. :)
Oh Paige, please don't do the Crepe murder! It'll look so unnatural especially in the winter.....it will have these huge nubs, just awful.
I usually limb up to about 8' so I can show off that beautiful bark.
There's a lot of information here, including a video on how to
best prune your crepe myrtles. Hope this helps.
http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/trees/crapemyrtle/index.html
Thanks for that link! I'll definitely go thru it all.
Cutting the big trees... this is going to be easy... each of the branches marked for removal you start cutting the tops off the trunks - dime sized branches. Then work your way down to little bigger and then a little bigger still. I take a skill saw out with me to make the big finial cuts ar the base... not the best tool for the job but it works.
If you take too much off you can shock the tree... let it take the year off with the major sections being gone and then work on the smaller - it will look better too this year and give you some ideas on shape after the others have been out of there for a while.
Ok, so you're saying I start by taking the larger, unwanted trunks first then the smaller ones next year? I'll go out in the next few days and try to see which ones need to go, mark them, then take a closer pic.
Right - go slow and your plant will thank you for it. Cut away too much and they often fall to pests and illness.
Yikes, looks like I won't be taking a pic or doing any pruning this weekend! bbbrrrrrr!! Now's a good time for reading and planning.
going to be a fun long weekend...