How do I keep blosoms going on my Crepe Myrtles?

How do I keep blosoms going on my Crepe Myrtles? I'm looking for the maxium amount of blooms possible. I have fertilized mine with some flower fertilizer, can't remember the numbers right now. I have also noticed some on a local Boulevard medion that don't get any irrigation are blooming like gang busters. I'll take some pictures of mine so you can judge if I'm overreacting.

My experience with them has been "less is more", they seem to do better without a ton of water, fertilizer, etc. I don't typically fertilize mine at all, but I do water them just not super frequently. I suspect the ones you're seeing in the medians are watered either by drips or popup sprinklers which you just can't see when you're driving by, I know you get more rain there than we do here but I still can't see them getting through a whole summer without any supplemental water unless your area is a lot rainier than I think it is.

If yours aren't blooming well enough, it could be a little too much TLC, or they tend to be aphid magnets so if you have a bunch of aphids on them that may stress them a bit (same with powdery mildew which some cultivars are also prone to). Or if your plants are still fairly young they may have not hit their stride yet so you may need to give them a few years.

No, Aphids here. The ones I seen in the median have really dry brown grass. So maybe there just a different variety. Here are some pictures. I do have a tendency to get the mildew when I use my soaker hose on them. I have stoped using it and it disappears.

Here's another...these get varigeted flowers. They are all different colors.

the last one...

They look fine to me, can't seen anything wrong with them and it looks like they're blooming fine. Was there something specific about them that you were worrying about?

If the ones in the median are drip irrigated, they could very well have dry brown grass around them, people use drips to keep down the weeds since it only irrigates the exact plant you want, not all the area around it where weeds can grow. They could very well be a different variety than yours, but the care requirements for all of them are pretty much the same.

Okay, I'll keep them going as they are.

In my experience, deheading them after the blooms fade will promote new flush of blooms.

Here's one. Rain last week kind of spread it out but it's blooming well.

They don't need a lot of water but a real lack of water will delay blooming time.

Dean_W, how old is your crepe myrtles, I started some from seed last winter and planted three this week, your blooms are pretty! I have two lavendar with a red in the middle, I just hope to see them bloom in my lifetime lol

If you started them from seed, they may not turn out to be two lavenders and a red, they don't necessarily come true from seed.

ecrane, is right. You would need to take cuttings. But good luck with your seeds anyway. I guess these trees are around six years old (not for sure). Their suppose to mature at about 15' tall. The flowers are variegated.

Well it doesn't much matter if they come true or not, I just have them in the field but it's good to know how slow they will grow lol Five or six years really goes by fast though, I planted a corkscrew willow and it was up there before I knew it :)

Thanks
Lea

I have a CM that freely reseeds and they grow quick. I think I have had one flower in year two. Only 2 ft or so high. I don't keep track because I usually pull them up as weeds. Also I don't know how long it will take where the poster is but in the South CM's grow fast. Some people whack 4 or 5 ft off of them and they grow that right back the next year. From seed to 10 ft is maybe 3 years? My best guess. They do need a lot of sun BTW.

Thanks CoreHHI, I'm hoping to see a sample bloom as soon as I can sounds like it may be next year, mine are in the full sun :)

Lea, it just depends on the cultivor on how tall they grow. I bought mine because they would only get that tall. There are some that can grow into small trees. CoreHHI, is right they love their sun. If not enough sun they can be succesptible to mildew.

They also can sucker readiliy if the roots are disturbed.

Good sign that it's getting to much shade is powdery mildew.

I wish I had taken a picture of the CM's at Epcot. They have some light purple ones that are 30-40 ft tall. They're trees. Until I saw those I didn't know they got that big. Anyone know exactly what they're growing in Epcot? The big ones were on the way to the bathroom at the land pavillion I think.

They always grow everything so much bigger in Fl. lol I've seen house plants here and in Florida they are trees! Fl. must be a plant heaven 8)