Different variant of Crape Myrle from seed

The oldest white one was germinated Feb-Mar 2008. I only got two weepers out of my original plantings. One white in 2008 and one pink in 2009. The pink one I about killed this summer, too much sun and heat. The pink one seems to be a smaller plant. The weepers start falling over growing horizontal in just a few weeks, look like they are wilting at first glance. Not all the plants from the weepers seeds weep. My plants from the white ones seeds make weepers and regulars. Seeds from my pink weeper I germinated this spring also makes some pink weepers at a rate that I can't calculate. The heat this year has made it hard to analyze the growth. The summer of crispy leaves.

The trunk of the orig is only a couples inches tall. If you call it a trunk.

The white one from a cutting I planted in the ground this spring has struggled all summer but is now showing better growth and blooms.

My original white gets better each year. It has bloomed all summer. It did even better after I moved it out of full sun. The pink got too much sun and looks bad but it is blooming with some shade.

Besides the weepers I have a good number of very small crapes in the ground. They need a summer without weeks on end of 100+ degree days. I can't remember the last time it rained. May? It is going to be 104 here today. Water bill discussion is verboten.

I feel your pain on the heat and water bill. my wife has hit the roof on the last waterbill. to the point of stop watering everything in the front of the house. "there is no plant worth a $200.00 water bill". she does not stop to think how much replacing everything would cost.
Hopefully our cold front will make it down to you. we are going to have a high in the 60's tomorrow... i think thats what my dear wife told me this am.... i was half asleep...lol

It sounds like you have a nice collection of plants. the pink one sounds interesting.
Stay kool
Dave

Howdy: well good news I got a good germination from the seeds i got from you. now to see what we end up with from the batch. Has the heat lessened for you yet? we are in the 80's and loving it. just cant take the fronts that roll through. i feel them all no matter if it rains or not. I hope you are doing well.
Dave

Great news. The 100s are gone. Nights are 50s and 60s. Daytime mid 90s still show up most days. Had some rain but not enough. A little rain and lower temps has given me a break in dragging hose to 100+ crapes in the ground. I have a bunch more in pots. The ones in pots are in the shade of large crapes most of the day. It takes 120 yards of hose to reach them all from my one faucet out back. Ok, I exaggerated, I only use 350 feet of hose. I have another faucet in the GH.
I am doing as well as can be expected. The swelling from carpal tunnel operation still there. Numbness getting better but not by much. Still can't do much with the left paw.
How is your back? Better I hope.
Larry

Off and on depending on the timing of the fronts. Its funny ok not so much but I can tell when a front rolls through rain or not clouds or not. what a bummer ... but everyday above ground is a good day. I am Anxious to see what I end up with from the new seedlings

My new seedlings from the seeds #1 produced a lot of sprawling and white flowering plants. Some the seeds I sent you were from #1, some from various ones that are 15, 20 years old. 1 bunch of seeds will probably mostly white the other pack will have mostly pink and purple varying from very pink/purple from very deep to very light colors. I have some pink ones in the ground that look white from a distance but are a very light pink. Same variance with the purple ones. Crape myrtle seedlings only take 120 days before they can start putting out blooms if germinated in the winter or spring and if they get TLC. This late in the summer it might be next May-June before you see color. Growing crape myrtles from seeds has been stoking my addiction prone physic.

Larry - your thread is so very interesting. We have a few CM's and I'd like to try growing the seeds.

When do I harvest the seeds and what is the process for planting?

My husband is the grower for all vegetables, annuals, daylilies, etc. we grow so we already have the growing and lighting set up in the basement, which averages 60 degrees. I'd appreciate any help you can give us. Thanks.

seed heads should form shortly. its the little green balls that form at the end of the branch they will turn black and crack open. its pretty easy to collect seed from them so using a bag over the seed heads is not really needed.

Hi pirl
Pughbear7 is correct. I just wait until winter, snatch the seed heads off. The open ones may or may not have seeds. The dried ones not yet open I crack them open and empty the seed into a container. I then I use a 16oz stryo cups from any fast food or convenience store that uses them for coffee or drinks. I went to Sam's and bought 500 in a box for about $13 They are now more expensive. I poke 8 holes in the bottom of the cup fill with damp potting soil, sprinkle some seeds, cover them lightly. I always put in more seeds than necessary. They usually take three to six weeks for them to sprout. If I set the cups some where I don't water running out of the cups, I set the holey in an unholey cup to catch the drainage. I then set a 2 liter pop bottle over the cup to keep the humidity very high. When sprouted and get big enough to handle I pick them out and pot them one to a pot. I use a gallon pot at this time. I keep the bottle over them for humidity to prevent transplant shock. When they look like they are growing you probably can wean them off the bottle. I weaned myself off the bottle after I banged my head falling off the tall milk stool. When the weather gets to the place they can survive I set them outside to harden off. They can be delicate at this stage so check on them frequently for the first few days. I raise mine in a greenhouse, sometimes if not all the time I put out too early and the putem out and the putem back in starts. Or I use gallon milk or water jugs to place over them to raise the humidity and keep off any too cool temps.

If I left out something, my bad.

Larry

Thanks, Larry and Dave.

I have an indoor mini greenhouse but it doesn't have lights. We have the lighting system downstairs. Would they germinate better (I bet) under lights?

They will grow a lot better in your basement under lights after they germinate. Since I put many seeds in one pot to germinate they need the light to grow. I germinate mine in the winter in my outside GH without additional light, I keep a heater going on cold days and nights along with my pop bottles and milk jugs to keep them from the cold.on really cold nights. Where I live low 20s is real cold.

We've been to Texas - San Marcos, Austin and San Antonio - during the worst and nastiest weather you great Texans have had...back in 2003. Roads were all ice!

I'll put them downstairs where they will be safe.

Thank you for your help. I hope I get one that's as wonderful as yours that became a ground cover.

better safe than sorry. we live on a boarder where we are zone 6 but a lot of zone 7 plants thrive here. but we can get a bad winter and really knock the snot out of them. crepe myrtle's, canna's and a few I forget. i bring my potted crepe's inside the unheated gh to winter over. I run a light bulb on the coldest nights. its enough to keep them safer. I had a beautiful dwarf in a special pot and left it out one year and it froze back bad. I lost quite a few babies too. I have just gotten it to a place I like it again.
Just my extra 2 cents