 Pruning Crapemyrtles - Step-by-Step
(3 minutes: 39 seconds)
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Audio/Video Script:
Dr. Jim Robbins
Extension Horticulture Specialist - Ornamentals
[Dr. Robbins] Well, spring has finally arrived and it's a great time for us to
consider pruning out crapemyrtles. And it's a great time for two reasons: one
is, we've passed the most severed part of the winter and if there were any
winter die-back it would be very visible. The second reason is there are no
leaves so it's very easy for us to see the branch structure of our plant.
Now before we get started, we probably should review some of the common tools
we need before pruning our crapemyrtle. First off, you probably need a very nice
pair of leather gloves. Second, you really need a good pair of hand-pruners or
hand-shears. I also find it very helpful in pruning crapemyrtles to have a pair
of loppers. Essentially it's a pair of hand shears with longer lever arms. And
it's kind of optional, but I find it very useful to have one of these saws with
the teeth kind of exposed. This tool can work its way into this crown very
easily. In contrast to a bow saw, which I really can't get into the interior of
this plant. So these are some of the common tools you'll likely need for this
project.
We're going to use two pruning techniques to prune a crapemyrtle. One is
Renewal Pruning and the other is Selective Thinning. So, Renewal Pruning, what
is it? What we do is, we're looking to remove entire branches or stems all the
way down to the ground level. So this branch, it's more than what we need for
this particular plant plus it's bowing out from the plant. So all we're going to
do is use our loppers, and get it as close as we can to the ground and we'll
simply cut.
We can also use a saw for Renewal Pruning and again the objective is to
simply cut the branch off as close as we can get to the soil level.
The other technique we want to use is Selective Thinning. And that simply
involves removing a lateral branch all the way back to its point of attachment.
So, we're going to follow this branch back to its point of attachment and we're
going to make a very clean pruning cut.
This particular branch is a very good example of why we use selective
thinning. This branch is starting on one side of the plant and then it's
crossing back through the center. So it's causing lots of conflicts in this
plant. So we're going to remove this using Selective Thinning.
Using these two techniques of Renewal Pruning and Selective Thinning we're
going to go ahead now and prune the rest of this crapemyrtle.
Many people find the seed head objectionable on crapemyrtles, so if you feel
that way, there's no problem with just snipping that off and be done with it.
Well, we're just about done, one more cut. And notice that we've achieved our
objective of maintaining the natural habit of the crapemyrtle using those two
techniques, Renewal Pruning and Selective Thinning. Now the majority of people
in this state simply “top” their plants at about four or five feet. They just
cut all these branches off. And it really makes the plant look ugly in the
winter time.
Overall this pruning project took us about 5 minutes and we removed about
that many branches from this plant. We achieved our objective of maintaining the
natural habit of this crapemyrtle using those two techniques, Renewal Pruning
and Selective Thinning.
[Narrator] To learn more, contact your county extension agent and follow
the links in this section.
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