Crepe Myrtle 3 Years Progression

Hi ibc members, here there is one my last purchase, i`ve picked a front and drew some line line with the chalk where carving is needed...tell me what u think

G'day mate, good score!
It has nice movement...They are so vigorous, just watch the wire on the new shoots, they need to be wired early.

Hopefully I will catch up with you an Ant in Melbourne at the convention next year

HI Shannon thanks for the advice and hope see you next year mate

Carving looks like its going to be fun. I'd go for the hollow look instead of jins.

Do you have problems with the tree just suddenly killing off a major branch?
For this reason I'd suggest sort of a broom style and not making it look like a pine tree.

Are these known for having branch die back? I know siberian elm will but i didnt know about crepe myrtle. Any experience with approach grafting or thread grafting dwarf varieties onto a large trunk like this?

Definitely no Jin on this tree for sure some hollows and i agree with the broom style but i had to pull down ( maybe too much) that fewer branches as they were sticking straight up, in regards die back not sure, when the tree was dug up from the previous owner the first time was winter and it did die back a bit, now is late winter i guess i`m taking a bit of a chance.
I`ve actually cut the top of the tree about 4 weeks ago planted as a cutting and it still green and popping everywere .
Abot grafting this sort of species i`ve got no idea so if there is anyone could help with that i will appreciat.....Thanks

bucknbonsai wrote:Are these known for having branch die back? I know siberian elm will but i didnt know about crepe myrtle. Any experience with approach grafting or thread grafting dwarf varieties onto a large trunk like this?

This has been my experience and that of bonsai friends when I lived in Houston, TX, and in Florida too. But where I live in Florida is at their southern most range and that might stress them also. Just don't fall in love with any particular branch.

Having collected one this spring that's at least as big as this one, I'll be watching this thread.

If you're interested...

LELE wrote:Abot grafting this sort of species i`ve got no idea so if there is anyone could help with that i will appreciat.....Thanks

Here's a link where someone used thread-grafting to graft dwarf branches to a full-sized variety:
http://www.orlandobonsai.com/crape_myrtle.htm

There is anyone out there had any experience with grafting branches on this species?

THANKS

ANYONE?

Hello Lele,
Be very careful with diseases,
Mine died from a deseas that roses gets to.
Something white on the leaves.I can not come on the name.
Please look it up.
I want to see the tree in the future with all the carving done.
Where are you from.

Regards
Rakesh from Surinam

My experience with Crepe Myrtle is just as yard trees (from my old house). It sprouts and back bud easily. I tried killing one between my fence and it just keep on sprouting back!

Re: this tree, I would remove the bark of the branches you marked for removal so no new shoots will come out of those. Then sit back and watch it grow like weeds.

I love your material, it has the makeings of a great bonsai that will fun to work with IMHO. The way you have decided to carve for taper will give you a very good result. Crepes also heal wounds very quickly if that's what you desire.
Here, I have never had the branch dieback some have mentioned, maybe because I use a inorganic free draining mix. ? Maybe

Mitch

I`m from Melbourne Australia

Ok very nice.
Very nice material you have.
It is tree that grows very fast and buts very easy.
what more ice material do you have in your collection.

Regards Rakesh

I have several and have no problems with branch die back. They like warm dry conditions and the only one's I've seen have problems with mildew are to close to the coast. Inland they do fine. I've never had to think about gtafting because they just sprout everywhere. That should be a fun project.

LELE wrote:I`m from Melbourne Australia

Check out Orlando Bonsai. He has grafted dwarf Crape myrtle onto standard stock to get smaller leaves and smaller flowers.

I hope it's ok to post links. http://www.orlandobonsai.com/?cat=167

Also (THIS IS ONLY FOR THE RALEIGH CLIMATE) I know of some crape myrtles losing not just one branch but every branch down to the ground for seemingly no reason at all. Dario is right in that 99% of the time, they grow like weeds, but a friend of mine planted 7 in the ground 30 years ago and 12 years ago after a weird winter, they died back to the ground and sprouted up again in the spring. They haven't died that far back since, but they sometimes will lose an entire branch. Really weird. If it matters, my friend's trees are the Fantastic Red variety.

I hope you'll keep us updated with pictures.
Have a great week!!!
Sam

Bob Pressler wrote:I have several and have no problems with branch die back. They like warm dry conditions and the only one's I've seen have problems with mildew are to close to the coast. Inland they do fine. I've never had to think about gtafting because they just sprout everywhere. That should be a fun project.

Remember that the mildew problems are closely related to the old indica varieties. Newer hybrids (indicaxfauriei) have good mildew resistance.

I'm with you, Bob, grafting never seems necessary because of how vigorously they explode with new growth - but I assume it would be easy.

Here's a big 'near east' I dug back in February.

Russell
Wow that's a great one, I'll bet it looks like a fur ball now!

Mitch

I like your tree Russel.....

I`d love to graft a dwarf variety on it....

I`Ve seen a tecnique of grafting once , where you basically drill a hole into the trunk and insert a woody branch wirh a few bud on it....Does this work?

LELE wrote:I like your tree Russel.....

I`d love to graft a dwarf variety on it....

I`Ve seen a tecnique of grafting once , where you basically drill a hole into the trunk and insert a woody branch wirh a few bud on it....Does this work?

No way! No grafting dwarf varieties on this one. 'Near East' is a BEAUTIFUL crape (my favorite, developed here in Mobile, Alabama), and this one is BIG so I think it would probably look ridiculous with dwarfs stuck all over it.

You're talking about thread grafting. Joey McCoy posted about it for boxwoods not too long ago. Very well done, and it would be perfect for crape myrtles.

R

Cheersa Russel....

Russell that crape myrtle is STUNNING. It'd be proud to own such a tree. I can't wait to see it developed.

Thanks for posting
Sam

Hi everyone, I thought I`ll share with you the progress the tree as made in the last 2 years...Hope you enjoy it...
Open to critics please.