Crepe Myrtles

Is it possible to start crepe myrtles from the suckers that come up from the root? Will they flower? If it is possible what is the process? Any thoughts?


hugs

d

Just dig when dormant and plant in permenent place.Any roots broken and left in ground will also make new plants.

It is very possible that you can take a crapemyrtle bush and make into many cuttings which will root.

Wait until all the leaves fall off. Take as many branches as you would like, and cut them in short pieces, each piece can be as small as 1 node. (Node is where there was a leaf). Dip that node in a rooting compound and then place in good potting soil, keep moist, and place it in a sunny window sill, better yet, in a heated greenhouse. Doing it that way, you can get up to 30 little bushes from only one branch!

I have two crape myrtles which I plan to propagate this year. I will take cuttings as soon as all the leaves drop. I will take the entire bush except the main trunk. I don't care because I know next year all those branches will be replaced very quickly, besides, it will not flower unless it is from new wood. I will be making about 500 little bushes to be sold in the Spring. If I can start early (November) then they will be about 1 ft. tall by April when I start selling.

They also start easily from seeds.

THANKS!!!

Be very careful when you start crepe myrtles from seed. If the plant is a hybrid you will not know what will come out of it. The only way to know that your new bush is identical to the original with flowers of the same size and color, is to propagate with cuttings.

Thanks, I can't wait to get started. I have a 1/2 acre set aside just for them.

:-)

This year my trees are loaded with seeds. (RED) All of them were taken from root sprouts a few years back. If anyone is intersted I can save some. Never gave it much thought. Am going back to that field which is is still loaded with them and mark a purple one for propagation.

fgomezclones is right about the seeds; they'll never come true to the parent (which isn't that big of a deal, since they always bloom the first year for me).

Last year I sowed about 100 seeds of a lavendar crepe myrtle and ended up with about 60 seedlings. Most were lavendar also, but ranged from white to almost dark purple. So it's anybody's guess what you'll get. Sowing crepe myrtle seeds is very fun and rewarding. They bloom faster than most annuals!

Dave

I now have about 500 or more seeds. And more on the tree in pods. If any one wants some?

I have plenty of pod on my white, lavander, red, pinks.. I am going to plant seeds and grow more!!!! lol... see what the colors come up when it bloom!

Do the seeds need any special treatment before planting?

If you sow them fresh, they'll germinate FAST (within 2 weeks usually). If you wait too long, however, you'll have to stratify them for 2-3 months.

I always use the paper towel method and transfer the seedlings, once they germinate, into seed starting cells, one plant per cell.

dave

Around here, most crape myrtles are pass-around plants. When they come up from volunteer seeds, as they have for generations, the color is always true. But the colors are limited, from what I've seen, to white, pink and dark pink. I expect it will be a while before you have the new colors producing true from seed.

Sowing a lot of seeds, like Dave did, and selecting the ones that bloom true is the way you will eventually get true-producing seeds from hybrids. The same way that you now get dachshunds from dachsunds, or true offspring from any other breed of dog, cat, rabbit, etc., that is not a natural species.