I'm curious about corrective pruning for a crape myrtle that hasn't been pruned at all in at least two years? We've just moved into a new home and have two beautiful, mature, trees, however, they've got masses of scraggly, bare branches sticking out at the top and around the edges, extending beyond the budded branches. It bloomed briefly this summer, but quickly lost its blossoms and now looks like something out of a halloween scene. Any suggestions for helping it out this fall, or should we hang on until late winter and prune as you've suggested. Wouldn't want to harm it further, and we're novices at this! Thanks for any suggestions...

Answer #1 · Brent Wilson's Answer · From the looks of the pictures, it appears as though your crape myrtles might have been damaged from severe cold in winter or a late frost in spring? This would account for the bare branches that are sticking up past the foliage. It might be best to remove these dead branches now as they are much easier to identify. In spring, you would have to scrape every branch to see if the bark underneath is green. Then, in late winter or early spring, prune back using the instructions here as a guideline: www.gardenality.com/Articles/344/How-To-Info/Pruning/How-To-Prune-A-Crape-Myrtle/default.html

That being said, since the trees haven't been pruned for two years, it might be a little trickier this time around. Just follow the general method of grabbing the top of a stem (last years growth) and bending the branch over, making your cut right where the branch STARTS to bend (at the lower point on the branch). This will ensure that a stub is left that will be strong enough to support the weight of the two new branches that will emerge from beneath the cut. Make sure not to cut a branch (last years growth) below the point where it intersects an older branch.

Also keep in mind that these are older, more established trees, and once you have them shaped and cleaned up, they may not need pruning every year. I have several older crape myrtle trees in my own landscape that I no longer prune the top of the canopy. All I do now is remove suckers from the base and prune branches that hang down too far from the lower side of the canopy or spoil the shape of the tree.

Hope this info helped.)