Crepe Myrtles: Shoots (suckers) but dead limbs

[Emily]

I live in Central/Eastern Kentucky and bought and planted three crepe myrtles this year. After a particularly cold winter, my 5-7 feet crepe myrtles now have seemingly dead limbs, but very lively suckers/new shoots coming up from the roots... Should I prune (cut) the dead limbs off to allow the shoots a chance or ??? will there ever be new growth on the limbs?

 

[Chuck]

I live in Central/Eastern Kentucky and bought and planted three crepe myrtles this year. After a particularly cold winter, my 5-7 feet crepe myrtles now have seemingly dead limbs, but very lively suckers/new shoots coming up from the roots... Should I prune (cut) the dead limbs off to allow the shoots a chance or ??? will there ever be new growth on the limbs?

If the limbs are truly dead they are dead and unlike Lazarus will not come back to life. Get a sharp knife and scrape the bark off of the tip the "dead limbs". If what you see is a brown and dried and hard surface the limb is dead and by all means cut it off. If there is even the slightest color of green it is not dead yet. Also do the same thing on the limb where it is the biggest. If at the base or where the dead limbs start do the same thing. Crepe myrtles are designed to be a multi-trunk tree

 

[ChanellG]

I've seen lots of trees here with their tops completely pruned back for winter that bounce back in spring, and I've seen some with their trunks cut down that formed new shoots. You just have to check the tree out thoroughly and see where it's still alive and take it from there.

 

[Chuck]

I've seen lots of trees here with their tops completely pruned back for winter that bounce back in spring, and I've seen some with their trunks cut down that formed new shoots. You just have to check the tree out thoroughly and see where it's still alive and take it from there.

And that is called Crepe Murder. YOU DO NOT TOP CREPE MYRTLES. Doing so is the opposite of what crepe myrtles are bred for

 

[ChanellG]

And that is called Crepe Murder. YOU DO NOT TOP CREPE MYRTLES. Doing so is the opposite of what crepe myrtles are bred for

Tell that to the people who do it. I guess they don't like how ugly some varieties become during winter die-back.

 

[Chuck]

Tell that to the people who do it. I guess they don't like how ugly some varieties become during winter die-back.

Most of the people who advise this are called the Hack Whack and Stack "tree experts". If folks who have crepe myrtles don't have the sense God gave a goose to realize that the tree that they purchased will grow to a larger size than their property can accommodate deserve to have a beautiful tree that will be turned into garbage. And anyone who advises this "pruning" is just as stupid as the person who bought the wrong tree to begin with

 

[marlingardener]

Gee Chuck, don't hold back! Some dudes in a van stopped by and offered to "cut back" the huge white crepe myrtle in our barn lot corner. I told them no, and then they wanted to "trim up" the lower limbs on a front yard tree. I said they had better leave before I lost my temper . They left.