Sooty mold on crepe myrtle

[britnogreenthumb]

I have a lovely crepe Myrtle. I am in mid Atlantic USA, zone 7b. Or at least it was lovely. It had a bad case of sooty mold so I had a company come and spray the canopy and inject systemic insecticide around the roots.
The trunks look much better but the canopy still has significant damage which I don’t think can ever be repaired. So many household here do ‘crepe murder’ where they aggressively prune the trees in the autumn. I don’t do this, but wonder if I should be pruning to get rid of the dead branches.
What should i do to help it return to full health? How aggressive? And when?

 

[britnogreenthumb]

I should mention that it has been treated for 18 months now, so I’m not expecting an overnight transformation. I was hoping that it would be back to usual this spring. But it’s not and I’m trying to figure out next steps. Thank you!!

 

[Chuck]

Scratch the limbs and look for a greenish color. If there is none that limb is dead and will not resurrect itself. If that limb is truly dead no new limbs or buds or anything will grow on that limb so you may as well remove it.

 

[britnogreenthumb]

Thank you.
So I should chop that branch off?
There are tiny buds of green on the dead branches so they’re not entirely dead. But the green shoots don’t look like they’re going to amount to anything. I can’t tell if they’re deformed leaves or what they are.
I don’t want to cause the tree more stress if it’s still trying to fight the insects causing the mold (although I honestly think that they’re gone now, it’s just residual damage).
When should I chop? Now or wait until fall?

 

[Chuck]

Thank you.
So I should chop that branch off?
There are tiny buds of green on the dead branches so they’re not entirely dead. But the green shoots don’t look like they’re going to amount to anything. I can’t tell if they’re deformed leaves or what they are.
I don’t want to cause the tree more stress if it’s still trying to fight the insects causing the mold (although I honestly think that they’re gone now, it’s just residual damage).
When should I chop? Now or wait until fall?

No, do not remove anything now. If there is green on the branches there is a good chance everything will be ok. Once the tree has leafed out we can probably tell what, if anything, is wrong. Pruning now will take away the foliage that the tree will need later on to provide photosynthesis.