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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24293

  • bruleyii
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Hey all,

Let me start by saying I've never kept a bonsai before. I'm new here and have been stalking for a few days, reading through the posts and all the helpful topics above in the menu.

I have lots of crepe myrtles around my place and was thinking they might make nice Yose-ue. Can you train crepe myrtles into bonsai's and if so how hard are they to maintain? If there are any useful articles that would be great too.

Thanks in advance.

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24294

  • eangola
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Hey all,

Let me start by saying I've never kept a bonsai before. I'm new here and have been stalking for a few days, reading through the posts and all the helpful topics above in the menu.

I have lots of crepe myrtles around my place and was thinking they might make nice Yose-ue. Can you train crepe myrtles into bonsai's and if so how hard are they to maintain? If there are any useful articles that would be great too.

Thanks in advance.


Google is your friend:
www.google.com/#q=crepe+myrtles+bonsai&btnK=Google+Search

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24296

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I guess this would have been more suitable. bfy.tw/7Bf6w/7Bf6

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24304

  • Auk
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Can you train crepe myrtles into bonsai's


Yes, certainly. When you Google Eangola's link, also click the 'images' button and feast your eyes.

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24568

  • Lynette
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Absolutely! They have beautiful bark as an interest, do very well at having a nice root flare, although root training will still be necessary. They have beautiful bark as an interest.They back-bud nicely, and they grow like crazy, so they are easy to ramify. (When I am focusing on development, I purposely keep mine from blooming. I keep cutting back the growth that would bloom, and direct the energy into the branches where I want that growth.)

Adam's art and bonsai blog has a great article called Crepe myrtle bonsai: Can you "grow" one?

One of the things that so delighted me when I got into bonsai was that I could grow crepe myrtles, one of my favorite trees. I had moved to the Pacific Northwest from California - and found that they do not particularly like snow. With bonsai, I have wintering space set up for my temperate and tropical trees, and bonsai are easily movable!
The following user(s) said Thank You: bruleyii

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24569

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I actually went ahead and bought one from a nursery near me because they were on sale. I have to re-pot it this weekend.

Good to know about keeping it from blooming. Ill try that next year.

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24570

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I was thinking forest but now im looking at his and I like the thick trunk too.

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24573

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Be careful about doing too much to the roots at once, particularly if you are repotting it at this time of year. If its in a nursery pot, I would reduce it into a deep training pot (about half as deep as as what it is in., but wider, and keeping as much of the feeder roots as possible.) I found that they don't like too much root work at one time.

Be sure to post a picture of it! I would love to see it!

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24574

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I have to re-pot it this weekend.


Why?

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Do Crepe Myrtles Make Good Bonsai 7 years 7 months ago #24600

  • bruleyii
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I was thinking that the pot it came in was a little small. I rent a townhouse and cant really be planting a tree in the yard either so I thought a bigger pot might be the right route. Should I just wait till spring?

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