tubaboy wrote: I'm going to repot my crepe myrtle this coming weekend the buds are starting to extend. This has always worked well for me.. have a look here.. this website is from one of the guys who is a teacher in the courses from bonsai empire:

bonsai4me.com/Basics/BasicsWhen%20to%20R...%20your%20Bonsai.htm

ah yes thats always my go to site for any information im looking for and actually have his bonsai inspiration 1 book (great book). but i have been reading a lot on the repot for this species and keep finding both repot during bud extending and repot when dormant. just wanted to get others thoughts and experience. my original thought was to repot now as buds are starting to commence so now that you say thats always worked for yours i feel more comfortable.

what are your guys thoughts on this? i was thinking the gray would look good with the pink flowers it produces. or maybe something teal or just natural unglazed.
im sure my size ratio is off cause idk how people Photoshop lol but it fairly close for reference.

did the repot this weekend. As i placed the tree on the gray pot i wasn't to happy with the out come so ended up going a different route. the root ball looks very healthy with lots of fine roots. here is the outcome let me know your thoughts?

nice tree

your crape myrtle is a bit further along than mine! I like the pot and the tree.

did a little pruning yesterday.

before


after

nice job... what type of climate do you have, that your tree is so far along? My crepe myrtle is a bit slower... ok different form and shape, which requires more growth, but my shoots are not quite as long. and... which nozzles are you using for your automatic watering? I know.. off topic question...

tubaboy wrote: nice job... what type of climate do you have, that your tree is so far along? My crepe myrtle is a bit slower... ok different form and shape, which requires more growth, but my shoots are not quite as long. and... which nozzles are you using for your automatic watering? I know.. off topic question...

so im in southern california with subtropical weather. gets pretty hot where im located over 40*c/ 104*f. But growth started emerging late February as we had some heat waves come in Feb so im thinking that kicked off the growth fairly early. i have come to notice this tree loves the sun so its placed in a location that receives full sun from 10am -6pm and loves it of course need to keep up on watering, been watering twice a day with a few days where i had to water 3 times and fertilizer helps too.

as for watering i currently use 1GPM drippers (you can get by with .5GPM but my water is to hard and clogs the tips) with 2 drippers on this tree since is has a bigger pot. but i only water with the system in case of an emergency or i cant make it home in-time for watering when its hot midday or im at work.

Seems it took the pruning pretty well and tree is very healthy with more buds emerging.

as i mentioned after pruning 2 weeks ago the tree is growing strong and very fast with smaller leaves and much shorter inter nodes with about 4-5 pairs of leaves (which is awesome). all the new shoots on the photo i last posted are now 3-4in/ 7-10cm long and are starting to extended beyond the silhouette (will post a photo after work). i want to keep the canopy in check and nice and tight (working the ramification). is it safe to prune again so soon or will this affect the flower blooms for the summer or weaken the tree? i also want to keep the canopy in check as i want to direct more energy to the bottom left trunk so i can start to build that section but i dont want to affect the flower blooms.