Scroll down for related thread.

If you're referring to "At what point is Crape Myrtle Pruning, Crape Murder?", I actually started that thread. I got a lot of info, but I didn't get a clear answer on the question above, so I thought I'd start a new thread. Was that the thread you were referring to?

viche, if you follow each of those long, thin branches DOWN TO AN OUTWARD GROWING (and larger) BRANCH, you can make your cuts there. That kind of cut will produce the effect you wish WITHOUT sprouting multiple branches. Do not leave a stub.

Your advice makes sense, but if I were to cut those long branches to where they meet another larger branch, I would be bringing the tree back down to where the previous owners hacked it.

Here's a poor drawing to illustrate:

{{gwi:342836}}

Most of the tree is actually structured pretty well, but in a few areas where the oweners pruned a branch they created stumps. (see the middle two trunks in my drawing). On these stumps, thin sprouts emerged and are proportionately too long for the number of blooms they hold. If I make the lower cut as you suggest, I will return to a stump. Can't I just cut the ends of the really thin branches off without creating another stump. I seem to remember doing this a couple of years ago and the branches just continued up from the cuts. I thought it was because they were so thin to begin with.

I had a certified arborist out a week ago who said that I could do this, but I wanted the opinions of some of you crape myrtle owners. I don't want to create more stubs unnecessarily.

Trim it where you want it, then keep an eye out for new sprouts. When it sends out new sprouts, pick the best looking one and eliminate the rest.

I think rhizo was recommending going down to the "V" and eliminating the right half. That could work too.

Do you know what is supposed to be the mature height of your CM? If it is relatively short (under 15'), then I would just trim to one 'sprout' and not do too much else, as suggested above. However, if it is one of the cultivars that get quite tall, I would trim back to make single trunks of the ones with a "V" low down. Keep whichever sprout/branch will be the straighter, and which will grow in the direction you want the CM trunks to grow at maturity. I would continue to keep an eye on it, taking out any weak, dead or crossing branches, and make sure it kept growing into the shape you wanted, while avoiding altering the 'natural' shape of the CM.

If the mature height for this CM cultivar is too tall for the site it is planted in, I would move it NOW to a spot where it can grow as tall as it should, and put another one that won't get too tall in its place.

As far as pruning vs. Crape Murder, I would say the difference lies in whether you are cutting back to the branch, the trunk, or to the ground vs. whether you are cutting to a stub. The one method encourages natural and probably more graceful growth, while the other encourages "frantic" growth to use the energy of the existing roots, which results in many sprouts forming, which are weaker than the "natural" growth would be.

While bad pruning can follow the "rules' and still make a mess of a tree or shrub, cutting to a stub will always result in the rapid growth of multiple sprouts. Stooling, deliberately cutting to the ground, to get long straight shoots, and which is repeated at intervals of 1-4 years, is the only exception I think "good', as there is a reason for it - to get color from that year's twigs/branches, to get shoots for basketry, to get bark for herbal usages, etc., etc. Except for bark color, berries, better flowers or for the production of juvenile leaves, almost all on new wood, most stooled trees are not grown as ornamentals. Most are shrubs, and stay under 10'.