planted a Muskogee Crape Myrtle last year

===>>> this and perhaps next.. are root growing years .. to get the large transplant well established ...

the leaves are food making machines .. to convert sunshine into food to grow the roots ... its way better than slathering on ferts ...

ergo .. for the next two years .. do not cut off anymore of the canopy ...

and meanwhile..lets see what happens .. you can always cut stuff off later.. but you cant glue them back on ...

also.. clean up the pruning stubs that have been left ... https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffcm&q=pruning+stubs&iax=images&ia=images

with tree and shrubs.. we talk of tree/shrub time.. counted in multiples of year.. or decades ... there is no instant gratification ... so just let it be for a year or two ... and we can clean it up later.. if need be ...

and dont get me wrong.. im glad you have noticed.. and are thinking about the issue.. but.. in shrub time.. whats the hurry ...

keep it properly watered this year.. deep watering down thru the root mass planted.. and then near drying ... lawn irrigation is usually not good enough in the heat of summer ... for this size transplant ....

ken

https://sites.google.com/site/tnarboretum/Home/planting-a-tree-or-shrub

Thank you for the advice, that tree is very unattractive. Is it possible to relocate it and cut it back to 6" now? I live in the Raleigh, NC area so not sure if it's too late to do so and/or if I can move it before cutting it back. That is suppose to be my main showy tree in the front yard between my walkway and driveway.

Hi Ken,

We have not cut any of the canopy, that is the way it came although we did trim off one dead branch that came off of the wayward trunk. The only thing I worry about is timing, we plan to sell in 3 years so I need it to look like an attractive part of the landscape by that time. Is that possible?

Typically, when one cuts down an established crape myrtle, it bounces back readily, regaining the majority portion that was discarded, but with superior form. However, since the crape was put in only last year, it depends a lot how much it established some roots and started growing, as to whether it has some "bounce back" capability. Regardless, the form is poor and if nothing is done now to rectify it, it will remain with poor form in 3 years time. If I was calling the shots, I wouldn't be able to stand the form and would decide to take the risk and would rather replace it if it didn't grow enough, than suffer the bad form further developed.

Leaves are the food factory for the tree, but if there is not sufficient Nitrogen in the soil, the factory is going to go on strike and remain on it until some nitrogen shows up. One could either test the soil, or make the assumption that because the plant is new, it does not have a well established root system to tap into nutrients, even if they are there. I have found it to be the exception that new plants can go without supplemental nitrogen. That's often the cause of their languishing, as so many plants do for the first year or sometimes two.

It's not too late to cut down the crape unless all the spring growth has flushed out and developed. I doubt that because here it Florida, we are not to that point yet. It has started and we're approaching the cut-off point. We have not arrived.

Thank you for the advice. We decided to move it and planted a new one in its place. I would still like to try cutting it back in its new location, but it sounds like I should wait until it has had a year to reestablish and do that before the leaves home out next spring? What is the best fertilizer with nitrogen for the trees and should I put that down on both now?

Since you are going to cut it off any way, you may first try to physically pull it apart. If one person can not flex the branches sufficiently, have two people pull them to get the one branch from between the other.

Once the branches not intertwined they may grown naturally apart.

I would suspect they got intertwined, because of a strong wind, and last year they were not that way.

Since you've undoubtedly cut off a lot of roots for the move, the tree would no longer have that robust, established root system read to spring into action after cutting the tree down. So it's a great idea to wait a year. Common garden fertilizer, 10-10-10 would be fine for the crape. I would use it on both. Follow the directions, but it's probably going to amount to a handful per tree. On a newly planted tree, I prefer to put it in the soil at the bottom of the planting hole, but it's probably too late for that. Around the perimeter of the root ball is fine, and a sprinkle on top.