Selection & Placement: Select a variety that will grow in the parameters of your landscape. Crapemyrtle thrive in well-drained soils & in full sun. Partial shade will limit the amount of blooms present. Extended shade will promote fungus and your crapemyrtle will not bloom.

Planting: Planting a crapemyrtle from a container can be done easily during any season. Transplanting of crapemyrtle is best done when it is dormant. The hole should be twice as wide as the root ball. It should be planted at a depth where the top of the root ball is even with ground level. Using the excess dirt, build a water ring around the root-ball. Cover this area with 2-3 inches of mulch. Tree form crapemyrtles may be required to be staked.

Fertilizing: Once established, crapemyrtle do not require a lot of fertilizer. When establishing a young crapemyrtle it is best to use a complete analysis such as 6-6-6, 5-10-10, or 10-10-10. Using fertilizer high in nitrogen will promote shoot growth but may take away from potential blooming. Apply this in March, May & July. For mature, established plants, one application in early spring should be sufficient.

Watering: Crapemyrtle is a very drought tolerant plant. However, when planting a crapemyrtle it is very important that it gets plenty of water until its roots get established. New planting should be watered everyday for the first few weeks. Spray from your lawn irrigation may not be enough to properly water the plant. Use a hose and make sure the root-ball gets soaked. After a couple weeks, you can taper off to every other day and so on. Once the roots have established you can usually look at the crapemyrtle to see if it requires water. When you see the leaves starting to wilt, give it some water and it will perk right back up. Failure to leaf out in the spring is an indication of dehydration.

Pruning: Pruning is one of the most important and most talked about aspects of crapemyrtles. Many people make the mistake of pruning back their crapemyrtles to the same height each and every spring. This may work for the first few years, but over time the tree will loose it structure and will not perform as intended. If you do not want your tree to be more than a certain height, make sure you choose a variety that meets those requirements.

The heaviest pruning should be done in late winter, usually February or March, while the tree is still dormant. First, trim out an dead wood that may be present due to winter cold. Second, determine which are the main branches of your tree and trim out branches that may be crossing or interfering with them. You can prune back some of the height at this point, but do not trim back more than 1/3 the height of the tree.

Selective pruning of the tips can be done throughout the season to even out the shape of your tree. If you have uneven growth, you can do some light trimming to even it up. Also, remove any suckers that sprout up from the base.

Crapemyrtles bloom on new growth. Therefore, to achieve the most blooming in a season, you can trim behind the blooms that have finished off. Usually within 5 to 6 weeks, new buds will begin to show on the new growth.

Pests & Disease: Most new cultivars of crapemyrtles are pest and disease resistant. The most common pest is the crapemyrtle aphid. They are a pale yellowish green insect that feed on the new growing tips and the underside of leaves. They secrete honey dew that caused a condition known as sooty mild. Sooty mold is a black coating on the leaves. Aphids have natural predators such as lacewings, ladybugs, praying mantis and some wasps. You can spray for aphid control with horticultural oil, insecticidal soap, or a registered insecticide. If you notice something feeding on the leaves of your crapemyrtle, it is probably Japanese beetles. They can be controlled with a registered pesticide such as Sevin.

Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects new growth and flower buds. It appears as a light powdery coating over the leaves and flower buds. It may cause the leaves to curl and inhibit the flower buds from opening. A fungicide will help to control powdery mildew. Increasing the amount of sunlight and improving air circulation by pruning or site selection, as well as planting resistant cultivars, are the best methods to prevent powdery mildew. Since the fungus overwinters on plant debris and dormant buds, cleanup of leaves in the fall and destruction of diseases twigs will aid in disease control.