New Question on Pruning Crape Myrtles

[DinaJean]

Hey y'all...been off-line a few days due to internet being down, thunderstorm related.

Anyways, I will reply to my other posts, but real quick first, wanted to post this before it left my mind.

My life revolves around pruning the suckers off of my crape myrtles, at the base of the trunk.

My question is: can I apply a sealer of some sort so the dang suckers dont grow back there every 2 days?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!!

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Dina :)

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[Newt]

Sorry to hear about your computer problems.* Been there, pulled my hair out over it!* Now my son has some back up thing that backs up my computer daily.* At least I won't lose my thousands of bookmarks!*

The more you prune your crapes the more they sucker.* I have a serviceberry that drives me crazy with it.* I read somewhere to wait to prune them off until after the spring flush of growth.* I haven't done mine yet this year so maybe we could compare notes.*

A sealer isn't a good idea as it gives a place for insect pests and diseases to hide.* There is something called sucker stopper that might work.* I've never used it.* See #2 and #3 here.
http://cetulare.ucdavis.edu/mg/articles/n030702q.htm

Here's the label.
http://www.montereylawngarden.com/pd...pper_rtu02.pdf

Newt

[DinaJean]

QUOTE: The more you prune your crapes the more they sucker

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kind of like plucking the gray hairs out of my head?????

*

The suckers have slowed down, but I will research the sucker stopper for next year. Do the suckers propagate?

[Newt]

You gave me a good giggle with that!* :D* Yes, you can propagate from a sucker.*
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landsc...tm#Propagating

Newt