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Crapemyrtle Pruning Demonstrations
| Name | Paul Thompson | | Situation | The severe pruning (crapemurder) of crapemyrtles has been going on for quite some time in commercial and consumer landscapes. It is being done by commercial landscape companies as well as the homeowner. Severe pruning, often called topping, is unnecessary, harmful to plant health, and creates a large amount of waste which may end up in the landfill. Many articles have been written about this practice, but yet the practice continues. Part of the reason is that it is hard to describe through writing the proper way to prune. | | Response | I decided to hold several pruning demonstrations around the three counties where I do programming. I first had to locate existing crapemyrtle trees in need of pruning that were located in convenient places. I then had to get permission from the landowner to hold the demonstration on their property, pruning their tree. I designed a poster and had them printed to distribute in garden centers or other public places to attract attention. The demonstrations were also advertised through the PSA marketing office and appeared several times in the local papers. | | Impact | I held seven demonstrations at different locations over a four day period. Ninety-two people officially registered, but my estimate is closer to 150 attended. Each workshop lasted about an hour. Participants were shown proper pruning techniques and were informed of how topping effects plant health. Due to the workshops being held in cold weather outside, I did not expect attendants to fill out a program evaluation, but two months after the workshop, I had a Master Gardener volunteer randomly call 10 individuals from the sign-in sheets for a follow-up evaluation. Of the 10 people surveyed, all said that their knowledge level about pruning crapemyrtles had increased, and all said that they had
changed the way they pruned crapemyrtles as a result of the program. |
Last update7/9/2008
This website is maintained by Cheryl Clary.
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