Does your crapemyrtle die back to the ground every winter? Does the new growth get zapped by late freezes? Are you pruning it every spring?

That's what it sounds like.

i cant grow CM's in my z5 .... where are you ???

hyper growth can be a function of hyper-fertilizing.. and if you are doing such with the wrong formula ... then you could be increasing green growth at the cost of bloom ...

most flowers set their buds in late summer.. for next spring.. ANYTHING ... including a z5 winter.. can kill those buds resulting in no flower.. as well as the prolonged frost/freezes associated with z5 ...

you do understand that you are zone pushing to the max????

ken

thanks RHIZO: yes I prune it to the ground every spring, even if I didn't do that, God prunes it anyway ... all new growth on all my CM's come from the ground,all new every spring. This is the only CM that isn't blooming ... so that's my ?, why this one?

and thanks KEN: southern missouri,north of springfield which is zone 6; I have areas of my yard which I can grow Zone 6, but otherwise I am completely 5. As I mentioned to rhizo, this is not my only CM and I have seen tree-like unpruned CM in neighboring Buffalo, MO !?! What species is that? am soooo jealous. So, what's up with this one?

It's putting all of its energy into growth instead of blooms. It could be fertilization/improper-fertilization, just the way that cultivar is reacting to being coppiced each year, or a combination of both.

Ken, Crapemyrtles bloom on brand new growth, the very tips of the branches. Thus, they CAN be pruned in the early spring and still bloom, but we all know that heavy pruning stimulates a great deal of new growth....a plant can't readily devote all of that energy to excess top growth PLUS flower.

But, docmoo, we really can't speculate any more than we already have why this particular plant is not performing for you while your others are. Call it a mystery.

thanks rhizo
thanks brandon
hate mysteries, and will try extra phosphorus next spring!
m :)

Dcmoo,
Do it now! Put bloodmeal in the ground now in the fall all around the shrub.
Do it every fall and let it gradually disentagrate between now and next July.
My crape myrtle grew alot the second year, no fricking blooms the whole summer.
I'm in South Carolina, and they were blooming in the cracks in the street!
No, not mine.
That fall I bought blood meal from Home Depot and put it in the soil and then mulched real good on top of it.
THe next summer, low and behold blooms!
I do it every year now, I have really poor soil, it blooms every year.
That reminds me, I have to go get some.....

thanks butterfly !

Facts:

Blood meal is a nitrogen source.
Nitrogen encourages green growth.
Excessive green growth frequently results in less blooming.

Blood meal often attracts some pests like digging dogs.