Selection of the main trunks should happen as soon as possible, in my opinion. You can leave the lowest foliage and small axillary stems to help the plant produce more energy until it gets a bit larger. Do not cut the tops, even at this early age, or you can ruin the architectural beauty that these plants offer in the winter.

Annually, all you should have to do is prune off any inward growing branches, crossing branches, and suckers. Make all cuts to outward growing branches or to the main stems, leaving a branch collar but never a large stub. Topping should never be done on a crape myrtle.

Always prune a crape myrtle in the winter or early spring before the leaves begin to emerge. Then you can see what you're doing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Click here

having never even seen a CM in person ...

let me suggest.. a recent transplant is not cut on for 2 years ...

think of every leaf as a food making machine.. to grow the roots.. to get the plant ESTABLISHED ...

and then.. once established ... THEN you start thinking about the future ...

that said ... this fall.. perhaps a nub or two down low.. i would probably not worry about taking off ....

ken

Crape myrtles are extremely fast growers. They are actually giant shrubs with multiple trunks and constant suckering that most people in the south prune into trees. I begin pruning mine as soon as they are in the ground. Since they grow so fast, I do not want it to put energy into branches that I do not plan to keep. I never prune off more than 20-25% of growth, but I keep it clear of suckers and remove the lowest side branches from the main branches I will keep as "trunks". As it grows, I prune it up.

Carol in Jacksonville

"I have a question for you, how many trunks should I keep, should I let a few suckles grow?"

My trees have anywhere from four to six trunks emanating from the ground. Some people keep more trunks than that, and often the additional trunks start above the soil line, but I don't like that many. When you have that many, it starts to look like a shrub that you grew into a tree. Usually the tree will let you know all by itself: look to see what is coming up from below the soil - those should be your trunks. Suckers will almost always start above the soil line, rarely from the ground (unless you pruned off a trunk previously). Anywhere you clip back, the tree will send out suckers for awhile until it completely heals over. Just rub the suckers off with your fingers or snap them down and off with your fingers.

Crape myrtles can be turned into standards (single-trunked tree), but it takes work at the beginning to maintain a single straight trunk. It is not the crape myrtle's natural habit.