The first few photos are stereo pairs. No equipment is needed. They are arranged in cross-eyed pattern, since that's easier for most people. To view the stereo image, look at the right picture with your left eye and the left picture with your right eye. When the images align, you should see a three-dimensional view.
That's all the stereo pairs. The images below are single images.
These images are intended to show where the plant is pushing out new sprouts. I will let it grow out for a while to see where it pushes out twigs. The ones in good positions will be allowed to grow out into branches to improve the shape.
I wired this one to bend it downward in order to prevent apex dominance hormones.
A previously trimmed branch left a little nub from which all these sprouts are growing. One way to encourage back-budding on crepe myrtles seems to be to trim off branches leaving a small portion behind. The plant will sprout from the portion left behind.
I'm not sure I like this pattern. I may trim off these new shoots and leave the lower one. That seems like a better pattern.
I wasn't expecting buds at this location. It looks like there was another branch that was cut off or broke off not quite flush with the trunk, so it is sprouting here. I'll let it grow for a while and decide later whether to keep it.
A wider view of the previous image. Apparently, the shoot is growing because this trunk was lopped off (cut on left).
More shoots wired to squelch apex dominance.
This branch seems mostly dead, but the presence of this live shoot shows that it's not completely dead. I'll let this grow out to strengthen the branch it's growing from.
Another unexpected sprout. I don't like that it's emerging from the top. Maybe others nearby will show up.
Wider view of previous shot.
I'll have to look into how to deal with the suckers. Brand new sprouts are easy to remove, but what about the existing ones that have thickened a bit? The stumps currently there are unsightly. I may need to get a proper tool to clean this bit up.
