Cultivation and application of crape myrtle

Dwarf crape myrtle likes warm and humid climate, cold resistance, drought resistance, waterlogging resistance, salt and alkali resistance, harmful gas resistance, suitable for planting in a wide range of areas. Judging from its open field cultivation in Henan Province, no matter the big seedlings or the same year's seedlings can survive the winter safely. The branches with high degree of Lignification can withstand the low temperature of minus 20 ℃. The most suitable growth temperature is 15 ℃ to 40 ℃, and it can be planted in open field in most parts of the country.

Mode of reproduction and cultivation management

Propagation methods are commonly used in sowing or cutting, but also can be divided and striped propagation.

Sow black and brown seeds harvested in November and sow from March to April in the following spring, with a seedling emergence rate of more than 90%. The germination temperature of the seeds is from 15 ℃ to 25 ℃. After sowing, the seeds are covered with about 5 mm of soil and covered with film to keep warm and moisturizing.

Cutting can be divided into two ways: hardwood cutting in spring and softwood cutting in summer. One-year-old branches with strong growth and no diseases and insect pests were selected in spring and cut before germination. Choose the leeward and sunny place to do the border in the field, the cuttings are 15 cm long and 10 cm into the soil, pour water through the cuttings, cover the film, keep warm and moisturizing, and take root and sprout after a month.

Cuttings in summer make beds on sandy loam soil, cut about 10 centimeters of current branches, and retain 3 to 4 leaflets above. Ditch, plant row spacing is 3x10 cm, insert half of the soil, water thoroughly, cover the sunshade net to moisturize, spray water to the branches or water into the border according to the weather conditions, in case the soil is dry and the branches are short of water. It can take root in about half a month, and the survival rate can reach more than 95%.

The dwarf crape myrtle is resistant to drought and waterlogging, and its management is extensive. One-year-old seedlings are young and tender, and the moist soil is beneficial to the growth of seedlings, so they should be watered frequently. Perennial seedlings can be fertilized in spring and winter, and nitrogen fertilizer and compound fertilizer are applied in the growing season to accelerate the growth of seedlings. The planting density is suitable and there is generally no disease. Prune in spring, leave 2 to 3 strong buds for each branch, and cut off the rest. It is pruned every spring, especially the retracted part of the branch, which must be cut off.

The dwarf crape myrtle is usually transplanted before it germinates in spring. Because of its developed root system, it can also be transplanted through shading measures in the growing season, and the survival rate is as high as 90%.

Application of landscaping

The root system of dwarf crape myrtle is well developed, like temperature and cold tolerance, wet and drought tolerance, fertility and barren tolerance, salt and alkali resistance, and resistance to harmful gases. Moreover, its colorful flowers, hot summer can also be a large number of flowers, plant shape is short, compact, can be planted on the ground, but also potted, landscaping has a wide range of uses.

1. Make large-scale green belt and slope protection vegetation. Can be used as highway, railway, embankment, river slope green belt, isolation zone, slope protection, sand cover vegetation planting species. It can also be used to plant tree species for greening and beautification of hedges and color blocks in mining areas, residential areas and scenic spots. What's more, it is the preferred flower shrub species for greening in large and medium-sized cities, industrial and mining areas where harmful gases exceed the standard.

2. Make flower bed plant configuration. Many woody plants planted in flower beds bloom less in summer, such as dotted with dozens of plants or several dwarf crape myrtle to form color blocks, or trimmed into various forms of combined flowers, can greatly improve its landscape effect. Of course, it can also be planted on a single plant and naturally become a bouquet.

3. Make all kinds of shapes. For high-dry crape myrtle, the local high-stem crape myrtle with a certain height and thickness is selected as rootstock, dwarf crape myrtle as scion for grafting, and combined with pruning can be cultivated into globular, umbrella, tower and drooping branch Corolla. According to the exuberant growth characteristics of dwarf crape myrtle, it can also be trimmed into style, geometric shape, animal shape, or weave short crape myrtle screen and so on.