Trying to Save a Crape Myrtle

[danbarr]

I reside in Florida and during a recent job I was on I removed a 6-7 foot crape myrtle (rather forcefully with a chain and bobcat. We were in a hurry). The tree was out of the ground about 12 hours before I could get it home and into a bucket of water. A couple of days later I transplanted the tree using gardening soil. By this time all the leaves on the crape myrtle had turned brown. There were just a few green leaves still showing. The tree has been in the ground for about 4-5 days and appears to have a pulse as I am still seeing some green. I would really like to see this tree live as it has beautiful white blooms when healthy and it has sure been through a lot of pain!!! My question is, should I prune back the dead growth or just allow the tree to recover?

Thanks!!!

[Hortman]

Hello danbarr. Ken here in the Chicago area. Welcome to the Forum.
don't do any pruning right now. You don't want to cause any more stress
to the plant than it already has. Wait until it recovers, then prune out the
dead stuff. Good luck.

[danbarr]

Ken,

Appreciate the advice and info. Stay Cool!

Thanks,

Dan