Skip to Content

Why Is My Crepe Myrtle Not Blooming? 8 Reasons Explained Below

Sharing is caring!

The crepe myrtle is a stunning tree that remains green throughout the year. The tree is commonly known for its beautiful blossoms in the summer months.

The tree is native to Asia, around the southeast region. It is also found in Oceania.

These can grow up to large trees or can even be maintained as smaller shrubs. The tree is versatile in terms of the appeal it offers.

What is more, is that it has gorgeous flowers all over it which bloom through summer right up to fall. These flowers are the main reason everyone wants a crepe myrtle in their house.

However, if you’re looking at the tree and ask yourself the question, “Why is my crepe myrtle not blooming?” Here are some of the potential reasons.

Why Is My Crepe Myrtle Not Blooming
Crepe Myrtle Not Blooming – via Reddit

Why Is My Crepe Myrtle Not Blooming?

The tree needs around 6 hours of sunlight daily in order to bloom properly. If you are keeping a small shrub in your house, make sure it isn’t overcrowded, and there aren’t a lot of plants present near it.

If it is in a particularly shaded region, it will suffer. Another common reason is a lack of nitrogen as well.

Let’s take a look at some more of the reasons.

1. Lack of Sunlight

As explained above, the crepe myrtle needs direct sunlight to bloom. The plant is found more often in Asia and Australia, which are relatively hot regions with a lot of sunlight throughout the day.

Naturally, if the tree is found in hot regions, it is no surprise that they need a lot of sunlight to bloom properly.

Anything less than 6 hours of sunlight every day will be bad for any of the blooms.

To take proper care of your plant, make sure that it is planted somewhere where it can get around 8 hours of sunlight every day.

Any shaded area will lead to a lower flower yield and will be detrimental to the plant’s health.

2. Lack of New Growth During Spring

Another reason that your crepe myrtle is not blooming might be a lack of new growth.

In the spring season, the plants experience rapid growth, focused on the stems. If your plant did not go through this, it could be one of the reasons that they are not getting any flowers.

Make sure you apply a good fertilizer around late winter or early spring. This will promote the growth of the plant and will increase the potential for flowering in the summer.

One thing you need to keep in mind is that you have to ensure that your fertilizer is not dominated by nitrogen. This will increase the foliage of the plant but will hinder flower growth. You need to look for something with more phosphorus in it.

3. Fertilizing The Plants Near The Crepe Myrtle

If you are fertilizing the plants in the same lawn as the crepe myrtle or in the same area, this can also potentially be an issue.

As we said before, a high nitrogen content fertilizer is a problem for the flower growth of the plant. You have to separate the area where you keep the crepe myrtle so that you can focus these strategies on that area alone and use special fertilizer for it.

4. Bad Pruning

Crepe myrtle flowers bloom because of spring growth. You have to make sure that you are extra careful when you are pruning.

You only should prune the old growth back. Let the new stems grow so that you can get the best flower coverage.

You may get some recommendations from people saying that you need to prune on the plant’s new growth so that the plant grows faster. This will seriously hinder the blooming of the plant, so you might need to consider this option before going for it.

The best way to control this factor is to not prune the tree before the blooming season.

Why Is My Crepe Myrtle Not Blooming 2
Crepe myrtles has not bloomed in two years – via Reddit

5. Infestations

Another big factor in the tree not blooming is the unwanted visitors living inside the tree. There might be a lot of pests that keep on sucking on the nutrients of a plant. These cause serious hindrances in the growth of the plant.

So if you’re doing everything right and still wondering, “Why is my crepe myrtle not blooming?” The reason for that might be pests. Use a good fungicide or pesticide to control the infestation.

However, using fungicide on bigger trees might be a little hard. You just might have to wait for the infestation to end.

The key to countering this is to detect the problem at an earlier stage. This will make you save a lot of effort as using pesticides on smaller plants in a smaller area is a lot easier.

6. You Might Be Expecting Blooms a Little Too Soon

There are a lot of different crepe myrtle trees. They all bloom at different times.

Generally speaking, they don’t bloom in line with other trees. If it is your first season with crepe myrtle, it might be the case that you’re expecting them to bloom way too soon.

7. Incorrect Soil Type

Another reason for your problem might be that you didn’t use the correct soil type.

Crepe myrtles need well-draining soil with a pH of roughly 6. The best option which you can go for is loamy soil. You can even try mixing soils that have poor drainage with sand so that you can promote the plant’s growth.

8. Inadequate Watering

The last reason for your plant not blooming might be too much or too little water. This is what happens in most cases. You need to give it only around 1 inch of water in a week. Otherwise, it won’t bloom.

>> Related Post: How To Propagate Crepe Myrtle – 4 Different Methods


Conclusion

Crepe myrtles don’t bloom for a number of reasons. We’ve highlighted some of them for you so you can control these factors.

I hope this article was successful in answering your question of “Why is my crepe myrtle not blooming?”

Happy gardening!