bwaynef

If its not budding out, you can wire it now. I've found they are more flexible than they appear, but they're also extremely brittle. Wire them with extreme caution.

Also, misapplied wire, and wire that isn't watched like a hawk will produce scars which are slow to disappear with crape myrtle. For that reason I prefer clip-n-grow if at all possible. That said, I have wired crape myrtle in the past, and currently mine is decked out in its fully-wired duds. I've had the wire on about 3 weeks, and I'm starting to get nervous about scars. I'll be removing it this week or next and probably wire it again in about 3 weeks if the shape doesn't hold, which it almost certainly won't.

As for trunk girth, unrestricted growth in the ground is the only way you'll get noticeable increase in girth on a crape myrtle. Even extremely old crape myrtles have comparably small trunks.

Be careful when letting it grow that you keep an eye on the eventual trunkline. Scars are slow to heal on crape myrtle due to their thin skin, so letting branches get large where you want a smooth trunk (ie: using sacrifices low on the trunk) needs careful attention.

If you don't have 5 years or so to let it grow (in full-sun) then I'd probably take my lumps and accept the tree for what it is now.

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