Effect of Different Pruning Dates on Growth and Flowering of Crape Myrtle for Beautification of Landscape Area (Lagerstroemia indica L.)

Flower production is generally correlated with pruning of flowering plant. The present research work aimed to explore the ideal date of pruning which produce plants with excellent growth and flowering characteristics of crape myrtle which looks beautiful during summer in different landscape areas such as patios, walkway, gardens. Pruning experiment was carried out on 60 uniform existing species of Crape myrtle at Experimental Farm, Department of Horticulture, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat during 2014–2015. The experiment was laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five different pruning dates during winter months i.e. T₁ (15^th October), T₂(15^th November), T₃ (15^th December), T₄(15^th January) and T₅(15^th February). Plants that were pruned during the mid February dominate all growth parameters (plant height, number of leaves, plant spread, no of primary and secondary branch) and flowering characteristics (days to flower bud visibility, bud opening, number of flower, diameter of flower and flowering period) that were studied in this experiment. Overall plant growth was best in plants when pruned at the mid of February. It seems pruning during late winter or early spring improves plant growth and development of Crape myrtle.