Azalea advice

[toshtony]

Hi guys thought I'd go out and get myself a descent size azalea to work with this weekend instead of the usual stick in pot. This one is a Alphonse Anderson white pink flowers. It's had alot of leaves left in the pot as mulch so over time roots have started to grow from the trunk which I think I'm going to need to remove to show some trunk. I haven't decided if I should go with a broom style or choose a single trunk. Was hoping on getting some advice from the azaleas experts in this forum, but anyone's 2 cents is welcomed.
Fill free to post pictures of your azaleas or anything else I don't mind.
Thanks
Tony

[toshtony]

Sorry just seen the photos I took they are pretty crap will take better ones in the morning.

[kcpoole]

Before you do, knock it out of the pot and have a look at how deep those surface roots are. you might find that they are a solid mass rather than just a high skirt you might be able to remove. If so then that may change your design decisions above the ground.
(Note, do not disturb roots too much @ this time, you are exploring to facilitate design decisions, not pruning

ie you may make it a clump style with several trunks coming from a spreading nebari.
something like this one of mine

2011-08-13_IMGP0324.resized.jpg

2016-10-15_IMGP6769.resized.jpg

once you find out the root mass is like, then if you are heading the clump route, then remove all the low spindly twigs, and one growing back into the centre.
remove the obvious and useless ones until you end up with your desired trunk numbers.


If you find a small skirt or roots, then you may want to remove them to reveal any trunk line if it is interesting.
In that case, then look at the trunk line going up thru to tree so that you have taper and movement.

you can then remove the obvious ones and leave the bones to build on.
check my big one thread here for some pics viewtopic.php?f=132&t=9913

Ken

[shibui]

KC has given much the same advice I would give. Azaleas throw up lots of shoots from the base so you may find that the roots on the surface are, in fact, the main roots or just above the main roots. They are also very good at putting out new surface roots so if it was originally planted deep it will have grown new roots at ground level and may have another level of roots deeper. The problem will be that there will now be huge inverse taper owing to the roots and masses of shoots at ground level so it will probably not be viable to cut surface roots and use the lower ones now.

There are far too many trunks to use, even in a clump style but lots of them will have conflicting directions. Keep turning it around until you find several that have a similar complimentary line and try to use that to work out a shape for your tree. Keep removing odd looking trunks until something harmonious emerges.
Bending azaleas is possible but they are a bit brittle and extremely stiff so trunk bending at this stage is limited. Far better to look for existing lines and make minor adjustments to a few complimentary trunks/branches.

You are probably already aware that azaleas bud profusely from old, bare wood so don't be frightened to cut back quite hard if that will improve trunk direction or taper. Ken's picture shows one cut back to bare wood that will almost certainly sprout loads of new shoots all along those bare sticks.

[toshtony]

Thank you very much Ken and Neil as always your advice is invaluable Thanks for the link Ken, I think I've read pretty much all of yours and Neil's posts on azaleas.
Ok so after inspection I ended up going with a trunk, there was some roots growing from 1 side of trunk pretty high. I had already done 2 exactly the same type azaleas in December and they have started to sprout so I'm hoping same goes for this one. With the 2 I did in December I put in 1 a bonsai pot and other in the same pot it came in but cut down with nursery potting mix. This one I put in a colander with osmocote Rose azalea gardenia potting mix, shifted out the finer bits then added some river sand and crushed red rock. Hopefully a temporary solution as I have a connection up north( Ken) that will sell me a bag or two.

Anyway heres some pics I know I still have alot of branches to chop and cleaning up to do fill free to comment on which ones to chop hopefully I can turn this into a awesome progression thread with inputs from members.
Thanks
Tony

[kcpoole]

Maybe for he blue pot one, something like this

The green colander one maybe somethig similar, a bit hard in the photos Pick a nice line up thru the tree but you should be able to fine one and then remove the rest.

Ken

[toshtony]

Thanks again for the virt ken. These guys are looking pretty Green now, I've started to fertilise weekly alternating between thrive, miracle grow and seasol every now and again.
I'm now wondering if I should start pinching or letting it grow more. Also I would like to pot these in kanuma as when I did these and a few others I didn't have kanuma. Will mid to late spring be ok about 6months from when I started.

Thanks
Tony

[toshtony]

Pretty cold and quiet here in the toshtony garden. Not much to do or post, hands are tingling to start repotting my deciduous and uprooting my maples, but will wait until July August.
In the meantime my azaleas are still growing, I got this one last year from my uncle's garden just before he sold his house. I'd say it's atleast 20 years old. I left a couple of buds on it to enjoy it's flower. Originally I was going to cut off the 2 antlers at the base, but now I'm thinking I might try and do some Jin Shari on the dead wood and if its crap I'll chop it at the base.
Any tips suggestions and styling would be greatly appreciated, it's still a work in progress and early days but I think we can turn this into something really nice.

Thanks
Tony

[Jarad]

Hey Tony,
Dead wood on azaleas doesn't always go too well. The heartwood is quite soft and just decays quickly. When you do make big cuts, make sure you're using concave cutters, seal those holes up and they will heal over quickly and flat.

::EDIT::
But if you want to create jin and shari just do it anyway so you can see the results yourself. Make sure you post photos though.

[kcpoole]

Hey Tony,
Dead wood on azaleas doesn't always go too well. The heartwood is quite soft and just decays quickly. When you do make big cuts, make sure you're using concave cutters, seal those holes up and they will heal over quickly and flat.

::EDIT::
But if you want to create jin and shari just do it anyway so you can see the results yourself. Make sure you post photos though.

You can Never have enough Azaleas Nice collection though

Re deadwood, never tried myself, but if you tread it with "Earls Wood Hardener" you shodu be able to make it last longer

Ken