What to do with this Azalea gift?

[The-Calli-Kid]

gday calli-kid
the one thing i did notice when you did this post was that it is a azalea,so if this is the case it is evergreen,and from what i have learnt in the years of bonsai
that a broom style is a deciduous so the branch structures can be seen from when the tree looses its leaves hence the saying broom as it take after the asian
style broom so in all fact i thing you might be better to go a cloud style with this one
cheers dean (dragon)

Thanks dean, cloud style sounds interesting.
Lucas

Hi Calli
Hmm
Pot it up for a few years and style as you wish
cut it back real hard and make a mame out of it in Whatever style you can find in the trunk to utilise the nice small trunk base.

Use the rocks to start some root over rock trees ( small figs will do well) Us ethe pot for a tree you have nearly ready so it look nicer than a black trainer.

Re the Soil mix, What you have will do just fine. the Japanese prefer to use Kanuma for Azaleas with good reason, but unless you are getting into azaleas in a big way, do not worry.

Have not got a lot on Soil components yet in the wiki but the Kanuma page is here.
https://www.ausbonsai.com.au/wiki/index.php?title=Kanuma

Ken

Hey Ken, cheers for the info . I must add that the rocks in this one are actually attached to the pot, (its one of those bunnings pots that is divided into 2 sections, one water and the other soil.) I have never really been keen on it!

Eventually (after a trainer for a couple seasons), i can picture this one in a shallow round or oval tray/dish... ? sound ok?

Thanks
Lucas

[Booga]

Nice little tree you have there Lucas I love the nabari I cant help with advice mate but I do want to see the progression of this because
I have just trunk chopped 3 nursery azaleas, 2 are a bit crappy but I plan to practice on them for styling my better one.
How much experience do you have , Me NONE

[The-Calli-Kid]

Hey hey booga, thanks, my experience is limited to one other azalea i got from a nursery! What i discovered is that only a special type of azalea is truly suited to bonsai.

i am glad i gave it a shot just to learn the lesson

P.S. i struck a cutting from this tree just after i got it.... it almost died in the dry winter but has come back looking very happy to date

Cheers
Lucas

[Booga]

Glad to see the cutting is booming Lucas.
I have taken some cuttings of one of mums azaleas It has small leaves so I will see how they go.Satsuki seem to be the most popular

[Glaucus]

Broom style is not a good style for azalea. You need to focus on 1 trunk. It is hard to see for us on the picture what to prune and what not to prune.

Paulneill is right on thought I don't think watering with vinegar is necessary unless your tap water is really hardy. The pH has to be low, yes. Kanuma is great, especially if you water a lot. Otherwise peat-perlite-pine bark is good too. You want it to be course, airy, and fast draining. Perlite has pores like kanuma which the roots love. If you use perlite, no need for sand or any other gravel.

You don't need special types of evergreen azalea for bonsai. You need one which has flowers you love. Then the bonsai has to be the side appropriate for the flower and leaf size.
Satsuki have sporting flowers which is just really nice for a potted plant. It is not so nice for landscape plants because the flower patterns get blurred out. Better to have many many small very brightly coloured flowers for landscape azaleas.

Some azalea cultivar have really small leaves and grow very compact. That is much more convenient for small bonsai than azalea with larger leaves and more open upright growth. Many satsuki have large leaves, especially those satsuki available in Australia. I don't know how many of the shohin bonsai satsuki cultivar exist in Australia but those that are there are only there in small numbers and need to be propagated on a larger scale. Some people are hard at work on that.
The cultivar in the opening post looks really good for bonsai including small ones.

Also, generally azalea don't need to be trunked chopped. You trunk chop a maple because it is so apical dominant so that you don't get taper and instead it will go a straight trunk. Azalea have the opposite problem. They don't grow a single apex.
Nursery azalea need to be reduced to a single trunk line, though. Maybe that is what is meant. Chopping the best trunk the nursery azalea has is actually counter-productive. You want to focus growth into the apex of the branch that has the best potential to be the trunk. Then prune all the competitors but while thinking about sacrificial branches for more taper. Don't grow permanent branches until the trunk is finished or you may get reverse taper.

As a European mainly interested in azalea and satsuki azalea cultivar rather than bonsai, I have made this site:
http://azaleasplendor.dyndns.info

Trying to promote interest and help people with azalea. In Japan the azalea hobby is kind of like an equal to the bonsai hobby. Maybe not as big, popular and revered, but similar. In the west and on the internet it is kind of different.

[The-Calli-Kid]

Thanks Glaucus!! Very helpfull.

Regards
Lucas