my first azalea

[matty-j]

hey guys i bought this little guy today its my first azalea
i hope i saw some potential in it
i thought about leaving the left trunk high and shortening the right
and incorporate the two to together
what do you all think??

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[Andrew Legg]

There must be something in the water - I just got my first ones too!

[kcpoole]

Many opportunities with Azaleas to get creative with clump or multi trunk styles.
With this one, the bit on the left looks it has 2 similar sized trunk coming from low down, and the right one has a few bends in 1 trunk, and a branch going straight up that will most likely be removed.

That might give a small 3 trunk clump?

Can the 2 on the left be moved a part and given movement ( by cutting back hard), that matches the movement already on the right side?
Repot in Spring and then let one of the trunks grow freely to put on as much growth and girth as possible ( a full year or2). this will give some variance in the trunk thicknesses so make a more interesting clump style tree setting a few years

Ken

[matty-j]

andrew i know i cant wait for it to flower

thanks for the info ken much appreciated
i think i will re pot this into a very large pot i have at home its about 600 in diameter
and let it grow very freely and fertilise like crazy
when i pot it should i remove the old mix and flair out the roots?
or just place it in and let it grow?
to be honest my knowledge on fertiliser is very little
would you add slow release to the mix when i pot it and use a liquid as well every 2 weeks?
is this a good idea for azaleas?
and when should i start just before spring?

[Andrew Legg]

when i pot it should i remove the old mix and flair out the roots?
or just place it in and let it grow?

Matty, I believe they don't like too much root disturbance and they have shallow root systems as well. If I were you, I'd just slip pot it, and then year by year you can redo some of the roots in a cake-slice pattern. I am sure others can give better advice, so let's see what they say!

Cheers

[matty-j]

thanks for the reply andy what exactly do you mean by slip pot it?

[kcpoole]

slip pot means to not disturb the roots, just place into a bigger pot with fresh soil
Azalea roots will mostly be just big matted ball.
with mine i reduce the bottom roots by about 1/3, and lightly trim around the edges of the surface roots. Gently rake out the surface to remove any crossing roots, but do not dig deeply. Leave the root ball intact, and then pot up ensuring that you cover any surface rooting. If left exposed they will not thicken up.

Ken