Azalea hard pure advice please.

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Paulneill
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Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by Paulneill »

Can I get some advice please, I collected this azalea only 2 months ago. it looks very healthy and has even pushed out a bit of growth.
The root ball is very large as I wanted to insure collection was successful.

I want to reduce the roots to get it in a much smaller pot and I will be reducing the branches a lot.
Think I’m just left with 2 good looking trunks with work with once all the water shoot branches are removed.
It may make a nice semi cascade type azalea.


How hard can I go cutting back these roots?
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by treeman »

You can prune the branches and the roots quite hard. The plant should be healthy or they may be die-back. It is always better if there is some leaves above the cut if possible. Seal all cuts! (branches), wash all old soil from the roots before cutting and plant it in a high quality mix. Water once and then only after it has dried about 50%. Mulch the surface with sphagnum moss. Keep shaded and mist twice/day.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by kcpoole »

You can prune back to bare wood an they will reshoot well if healthy
I take about 1/3 roots when repotting an existign tree but can take off lots when collecting.

Given that it is just recovering now from collecting and we are heading into the summer, ,i would wait until next spring to do any more work on it.

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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by shibui »

It would have been possible to reduce both roots and branches at collection but given that it is currently recovering I would defer any further work until at least next spring unless I was really sure it have recovered sufficiently.
Some azaleas recover very quick but others seem to grow and look well but with no real new roots in the pot for a year or 2 so appearances above ground does not give a good indication of actual recovery.

Only you can really assess the health of the tree. If you really believe it is doing well you could go ahead and do either root or top reduction or both. I have been amazed at how much an azalea can take and still thrive after.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by Pickers84 »

Hi all, dropping in on this thread so I hope the OP doesn't mind.

Is this a gonna?
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by fae »

I would give it a chance, there is still visible life. Hard to tell from the picture angle but are
there any bugs or blemishes on the green leaves ? Curled leaves ?
Could cut back dead branches , Morning sun and think it won’t be long before before you see some new shoots.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by kcpoole »

do you have any history on the tree?
When repotted, pruned etc
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by shibui »

New threads don't cost anything and it's far easier to keep track of your posts if they are not mixed with other older threads.

Azaleas are generally pretty resilient. I've seen lots drop all the leaves and still grow back a few weeks later. This one still has some green leaves so I'd be confident it will grow if the problems causing the leaf drop can be addressed.
I assume this one dried out at some stage - very easy with a small pot over summer - but if there is any other background on why it looks like this you should spill the beans. More info = better advice.
Also better photos will give a lot more clues than a single wider shot as shown.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by Pickers84 »

Thanks for the replies, it was bought from the wanneroo markets bonsai store about 7 months ago. It hasn't been repotted by myself and was doing well up to a few weeks ago then leaves started browning and curling. Possibly due the heat spell we had in Perth a few weeks back but i did try and shield it from the worst. Was getting early sun (about 6 hours) and evening shade, no apparent pests on the plant though. I fertilized with azalea food about 6 weeks ago and gets a good water daily.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by shibui »

Check and see how compact the roots are in that pot. Azalea have lots of very fine roots that fill the soil and eventually leave no room for water so even if you are watering well there's just not enough water in the pot to last the whole day.

How often and how much to water depends on a number of factors like soil type, species, location, etc but I water my trees twice a day through most of summer just to keep them healthy and alive.

Maybe some close shots of the leaves and soil could help with a more accurate diagnosis but given that this is an azalea and it is the middle of summer I'd try watering more often.
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Re: Azalea hard pure advice please.

Post by Promethius »

Azaleas often like being a little bit pot-bound, from my understanding and limited experience, and I imagine it was sold like that. But, that makes it harder to water. The top of the soil gets wet, then water flows around the root ball and out the bottom, without really getting where it’s needed. As pointed out already, carefully ensuring that you really penetrate the roots with a thorough watering is important.

On the other hand, it won’t like wet feet, so being in sopping wet soil continuously is also to be avoided.
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