Feature Azalea not well

[Bretts]

I am not great with azaleas and have killed plenty. We have a couple of azaleas out the front as features. This one is not looking great at the moment and I hope some members might be able to give me advice.
I don't see any browning of the leaves that indicates over or under watering but the leaves had curled and drooped. It seems to be coming through it as it does not seem to be getting worse with a little new growth. I probably should pull the flowers off to save it's strenght but I am not sure if I should be that worried?
The pH seems fine at about 4-5 although it did get heaps of azalea fertiliser during the winter as the son made an elm seed azalea food mix that I needed to dump.
Any ideas?

az.jpg

az1.jpg

az2.jpg

[kvan64]

Hi Bretts,
I don't know much about azaleas but my magnolias would curl their leaves during the periods of heavy/strong wind and heat/dry. Most of the time the effect is permanent on the leaves that are affected. If all the parameters are correct and unless signs of fungal infection is observed, I have no worry about this as this is a strategy for the manolias to conserve water.

[kcpoole]

The only time I have seen azalea wilt is when they are too dry. Never seen them curl like that tho

Ken

[Bretts]

We have had alot of wild weather lately.
It looks like it wants a drink hey KC it took me a while to realise that was not it checking the root ball and that was when I got worried. Maybe the soil has too much salt from all the fertiliser it got in winter?
But that would have been 6 months ago I think!

[kcpoole]

We have had alot of wild weather lately.
It looks like it wants a drink hey KC it took me a while to realise that was not it checking the root ball and that was when I got worried. Maybe the soil has too much salt from all the fertiliser it got in winter?
But that would have been 6 months ago I think!

Give plenty of water and hope it recovers

Ken

[MasonC]

i would say that its a little dry and been hit by some wind?

[sreeve]

Hi Brett
I agree with Ken, I think the root ball needs a major drink. The westerlies have been bad in Sydney, I can hardly wonder what they have been like combined with heat out your way. [The good thing has been that the surf has laternated between being flat and tubing - your kangaroo icon will have had fun]

Even though we have good soil here, I did notice that the dry year or so has made the soil fairly water repellent. I wonder if it would be worth your while taking a leaf out of Don Burke's book and spraying hte Azalea with the Seasol with the soil wetting agent. I used it around our garden and it worked like magic.......well at least teh weeds liked it
Regards
Steve

[MasonC]

Is there lots of weeds or other plants near the azalea? If so, the weeds could be sucking all the moisture and nutrients from the soil?

[Bretts]

I have dug down into the root ball today again and I am sure it is moist. It was pretty wet when I checked it a few days ago. I have had them fail before because I did not open the root balls up enough before planting and did not realise the root ball was drier than surrounding clayey soil. This one has been going for a few years and has never looked this bad. I will triple check the root ball again tomorrow. I guess azaleas can do it a bit but some leaves have drooped and others not?
There are a couple of plants around it but it does have plenty of room. I might spade them just to be sure. We have lost 3 all up The first we got is still good. The next two cheap pot bound ones died. We replaced them and one again died a year later which we can only put down to large palms near it sucking the shyte out of it?
The misses said if we lose this one it won't be replaced so I hope it gets better
Thanks for the help

[sreeve]

G'day Brett
Looking at your picture again, I dont think you have a problem of having the Azalea too congested - I think it is the opposite. I wonder whether you have enough shade and cover. We have a few growing in the garden and some of the better ones are on the southern side under large Camelias. The house shades the six large camelias and they shade the Azaleas. Having said that we do have some in full / partial sun, but we do have to give htem special treatment.

I wonder if yours is in full sun and it will be bellding hot out there....

It may need a sun hat as well as a drink
Regards
Steve

[redeye]

Keep it well mulched - azaleas are shallow rooted with a lot of surface feeder roots.

[Bretts]

That is an issue, growing azaleas here in the open is not easy. They get morning sun there but are in the shade of the house pretty early maybe 11am. Then the heat from the house could also be an issue? We knew they would be some work to get established but I would have thought heading into it's third year we would be getting close by now? And it is only spring when it has been through a couple of summers already. I wonder if the flower buds are putting it under strain? It has been a few days since I watered it and it has improved slightly I think. At least no worse.
I might try some shade cloth this year and see if that helps.
It has had plenty of mulch that was topped up a bit after this poorness started. In fact the soil is looking very good compared to the clay crap i started with 5 years ago.
Thanks again.

[kvan64]

I still believe it's the wind and heat that caused the problem. Even after the sundown, radiation from the hot wall still extents the condition for hours. The leaf veins are at the back of the leaves and most pores are on the upper surface that's why the leaves curl in/up quite uniformly. This is a common symptom of leaves being dried. Usualy the older leaves have poorer irigation and curl more than young/new growth leaves. If there was fungal or salt issue or even overwatering problem, the new growth would have been affacted as well (if not before the old leaves).

[Amanda]

Hey Brett did you manage to figure this one out?

[Bretts]

Hey Anja.
Not sure to some degree yes but still some what puzzled. I can put it down to the weather last year but I can't say it was much warmer than other years. And although we did not get that much more rain last Summer, maybe no more than usual some how it was definitely more humid last Summer. That was evident by the first time I have ever seen my figs put out airial roots.
The one next to it also showed the signs of stress when it went into flower and as they have not showed such stress in past years I wondered if a coincidence of hot days when in flower knocked them about but I think it was more than this.
The first one was in recovery with the flowers removed by the time the second one showed the problem. I was somewhat harsher with the second one and when removing the flowers I also removed alot of the damaged foliage. It did not like this and did not recover. The first one is growing strong again.
I am sure people will think I have fungus on the brain but I think there is a good chance that it was fungus. It seems the plant needs all it's strength to fight the fungus and when it went into flower it makes sense that the fungus got the upper hand. Also defoliation with fungus last year with other trees showed to be detrimental to survival rate just as in the case with the azalea.
As you can see the leaves do not really look like they are burnt just curled. But it was definitely the flowering that exaggerated the issue what ever it was.
In any event if it happens again I think the best plan of attack is to remove the flowers but leave the leaves as much as possible. Maybe I would treat with a non-toxic fungicide maybe not?