azalea drastic pruning

[craigw60]

One of the members requested a copy of this article on azalea pruning, I will put it up here so everyone can have a look, its quite a good one.
Craig

[bodhidharma]

Thanks for that info Craig.

[nealweb]

Great article Craig, thanks so much for taking the time to scan that one for us all. I have a japanese book (no english writing unfortunately) with pictures of a similar process where large branches are notched half way through and are then wrapped with sphagnam. The tree is stimulated to shoot back vigorously from around the branches and the trunk and then later on the large branches are removed completely and I think can be used as propagations if they have developed some roots. Its one of those ones where you just have to guess whats going on from the pics. Unfortunately the book is down at my folks holiday house at present but when i next get down there i will grab it and scan it in to post

[craigw60]

Hi Neal, the other thing nicely demonstrated in this article is the advantage of cutting off all a trees branches and growing a new set. If you start branches from scratch its so much easier to get the correct directional flow without having the sharp angles which can result from trying to move old branches around. If you look at the branch structure on this azalea its beautiful with a very clear delineation between the main branch and the sub branches.
Craig

[Amanda]

Thanks Craig, I have really benefited from this article

[Michael]

Just bookmarked that great article thanks mate


Mick

[Chris H]

Thanks Craig.

Appreciate you taking the time out to do this for me.

As I picked up two dozen starters from Leigh today Im gunna want this one in later years.

[Handy Mick]

Thanks Craig, great article

[nealweb]

Hi Neal, the other thing nicely demonstrated in this article is the advantage of cutting off all a trees branches and growing a new set. If you start branches from scratch its so much easier to get the correct directional flow without having the sharp angles which can result from trying to move old branches around. If you look at the branch structure on this azalea its beautiful with a very clear delineation between the main branch and the sub branches.
Craig

Yes it sure turned out a beautiful bonsai. 'Clear delineation between the main branch and the sub branches' do you mean the trunk and the branches? Because they are so much thinner than the trunk they look very nice whereas if those large branch pieces that were removed completely had been kept they would have just been too thick. I still find it a little scary removing all the green from a tree and especially with satsuki which are known to be weak in the top of the tree but if done at the right time (and in conjunction with a root pruning for balance i think?) it can work very well as this example shows. Thanks Craig

[Hutch11]

Thanks Craig,

Great article!

[Hawaiian77]

A "BIG" Mahalo for sharing Craig.

A Hui Hou,
-Tim

[craigw60]

Its my pleasure guys, I need to get myself a scanner so I can post more articles from the old bonsai today, I have every issue and they contain some great info.
Hi Neal, I am a great proponent of cutting off all branches and growing new ones it gives you so much more control over the structure. I used to grow junipers that way. often with juniper there is a new shoot at the juncture of the branch and trunk, this gives you the opportunity to completely remove the branch and grow a new one. After I went to Japan and saw all the old yamadori junipers I stopped growing them.
Craig

[roka]

Muchos Gracies Amigo