Azalea fertiizer

[Gerard]

I am not greatly experienced when it comes to feeding my azaleas.
My azaleas have finished flowering, now I will prune wire and pinch back until January.
I am told that from Jan onwards new flower buds will form so I should stop pinching.

Normally I use a specific mix of azalea fertilizer, which I assume gives nutrients which promote flowering but this week I fed my azaleas with the same fertilizer as everything else (powerfeed). My thinking is that the plant is putting on new green leaf growth and flowering nutrients are not a priority at this time.

Any advice / comments / common practice.

[kcpoole]

I Used to use dynamic lifter and had nothing but trouble with mine
Now use Neutrog "Sudden impact". I sprinkle 1/2 a handful on all my trees every 6 weeks or so, and also feed with Liquid Charlie carp every 2 weeks or so

Ken

[Matt Jermy]

with feeding - just remember that:
- (N)itrogen is for green growth
- (P)hosphorus is for flowers
- (K) Potassium (or 'Potash') is for roots
apply them at the right times and u should be pretty right...
... I reckon its just as important to get acidity right with Azaleas, as they won't access any nutrients if its too high//low...
... aboot a 5.0 - 5.5 seems to do well for me. (Coffee grounds my main source... )
Matt.

[Pup]

I use MiracleGro for Azalea Camellia and all Acid loving plants. Alternating with Phostrogen( Yates Fruit and Flower ). I have never had a bad year for flowers on my Azaleas.

The use of Dynamic lifter on an Acid loving plant is not good as it does send the soil Alkaline.

Cheers Pup

[nealweb]

If you have satsuki with variable flowers then its good to stop fertilising in autumn and not recommence until they finish flowering, this will give more variation in the flowers. I'm a little unsure about general fertilising. I think I was overdoing it in the past. An azalea nursery In Perth that grows thousands of azaleas (not for bonsai) just uses slow release once a year in september and seasol, thats it and Arthur came back from Japan saying that they grow their trees using a little fertilising and LOTS of water. I guess if you are growing in an open free draining substrate you need more food, also if you are going for maximum growth and development, more food but I haven't fertilised that much this year, just slow release and seasol sometimes with powerfeed added. Naturally azaleas grow in relatively infertile shallow soil, in small pockets between rocks so they don't necessarily need that much. Also because of their shallow roots I think many in gardens are killed by heavy doses of fertiliser dumped on the roots.

Walter Pall did say in his article earlier that he feeds his azaleas aggressively with great results so I may be wrong though but I do think lots of water is the main thing.

Maybe Arthur might chime in later on ??

cheers,

n.