AusBonsai

Hello Glenda,

I have just come across your correspondence here and will add to all the help you have been getting.

I visited and spent a week in a Japanese Satsuki nursery in May and June this year. There are several bits of first hand info that I can pass on.
1. All heavy root and top pruning is done to HEALTHY Satsuki from Autumn through to Flowering time. Most of the pruning after flowering is Motobadome ( something I did in Japan as that was the season ). Japan has very cold winters and all they do is keep the frost off them when they have repotted - either a shaded area or straw on the pot.
2. If the plant is fresh from a garden or nursery they drop it into a bed and look after it for a season to ensure it is really healthy.
3. If your 2 azaleas that died came from the same nursery and the leaves just wilted and the plant expired, it is most likely root rot ( Go and spray everything copiously with Fongarid - now ). This is Phytophthera Cinnamomi - die-back.
4. If you are removing major branches you may well be interfering with a Water Line and loose roots on that side of the tree. If the tree is very healthy you may get away with leaving a 100mmm piece of the branch on the tree for a season and sealing very well, removing this large stub another season or two later. Again in Japan, once it is truly healthy they will often inarch ( Graft ) a branch above and below where the main branch is to be excised in order to maintain sap flow. This will take at least a season before the opperation can take place.
5. I have successfully pruned and repotted in WA from July through to after Christmas ( where we get temps around the 40 -43 mark ) although the sudden heat in Summer can hold the tree back a lot. We also get 10-15 frosts each winter as I live in the hills outside Perth.
6. Azalea roots are on the move at a lower temp than many plants/trees.
7. I have had no root rot since switching to Kanuma.

Make sure your drainage is very good and give them plenty of ( rain if poss.) water.

I have about 700 healthy Satsuki here outside Perth so it is more a question of understanding the plant than anything else.
Satsuki are quite tough in the main.

I hope this helps you ,

Arthur

Gary Bee wrote:G/Day! Glenda,

The advice from the experts is to repot azaleas immediately after flowering, each year.
This seems to be the go!

I must admit I did this in September after 4 years of not repotting and all my "other" azaleas have not looked back.

Only the pampered 40yo "Oldie" carked it!

I even repotted my Gumpo in September and it flowered in November...... I admit I was very lucky not to lose it as it started to wilt
so I immediately cut off all the flowers and tip pruned, then in the seasol (again) then in the shadehouse and it looks OK now. Phew!
I might leave it under 50% shade cloth for the rest of this summer.

Regards
Gary
<](:-))

I'm certainly not one of the experts but I reckon that here september is a good time for major pruning and repotting. If you are just routinely repotting an azalea already in a bonsai pot then after flowering is fine but for major root work, say going from a nursery pot into kanuma with a total soil removal then sept works well. In Perth we just had a record hot november with temps up to 37 degrees which would have been very hard on trees that just had major surgery, better to have had a few months recovery first - and ofcourse no flowers allowed for that season. I did all my major repots ion late winter/early spring this year and they are all going well so far.

Just my thoughts,

n.

Hi Glenda,

I'm in Houston, Texas, USA and we have tons of azaleas, the prefered bloomer in spring in our region. First, azaleas should be pruned primarily right after blooming, here in USA that is from april to late june depending on the variety.

Second, what type of pruning did you do? If you pruned branches thicker than your index finger down to the trunk, that may be one of your problems. Branches approximately this size shoud be pruned 1/2 one year and other half the next year to prevent from killing the feeder roots which work with that branch. Azaleas work this way.

Third, when pruning azaleas make sure they are in the shade most of the time until new growth appears; then a little bit of sun only in the morning. Another tip is, when you buy from nurseries, unless it is in late fall or winter, prune branches down leaving enough good wood for new growth and repot after loosening the probably root bound roots into new pot with soil you know is good; doesn't have to be bonsai soil. if you buy in fall/winter, hold off 'til spring after plucking all the flower buds. The you can work on them earlier in spring and the blooms won't drain the energy from the plant.

I have grown azaleas for over 30 years and have learned they are very rewarding as to growth and blooms, but the pruning has to be done carefully, at the right time and with the proper techniques.

If you need help with ways to force new growth, etc. just let me know.

Good luck,
Ron (pdpinc)

Thanks for all this advice, people. My two larger azaleas are doing well and are potted in diatomite. I have a few small cuttings which are also doing fine for now. I realise few things I did wrong - wrong timing, cutting off too much t once, not repotting earlier etc. My mother has several old azaleas that are totally neglected. She does whatever whenever, and they just thrive. I think I expected them to be tougher than they were.

I will put it down to experience and learn from my mistakes.

Glenda