RKatzin
Omono
Boy, not even a pissoff jerk on that one. I guess I'll keep my dumb ideas to myself on next arising. Ooooookydoeky then
Boy, not even a pissoff jerk on that one. I guess I'll keep my dumb ideas to myself on next arising. Ooooookydoeky then
Be a trailblazer then! In more than 20 years I can't say that I have ever seen grafted azaleas. Perhaps that is because the root and bud back so well??
give it a shot and teach us something!
john
So, if you want to have a trunk, prune off the branches from the base, leaving only the one stick you want to become a trunk. Then you want to encourage all the foliage growth on that stick that you can get. Most azaleas readily back bud, some are so much so that all you need to do is expose the bare stem(s) to sunlight.
....You may want to remove the flower buds as soon as they are set so that all the plant's energy goes into vegetative growth...
In other words, if you are after just making a trunk, shear it in the spring, put it in the sun, fertilize, water, and let it grow.
Ok, so leave everything on one stick.
Cutting off flower buds when they set (does that mean when they are fully grown flowers but havent opened yet?)
Fertilize.
What do I do when I see backbuds? Do I cut them off immediately?
So, first, you eliminate competing 'trunks'. Then, you execute that final statement of mine. "... shear it in the spring, put it in the sun, fertilize, water, and let it grow." While I thought that was clear, you want to keep the backbuds (let it grow) because they occur on the one trunk you have chosen by eliminating all the other potential trunks.
By flowers "set" I meant:
- if you want the flowers, wait until they're beginning to drop
- if you don't want flowers, shear as soon as you distinctly see buds and/or new leaf growth emerging.
Thanks! English isn't my first language.
It is far from obvious. Being in Santiago is the only hint that this might be.
I try to make it simple and easy to understand, but I get complaints that I too often do the opposite. So, I'm pretty sure the difficulty is not your language, but mine (0sogood --> 0 = naught [sic]).
I grow azaleas for their flowers and am not focussed on trying to make trunks with them. I find them to be slow to thicken even though the principle is the same as with any (temperate) tree: lots of foliage on a stick is the way you make it thick.
So, if you want to have a trunk, prune off the branches from the base, leaving only the one stick you want to become a trunk. Then you want to encourage all the foliage growth on that stick that you can get. Most azaleas readily back bud, some are so much so that all you need to do is expose the bare stem(s) to sunlight.
I shear and deadhead my azaleas after they have bloomed (they begin growing vigorously at the time they bloom) and again about August (February for you, I believe) which does stimulate backbudding. You may want to remove the flower buds as soon as they are set so that all the plant's energy goes into vegetative growth. Some evergreen azaleas set flower buds in the fall, others in the spring, but regardless, they are always at the tip of a twig, so this can usualy be done by trimming/shearing at the right time instead of tediously picking each bud one at a time.
In other words, if you are after just making a trunk, shear it in the spring, put it in the sun, fertilize, water, and let it grow.
Again, I grow azaleas for their flowers. I shear them at least twice a year. My focus, though, is on sculpting the canopy where the flowers will appear. For me the skeleton is secondary. Over time, I clean up the stems and even remove some to make an attractive skeleton.
As with many things deciduous thickening is a practice of free growth, cut back... and grown again. They achieve this best in open soil.... the trick with the sphagnum moss is related to the acid it leeches into the soil when it's watered.
All azaleas are Ericaceous plants (of the heather family), and therefore acid loving. They are not as able to absorb nitrogen from non-acid sources.... so interestingly certain very cheap lawn fertilizers can be very good food for them. The ones which are derived from ammonium sulfate. Bacteria convert nitrogen to ammonium, and other bacteria convert ammonium to nitrate. These latter bacteria are less active at higher pH. High levels of organic matter and low pH can reduce the availability of nitrogen to plants by fixing the nitrogen in the microorganisms. Miracid is NOT made of ammonium sulphate.
Ideal pH is said to be 4.5-6...which is considered slightly acidic. Over 6 and the trees will exhibit weakness and stress. Iron supplemented to feeding schedules is highly recommended.
Grow healthy.... and it'll go big.... but best when unrestricted.
V
How to measure acidity in bonsai soil?
Kanuma is not available in Chile.
Does the fertilizer say ammonium sulfate? how to recognize those?
Thanks!
I found:
Granulated fertilizer
http://www.anasacjardin.cl/producto/completos/fertilizante-para-azaleas-camelias-rododendros/
And iron sulfate
http://www.anasacjardin.cl/producto/fertilizantes-jarditec/fertilizante-sulfato-de-fierro-jarditec/
Should i get the first?