Another Nursery Azalea Gets a Chop

[Mellow Mullet]

I found this one at a nursery a few weeks back, today I decided to cut it back. What do you think?

Here is what I stated with:


Nice fat trunk:


After a few minutes with the shears:


After removing the pot, I found the roots and soil were very dry, even though I have been watering it for a while:

 

[barrosinc]

How large is the pot?
Do you have a final picture?

 

[Mellow Mullet]

But wait, there's more:

After sawing the root ball in two, it was dry all the way through:


I cut some wedges out of the root mass and poked holes through it in order to help it absorb some moisture:


Here is the final product, with some damp moss on it to hold moisture. I plan on soaking it in a tub of water later to hopefully hydrate it:

 

[Mellow Mullet]

How large is the pot?
Do you have a final picture?

I think that it is a three gallon size pot.

 

[Cmanz]

Nice tutorial Mullet. I love seeing how others approach different material.

 

[JoeR]

Huh didn't know you could leave bits of foliage on these when you do this. Would probably have sped up the development of mine a little, oh well.

 

[Vin]

Huh didn't know you could leave bits of foliage on these when you do this. Would probably have sped up the development of mine a little, oh well.

It doesn't necessarily speed up development. It's just a safety line that will most likely be removed once there is some growth on the other branches.

 

[Vin]

Looks good John!

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Thanks, Vin. I hope it pulls through, it was really dry.

John

 

[Eric Group]

Nice job! Good start to a new Bonsai!

 

[sorce]

Real nice lil chunker there!

Glad you took it further back!

Sorce

 

[Harunobu]

Looks good very good/lucky for nursery material. Today I looked for some azalea raw nursery stock, only 3 cuttings stuck in a pot. That's the normal way now to produce azaleas. Put 3-4 cuttings in a pot, grow, top them off after 1 growing season, again a growing season later. Bla...

 

[Mellow Mullet]

The guy that owns this nursery only does one cutting per pot. He has thousands of plants at hi place.

John

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

Here she is about 3 weeks later, buds are starting to break.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Love the sign of life.

 

[JoeR]

Awesome!

Mine, however, died for sure. When you scrap it it is no longer green underneath.

Frustrating, because I dont know what I did. It never got too dry/wet, it was in shade. Maybe I should have left some green on it just to ensure its survival? It put out a few small buds but they never got bigger and instead browned. It could also have been too weak from flowering.

 

[erb.75]

buds make me happy gulp gulp

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Awesome!

Mine, however, died for sure. When you scrap it it is no longer green underneath.

Frustrating, because I dont know what I did. It never got too dry/wet, it was in shade. Maybe I should have left some green on it just to ensure its survival? It put out a few small buds but they never got bigger and instead browned. It could also have been too weak from flowering.

I have done this to a bunch of azaleas, and have lost a few too. It happens. Blooming before hand does not matter, I have done it both ways. When I cut this one back, I was not sure it would make it either, the soil it was in was not taking water and it was dry. But it pulled through. I have another I did the same week as this one and I put it in a bonsai pot. I don't know if it is going to pull through, I think I was too aggressive on the roots.

John

 

[Mellow Mullet]

UPDATE

Here she is today:

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Update:

Here we are today after a little thinning out.