Bare Root Satzuki Azalea

[Dano]

Certainly not for the faint of heart. This is my first pic of two satzuki azaleas after 3 months in quarantine and four months of tender care. It took close to five months for the new leaves to come all the way to the top. Needless to say, I was worried and watched one twig each day to watch for new growth. As expected, everyting started from the bottom up and I believe I am out of the danger zone. I do not plan on leaving the blooms on long as I want the energy going into the plant. A good ways to go, but so far so good. Enjoy and lets hope a year from now it will be thriving.

Dano

 

[anttal63]

another nice azalea, loads of potential there dano. good luck with it all. do you have any styling plans for the future, if so love to hear them.

 

[johng]

Sweet

Nice trees Dan! They appear to be doing very well...

John

 

[Dav4]

Nice trees...varieties? I have 2 azaleas recovering from importation/bare-rooting this past winter. Most of the flower buds had already been removed when I took them home, and I removed a few more to save energy for root/foliage growth (I do have 2-3 buds on each tree...I couldn't remove them all). I'm surprised there are so many flowers on that first tree. Will you be doing any pruning/shaping this season? Good luck,

Dave

 

[Just Duane]

Dano, nice trees. The first one looks like korin?

 

[Dano]

Duane,
You are correct, the first satzuki is a Korin, the second is and Issho-no-haru. Thanks for the comments. I removed all the flowers today. With the exception of trimming wild shoots, I just plan on letting the satzuki's grow this year and get used to the South.

Dano

 

[shohin kid]

I do not plan on leaving the blooms on long as I want the energy going into the plant.

Warning to all people who import satsuki azaleas in the future. Do not let them flower the year they are imported. Pick the buds off, no matter how tempting it is!

 

[Dano]

Shohin,
I just finished removing all the flowers off my satzuki. I was reading your comments on another thread about bare root satzuki and soil. I certanly welcome your commnets. My large satzuki came in around the first of December. I potted it in Kanuma, Michigan Peat Moss and some small bark chips. All my other azaleas have done fine.

My question is, do you think it would be O.K to repot the plant come March with a much better soil mixture? Right now I trying to develop a fine root system. I noticed while potting the plant, that the Kanuma would crumble if you squeezed it hard.

The plant looks very healthy now, I just don't want problems down the road. Water is still draining from the pot very well. Thanks.

Dano
The first pic is at night with the blooms. The second pic is without blooms. I do not keep it in direct sunlight but did for this photo.

 

[shohin kid]

Shohin,
I potted it in Kanuma, Michigan Peat Moss and some small bark chips. All my other azaleas have done fine.

My question is, do you think it would be O.K to repot the plant come March with a much better soil mixture? Right now I trying to develop a fine root system.

I am confused about something that you said,

"Do you think it would be O.K to repot the plant come March with a much better soil mixture?"

Do what works best, if Kanuma, Michigan Peat Moss and some small bark chips works good for you, than why change? Also, why repot so soon, it looks like a medium sized tree, so every 2-3 years should be good to repot.

 

[Dano]

The reason for changing in about 6 months would be to avoid the Kanuma breaking down prematurely and root rot. I don't keep the azaleas in this mix all year, every year. I would normally change to something more solid such as Akadama, Turface MVP and bark chips. Does that make any more sense? I am in no hurry to repot, I just don't want the plant sitting in muck if the kunuma does if fact break down as fast as others have said.

Dano

 

[shohin kid]

I dont believe kanuma breaks down as fast as some people say, why do you think almost every satsuki azalea in japan is in kanuma. I can tell you it is not because it kills the trees. You have your kanuma in peat as well so it should be fine. Just don't be stupid. I would probably not recomend 100% straight akadama, but thats just me.
Changing the subject to root rot. Everyone should read Walter Pall's feelings on root rot, here is a link below. Just make sure there is a good amount of substrate in the soil.


http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/2008/12/over-watering-root-myth.html

Also read,

http://walter-pall-bonsai.blogspot.com/2008/12/more-about-over-watering.html

 

[amkhalid]

'softer' soils breaking down like kanuma and low-fired akadama is definitely a a problem in my area after a year or two, but that is largely due to very cold winters and the non-japan climate in general... hard freezes affects the integrity of these japanese soils in our experience, turning it to muck... i can't use them if i wanted to

 

[mapleman77]

Hey amkhalid,
So if I lived in an area that's humid, but we don't have a very hard winter, Akadama/kanuma would probably last awhile?

 

[Glider]

Hi Mapleman, I think you probably could.

I'm in the South East England (London) and use 100% akadama or kanuma (for the azaleas). We don't suffer bitter winters (although it can occasionally go down to -6 or so, but rarely in the City). We don't have the very high humidity of Louisiana either, but that's not an issue in substrate breakdown (constant wetting/drying is).

In this climate (and certainly in yours) both akadama and kanuma retain their integrity for a lot longer than you would normally leave a tree between repottings. I even reclaim and re-use akadama that has not broken down after 3 years. You can't ever re-use kanuma, but that's not because it breaks down, it's because it's usually matted together with azalea hair-roots.