Rhododendron repot

[RoadManDenDron]

Done as you said today @Deep Sea Diver

Also when cleaning with the toothbrush I noticed a couple of back buds way down a couple of branches


I used this moss out of a pot in the garden as my sphagnum is dried out but I can soak and use that if it has any specific benefit?

Also should I be laying off the feed now?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Great Job! The plant looks much better.

I thought there were a couple blasted buds in your earlier photos.

We often soak sphagnum for a couple hours in warm water before tucking it in the pot. Most garden moss will work well.

For future use. Garden moss is often cleaned chopped and mixed with dried sphagnum, (and sometimes dyed) then put on the media .

Yes the end of September is a good time to stop using fertilizer. Some azaleas species can be fertilized well into October while others can’t in September as it leaves them susceptible to bark split in freezing weather. Observations of Rhodys shows they bark split too, go figure, so end of Sept is a good medium for an unknown.

Hope to see a great looking plant come next spring!

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[RoadManDenDron]

Thank you again for your help

I certainly feel better about the chances off this tree after your guidance and have learned a lot to improve my other azaleas/rhodies which I also plan to clean up in the coming days

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Thanks!

JFYI For one mossing technique see the posts at the end of this thread.

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/deep-sea-diver’s-2020-25-azalea-contest-entry.43958/page-2

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[RoadManDenDron]

Is there a special technique to cleaning moss?

Was thinking to re do this tomorrow with the sphagnum I have on soak since this morning

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Not really just wash off the dirt.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[RoadManDenDron]

The flower buds were removed on this to save energy,

Now I cut it right back and have my fingers crossed it will pull through

I cut back to ramification but i think I could have maybe cut back a little further?

Any advice?

In the conservatory for the time being as we have very heavy rain and I'm allowing the kiyonal to dry!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Gosh that was a cutback.

Really not much advice here as don’t do cut backs like this, due to bad track record on success. However some folks report otherwise, Possibly differences in cultivar and/or environment.

Perhaps keep media moist and mist a couple times a day? Watch out for overwatering as there are few leaves to transpire.

Good luck

DSD sends

 

[RoadManDenDron]

Next year once things really look really healthy and robust it might be time to start testing to see how this cultivar reacts to being pushed back.

oh yea my bad! I should have double checked I knew in my head my plan was to cut back

In my defence I have seen it bud back well when I removed or cut back single branches in the past

Fingers crossed it handles this,

For future reference (and my much nicer azalea from the other thread) how should I cut back? One branch or a couple branches at a time rather than all in one go?

I was expecting the feedback from this one to be I left the branches too long!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Well… now that you mentioned it, might as well cut back further.

Please be sure to seal all cuts with Top Jin or other cut paste. This will decrease die back, thus give a better chance of back budding.

Total cut back has worked for us for a few species (ie Chinzen, its “parent” Osakasuki, Toyo Nishiki and Mansuku, mostly older cultivars) early in the growing season. As a result, we usually only cut back to green growth which yields 100% success in grow back. Cutting back to bare wood was about 60% successful.

Do know some folks down south and in Australia that have a better track record on this type of procedure. So using a greenhouse may increase the odds of full dieback.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

… actually that was full budback vs dieback. Sorry. About that! AI spell check….

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[RoadManDenDron]

The back budding has begun, I am hopeful for the future! I continue to keep this in the greenhouse and may apply another dose of fertiliser in the week ahead


In the interest of keeping the thread accurate, I decided against a further cut back as I realised there were existing buds on the longer branches i had cut back to

 

[RoadManDenDron]

@Deep Sea Diver this is the one I mentioned

Since I'm here, here are some updates

I am happy that it appears foliage density is restoring to how it used to be before the health scare, a nice cluster of leaves at each site,

When I realised it was not healthy there was a single rosette of 4 leaves with nothing behind

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Excellent start to a full recovery! Well done!

A couple things to do/think about.

1. Think about eventual styling now things are down to bare bones. Looks like the composition is moving to the left. If so, at some point may want to have reductions in branching in other areas, shortening to work on style and taper… not now.

2. Lots of buts is great, too many in one spot gets confusing. Might want to carefully thin some of the tips up by 1/2, still leaving more than you need. A pair of bud scissors or tweasers might do the job.

3. If possible snag some decent moss and cover the media. This will spur root growth and in turn increase branching.

Cheers
DSD sends