Smooth / Sweet Azalea No 1 Native

[Shogun610]

rhododendron arborescens aka smooth azaleas is a native azalea to N.E.. its got a nice little trunk already , I want to cut it back hard close to trunk and pot into kanuma or pumice. I’m not an azalea person but this was interesting to me because it’s native and it has white flowers.. so why not. It has a good line from the trunk from lower left branch on second pic to upper right. I wanna grow it out but trim back hard and see what it does. These bloom late spring early summer. I’m not wirrried if it doesn’t flower this year. It prefers acidic soil and I’ll also go alittle bit above the current soil line as well. This was the only interesting native azalea I found worth the try at the nursery.

 

[Jcmmaple]

Go for it, it has some great movement down low.

 

[queenofsheba52]

Hi @Shogun610! You may be way ahead of me, but --

I am no expert but I do love trying to make little trees out of interesting azaleas that I find at garden centers. (Flowers are the big deal for me.) I have learned form fellow B-nuts and by my own experience that azaleas die back a bit after chops/cuts. Maybe keep this in mind when deciding where to chop? Also, azaleas like to form lots of surface roots, so I try to select a pot that allows for that.

I hope you have lots of fun with this material!

 

[Shogun610]

Cut back hard back when I got it , it’s flushed out.

 

[queenofsheba52]

Wow, lookin' good! Lots of possibilities with what you've got so far.

 

[Shogun610]

Wow, lookin' good! Lots of possibilities with what you've got so far.

Of course. I don’t waste time w nursery material unless I know it can be something.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Of course. I don’t waste time w nursery material unless I know it can be something.

I feel the same way. My nursery stock has about a 75% survival rate after initial work.

As I become better at selecting nursery material, I’ve lost less, because the tree isn’t forced so much to be something it really isn’t.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I’ll bet you’ve connected with the deciduous thread already!

That’s a great response. I’m really looking forward to seeing how things turn out in upcoming posts!

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shogun610]

I’ll bet you’ve connected with the deciduous thread already!

That’s a great response. I’m really looking forward to seeing how things turn out in upcoming posts!

Cheers
DSD sends

Which thread sir ?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Deciduous Azalea Techniques

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shogun610]

I cut back in late June just to see what would happen , decent ramification

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nice ….cut it back again and build on that growth.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shogun610]

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Gotta love this start!

Can’t wait to see what you do from here

Best
DSD sends

 

[Eckhoffw]

View attachment 505941
View attachment 505942

Beautiful trunk line! Nice work so far!

 

[Shogun610]

Beautiful trunk line! Nice work so far!

Thanks

 

[Shogun610]

Gotta love this start!

Can’t wait to see what you do from here

Best
DSD sends

Sammeeeeeeee
It’s gonna go into a grow pot next spring, when I cut back hard three times this year it responded nicely … and I’m interested to see how it handles that situation. As I don’t wanna stress and kill it, yet seems promising so far to reduce nicely . Just gotta keep that growth stout

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Cutting back three times a year has its advantages! One just has to have a couple other azaleas around to satisfy the urge to see flowers. .

If it Tokoname grow pots you’re referring to, three thumbs up. These seem to work extremely well for azaleas. We have about 80 in pots now and are uppotting every 1-2 years depending on the tree.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shogun610]

Cutting back three times a year has its advantages! One just has to have a couple other azaleas around to satisfy the urge to see flowers. .

If it Tokoname grow pots you’re referring to, three thumbs up. These seem to work extremely well for azaleas. We have about 80 in pots now and are uppotting every 1-2 years depending on the tree.

cheers
DSD sends

Yeah Tokoname training pots , and no sir I am not an azalea guy but I do like having that one

 

[Shogun610]