Chopped Azalea 1 For treatment and collection in Spring

GrimLore

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This Azalea was a 3x4 Foot Hedge this morning with a serious case of Black bark scale. I chopped it hard to treat it as it finally dropped blooms. I will pull it in the Spring for eventual potting. The base on this one measures 3x5 inches and has a lot of surface root in the clay.

Grimmy
 

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JudyB

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Will the bark scale be an ongoing problem for you? Looks like a big dig ahead.
 

GrimLore

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I can actually cure it on Azalea unlike a lot of trees. It is a white visible scale that sucks the sap from under the bark turning the bark black. Once the live critters are dead I just need to follow up to kill all new hatch. Odd scale as it actually eats itself to death after propagating. Going to cost a bit with a series of different crap but it is doable. My first thought was to do that and wait until Spring to dig to see how they respond. The dig should be a lot like the Burning Bush I did so I feel I can do both in about 5 hours.

Grimmy
 

Dav4

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I knew of a guy who, for a hobby, grew giant pumpkins in SE MA. He would routinely grow 600 to 700 # pumpkins that would always take the blue ribbon at the county fairs. Apparently, he spent most of the day in his pumpkin patch, tending to the plants AND knocking back anywhere from a 6 to 12 pack of Busch beer...and he never bothered to head to the house to relieve himself. According to his competition (I worked with one of them), the guy was bag of rocks dumb who liked to drink beer and was just lucky at growing monster pumpkins. Grimmy, all I can say is I'm looking forward to follow up picks toward the end of the summer;).
 

GrimLore

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I knew of a guy who, for a hobby, grew giant pumpkins in SE MA. He would routinely grow 600 to 700 # pumpkins that would always take the blue ribbon at the county fairs. Apparently, he spent most of the day in his pumpkin patch, tending to the plants AND knocking back anywhere from a 6 to 12 pack of Busch beer...and he never bothered to head to the house to relieve himself. According to his competition (I worked with one of them), the guy was bag of rocks dumb who liked to drink beer and was just lucky at growing monster pumpkins. Grimmy, all I can say is I'm looking forward to follow up picks toward the end of the summer;).

Good Story! And I know a "few" of that genre ;) I am just fortunate to have retired at 54 and if I feel like a beer I can have one. I spent awhile out there to save those as the landscape we got with this place is horrible - so horrible the Wife decided we do the back this year and actually agreed to having the front "taken out" with a backhoe in the Spring and letting me do it proper. If these survive the chops and treatment I am certain they will be pretty nice someday. My biggest headache will be a LARGE Yew that I will replace with something I have worked for a LONG time. Whole other story but I am sticking to it :p

Grimmy
 

GrimLore

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47 days and seeing progress with treatment as well as back budding. On this one I took a sandpaper pad to two branches I won't be keeping to remove the black dead bark faster. If it does not appear to harm it both will be getting one hella sand, wire brush, and scrubbing :eek:

Grimmy
 

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Wee

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Glad to see I'm not the only one to use an empty beer can for size....I would not want to eat a pumpkin pie made from his patch.

Brian
 

sorce

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Beer pee fertilizer?
 

GrimLore

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Actually posted progress and mentioned wire brushing/cleaning hoping someone had input. It seems to now come of rather easy after all the treatments but I do not want to damage them.

Grimmy
 

Mellow Mullet

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Grimmy,

I would not use sandpaper or a wire brush, as you have probably noticed, azaleas are very thin-barked ad it is easily damaged. I had a tree that had a similar problem and this is what I did. I used and old tooth brush for the smaller branches and hard to get to places and a larger brush with nylon bristles that I got a Harbor Freight for larger areas. The trick is to wet the branches really good and let it sit to soften the black stuff up, it comes off fairly easily. You can use a little Dawn dishwashing liquid (very weak) for the stubborn areas. Be sure to look carefully for buds that might be showing where you want them so that you don't scrub them off.

John
 

GrimLore

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Grimmy,

I would not use sandpaper or a wire brush, as you have probably noticed, azaleas are very thin-barked ad it is easily damaged. I had a tree that had a similar problem and this is what I did. I used and old tooth brush for the smaller branches and hard to get to places and a larger brush with nylon bristles that I got a Harbor Freight for larger areas. The trick is to wet the branches really good and let it sit to soften the black stuff up, it comes off fairly easily. You can use a little Dawn dishwashing liquid (very weak) for the stubborn areas. Be sure to look carefully for buds that might be showing where you want them so that you don't scrub them off.

John

Thank you so much! I have never had anybody that had the same situation respond. I guess it is not a common problem but as these were just left to grow 38+ years it was bound to happen. I will take your advice with gratitude and "gently" clean them up just as you suggested! ;)Again Thank You!

Grimmy
 
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GrimLore

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Yesterday this one was collected and put in a 11 x 16 1/2 x 4 inch container -

Grimmy
 

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GrimLore

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That's a big one. Look ' s like you have a bunch of options for styling.

John

Yeah, I suspect it will change form a few times over the next several years so I left a bit to work with. The other one in the next thread I am pretty certain will just need 2 more cuts to make a nice display down the road. Lots of quick "calls" to make when digging a couple in one day so I usually leave some "wiggle" room on future design.

Grimmy
 

GrimLore

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Potted...that has to be a good feeling having the collection stage over and now to focus on development.

Honest my Wife feels best on this one. She wanted all of the old stuff out of the front for a fresh start. I however did the digging :confused: Either way I am looking at this one and the one in the other thread as "possible" good saves and only time will tell :p

Grimmy
 
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