Azalea care after trip

[Harunobu]

Some of mine also need to start showing signs of going out of dormancy.

I think most plants use photo-period and not temperature to know what time of the season they are in. If this is true, weather won't affect their internal clock. It will affect the rate of metabolism/growth of course.

 

[rockm]

"I think most plants use photo-period and not temperature to know what time of the season they are in. If this is true, weather won't affect their internal clock. It will affect the rate of metabolism/growth of course."

Not really true. Shorter photo periods in the summer and fall induce dormancy. Soil temperature brings the plant out of it in the spring. On average--depending on species- the temp that activates dormant plants to begin growing is around 40 F.

This a sort of failsafe mechanism that prevents trees from growing too fast, too soon in the spring time--trees have "chilling hour" requirements-once that time is met, they are prepared to begin growing. Cold weather holds them back. Early spring frost and freezes slow plants emerging from dormancy preventing them from throwing foliage that could be killed off until reliably warmer weather arrives.

 

[akhater]

Thank you for the detailed replies both of you, I am learning... I am learning ....


I haven't water it yet since it arrived the soil is still looking pretty wet is that ok ?

 

[Harunobu]

Maybe give it more sunlight? You can also use a shadecloth that lets through some of the light so you don't have it either in full shade or full sun.

The reason not to put it in full sun on sunny days is because the soil may dry out too much. Satsuki ought to do better in more sunny weather than other azalea.
An azalea being in a pot means the soil will dry out faster and if for example the pot is made of black plastic, it will heat up and get too high eventually.

So seems you can give it more sun.

 

[akhater]

we didn't have much sun here lately mostly overcast weather but the temperatures are on the rise,

Yesterday we had rain again with strong winds and now another thunderstorm ...

I really don't know if it is doing any better than on day one but surely no worse ! it did give me some new leaves but it doesn't have the "warning I am going to explode from everywhere" look if you know what I mean.

It is not dead it is already something good, I guess time will tell

 

[Harunobu]

If it is growing then that is good.

Maybe more growth is just an issue of time.

 

[akhater]

This morning I found a flower on my azalea but, to my surprise, it is pink and not white so I don't think it is a Kaho

 

[Harunobu]

'Kaho' does have solid coloured flowers. 'Kaho' has the base colour of white but will mutate on purplish pink shibori/sports/variegations. The problem is, colour mutates on but almost never off.

I see more red flowers. If a tree is grown using a cutting from a branch that has only solid coloured flowers, the whole tree will be just solid coloured.

You will have to wait and hope for white flowers. If there is a branch where solid colours dominate, you have to remove that branch. Unless you want the whole branch to be coloured.

This can still be 'Kaho'. It has a wavy flower and the colour still matches that of 'Kaho' closely enough. It's not a true pink but more on the violet-purple side of things. So is 'Kaho'. It is a white-purple mix. Not a white-red ot white-pink mix.

 

[akhater]

This is exactly what I know about Kaho and other bi colored azaleas it seems this one is a cutting from a solid branch.

Unfortunately I removed all buds when it arrived i forgot 4 or 5 and all of them seems to be the same color I think I will have to live with a single colored Kaho

 

[Harunobu]

If so, well that's too bad. I have heard many bonsai people don't know about this and take cuttings from the wrong branches.

Personally, I was happy to see that 5 out of my 6 cuttings have base colour flowers so far. No.6 has just one flower where I can see colour.

 

[akhater]

If so, well that's too bad. I have heard many bonsai people don't know about this and take cuttings from the wrong branches. .

This seems to be the case of this PROFESSIONAL store where I bought it

 

[Harunobu]

Where there several flower buds all over the plant that were all red? Or is it just one branch? It may still produce white flowers and just have a large branch or area that is red.

For example, the tissue of the trunk may still be white in it's DNA. If so, if you were to prune it and have it back bud from there, then you get rid of a lot of the red only branches.

And obviously you can contact them to tell them you are worried about this issue. They should very well understand that a satsuki loses it's appeal without it's main feature of sporting flowers. A pure solid coloured sport of 'Kaho' is not 'Kaho'. So in a sense they sold you the wrong thing, if it is the case all fowers are solid coloured.

 

[akhater]

There was a lot of buds, I removed them all to save energy for the plant after the trip I forgot to remove 4 or 5 and they are all swelling red right now and they are not on the same main branch however there are still a part of the tree that has no buds (on the right hand side of the picture) I guess I will need to wait till next year to see the whole colors.

I did contact the store and they replied that as it matures I will get the white colors back (when the tree is 8 years old as they said), I know it is not true but won't argue with them more, definitely a solid color kaho is not what I was hoping for

 

[Harunobu]

I think removing buds in spring saves no or very little 'energy'. But it may reduce the demand for water. It might also get the plant to start growing earlier again. Of course removing buds won't do damage.

 

[akhater]

I'm learning

thanks for the patience