Azalea chop advice

[just.wing.it]

Any new pics of your azalea, @Jphipps ?
Just curious.... cuz , so far, my percentage of success is low with big azalea cut backs. I did 6 this year, gave all 6 the same treatment, they all busted out new growth like crazy, looked like all was well. Then suddenly, the new shoots stopped elongating and after a few weeks, complete death (on 4, the other 2 are good).
Is yours still growing?

 

[johng]

Any new pics of your azalea, @Jphipps ?
Just curious.... cuz , so far, my percentage of success is low with big azalea cut backs. I did 6 this year, gave all 6 the same treatment, they all busted out new growth like crazy, looked like all was well. Then suddenly, the new shoots stopped elongating and after a few weeks, complete death (on 4, the other 2 are good).
Is yours still growing?

Just curious...were pots sitting on the ground, or did they spend anytime on the ground after being chopped? Just trying to make sense of something similar that occured to some of my trees this year.

 

[just.wing.it]

Just curious...were pots sitting on the ground, or did they spend anytime on the ground after being chopped? Just trying to make sense of something similar that occured to some of my trees this year.

Negative, on bench.

 

[Jpxc17]

My azalea is still doing great. It's pushed out a ton of growth. No signs of distress. That's really weird that yours would push out growth then all of the sudden decline like that. Sounds like something else at play besides the chop effecting them. I'll try to post an updated picture tomorrow.

 

[Eric Group]

Any new pics of your azalea, @Jphipps ?
Just curious.... cuz , so far, my percentage of success is low with big azalea cut backs. I did 6 this year, gave all 6 the same treatment, they all busted out new growth like crazy, looked like all was well. Then suddenly, the new shoots stopped elongating and after a few weeks, complete death (on 4, the other 2 are good).
Is yours still growing?

Yikes! Seems like a lot of this is going around this year. Did you leave any leaves on them? I have done massive cutbacks on DOZENS of big, old azaleas over the past few years and only had ONE crap out like this. It was chopped all the way back to the trunk and repotted at the same time and just never made it back! Aside from that... Every single one has made it. The only change I made lately is I started leaving at least a few branches with growth on them, and the trees seem to respond well to it. They bud back with 100% reliability, the new buds break faster on old growth and they seem to produce more buds all over than the ones I prune back without leaving any growth.

 

[just.wing.it]

Yikes! Seems like a lot of this is going around this year. Did you leave any leaves on them? I have done massive cutbacks on DOZENS of big, old azaleas over the past few years and only had ONE crap out like this. It was chopped all the way back to the trunk and repotted at the same time and just never made it back! Aside from that... Every single one has made it. The only change I made lately is I started leaving at least a few branches with growth on them, and the trees seem to respond well to it. They bud back with 100% reliability, the new buds break faster on old growth and they seem to produce more buds all over than the ones I prune back without leaving any growth.

Yeah, I cut them back hard, all the way (like johng's YouTube videos.)
The two of six that made it are a satsuki hybrid called Gumpo Pink and a Girard's Crimson (I'm not sure if the Girard's is a satsuki hybrid or not.)
The other 4 were local hybrids.
Maybe I just went too hard on them.
Gonna try more next spring.

 

[Eric Group]

Yeah, I cut them back hard, all the way (like johng's YouTube videos.)
The two of six that made it are a satsuki hybrid called Gumpo Pink and a Girard's Crimson (I'm not sure if the Girard's is a satsuki hybrid or not.)
The other 4 were local hybrids.
Maybe I just went too hard on them.
Gonna try more next spring.

Girard's Crimson is not Satsuki, but let's be real... That doesn't really matter! An azalea is an azalea.. If you like the blooms and the leaves are reasonably small, they are probably fine for bonsai with a few exceptions! I think people put too much weight on the a Satsuki tag sometimes because that is what they use in Japan. I have found the Belgian varieties to be beautiful bloomers but their leaves are too large normally. Kurume are as good or better for Bonsai than Satsuki IMO- blooms earlier, smaller leaves on many varieties, smaller blooms normally... The "Rhododendron X hybrid" types like Gerard's are basically modern "American" varieties. Some could be OK for Bonsai, but many are pretty new hybrids so it may be hard to find decent specimens with age and character.
I personally think the Encores are the worst. They bloom twice a year which just spreads the "lag"/ weakness from blooms over the whole growing season! It leaves us practically no time to train them, their blooms are generally huge and pretty boring solid colors! Usually they crap out pretty quick... Not worth the money or the time for Bonai or your YARD IMO!

 

[just.wing.it]

Girard's Crimson is not Satsuki, but let's be real... That doesn't really matter! An azalea is an azalea.. If you like the blooms and the leaves are reasonably small, they are probably fine for bonsai with a few exceptions! I think people put too much weight on the a Satsuki tag sometimes because that is what they use in Japan. I have found the Belgian varieties to be beautiful bloomers but their leaves are too large normally. Kurume are as good or better for Bonsai than Satsuki IMO- blooms earlier, smaller leaves on many varieties, smaller blooms normally... The "Rhododendron X hybrid" types like Gerard's are basically modern "American" varieties. Some could be OK for Bonsai, but many are pretty new hybrids so it may be hard to find decent specimens with age and character.
I personally think the Encores are the worst. They bloom twice a year which just spreads the "lag"/ weakness from blooms over the whole growing season! It leaves us practically no time to train them, their blooms are generally huge and pretty boring solid colors! Usually they crap out pretty quick... Not worth the money or the time for Bonai or your YARD IMO!

I had an encore, but it died. It had nice trunk, and bloomed 3 times a year!... but, you're right. Not best for bonsai.

 

[Jpxc17]

Here is how the tree looks today.

 

[Rick Mc]

@Jphipps How is this tree? Just read this entire thread and curiosity is killing me.

 

[Jpxc17]

This was from last spring. It was recovering well. I ended up moving and bringing most of my good trees with me. Unfortunately one by one they started dying off. I'm not really sure what happened.

 

[Dalsom]

Any new pics of your azalea, @Jphipps ?
Just curious.... cuz , so far, my percentage of success is low with big azalea cut backs. I did 6 this year, gave all 6 the same treatment, they all busted out new growth like crazy, looked like all was well. Then suddenly, the new shoots stopped elongating and after a few weeks, complete death (on 4, the other 2 are good).
Is yours still growing?

It’s probsbly a timing issue or a root issue causing these failures.

 

[Atom#28]

Necro Bump! This was a fun thread. Wondering if this azalea has seen any more action lately?