Azalea questions...

[HorseloverFat]

Greetings, Miniaturized forest nation.

I have two main questions pertaining to this subject. (Well.. at the moment.)

I received my mail order girard’s pleasant white this grand day. I know that (even in my climate) it is considered that I missed the window for optimal hard-prune success... I was planning on still continuing ahead, confident with myself and comfortable with the plant’s ability.... I then realized that this cultivar(?) is a semi-evergreen.. and this forced me to re-evaluate my decisions...

The first inquiry “duo” is: How does this cultivar(?)’s classification as semi-evergreen change my approach to hard-pruning (if at all)? Would I still have a (semi)green light to continue as planned?

My second question is: Is it too late to be granted participation in the five-year Azalea contest? (I understand THIS question could have been posted in the corresponding thread, but I thought I’d “lump” the issues to save time and space.

Thank you.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I got it figured out. ... the flowers are just beginning to emerge.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I figure that, please correct me if not, this particular plant flowers a tad later than others, and the standard logic/timing of the hard prune still relate directly to this.

 

[Shibui]

You should be able to prune azalea hard almost any time. They take a bit longer to respond when pruned really late but any time up to mid summer should see plenty of regrowth. The usual time for pruning i s 'after flowers' but that's more about convenience and allowing the new shoots enough time to set buds for next spring. If you just want regrowth the window is much wider.

 

[HorseloverFat]

You should be able to prune azalea hard almost any time. They take a bit longer to respond when pruned really late but any time up to mid summer should see plenty of regrowth. The usual time for pruning i s 'after flowers' but that's more about convenience and allowing the new shoots enough time to set buds for next spring. If you just want regrowth the window is much wider.

Thank you! I appreciate it!

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I would treat 'Girard's Pleasant White' pretty much the same as any Satsuki or Kurume azalea. It was bred to be a little more cold hardy than Satsuki azalea. Read the Missouri Botanic Garden write up on it. They talk about its winter hardiness. I would protect this azalea from your zone 5a winters. It is hardy through zone 6a. You might loose flower buds due to freezing in zone 5.

Rhododendron 'Pleasant White' - Plant Finder

Note Satsuki tend to bloom "late" in May and June. Kurume tend to bloom a bit earlier. The hybrids between the two types are all over the map. Some azalea will even bloom in autumn.

 

[HorseloverFat]

I would treat 'Girard's Pleasant White' pretty much the same as any Satsuki or Kurume azalea. It was bred to be a little more cold hardy than Satsuki azalea. Read the Missouri Botanic Garden write up on it. They talk about its winter hardiness. I would protect this azalea from your zone 5a winters. It is hardy through zone 6a. You might loose flower buds due to freezing in zone 5.

Rhododendron 'Pleasant White' - Plant Finder

Note Satsuki tend to bloom "late" in May and June. Kurume tend to bloom a bit earlier. The hybrids between the two types are all over the map. Some azalea will even bloom in autumn.

Thanks, Leo.
The MBG was actually one of the sources i was using for information. I think I will go ahead with my drastic prune.. as I’ve already HAD to repot (one of the most rootbound plants i’ve ever acquired)

Here is a couple shots of it...

The fine surface root situation is a little ridiculous because of how root bound it was.. so it will take a season or so(hopely) to get that situation under control.. i raked down to the larger surace roots (even though it doesn’t look it) and used shears to trim back all the more fine roots.. but it IS the base.....i think.







I have a great deal to ponder and meditate on while those blooms spend the next couple days opening... It worked out well, though. My wire won’t arrive until saturday(ish).

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Sneaking another one into the collection, eh? The flowers will help her to tolerate the unauthorized addition.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Hard part will be deciding which branches to remove.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Hard part will be deciding which branches to remove.

Exactly... huge visual “tidal waves” of potential cause and effect at every angle....

“For each and every action......“

 

[HorseloverFat]

Sneaking another one into the collection, eh? The flowers will help her to tolerate the unauthorized addition.

I chalk it up to “filling space” after realizing realistic mortality rates of my fall and spring collections... hahaha it’s working so far.

 

[Carol 83]

Sneaking another one into the collection, eh?

I've been doing alot of that lately. I consider it therapeutic pandemic relief.

 

[Forsoothe!]

Here's one left over from my landscaping 12 years ago, but only as bonsai for ~5 years. It is late, much more vigorous than the type, evergreen, and bigger, too. The flowers are big and this would be covered with buds, except I removed almost all of the tips late last year for shaping, so you don't see many. It is two individuals. The pot is +16" wide.

 

[Lazylightningny]

Two things about azaleas that need to be addressed are its tendency to throw out arrow-straight shoots and to grow in whorls. In old landscape azaleas, this can translate into thick arrow-straight trunks and swollen knobs at the whorls. If it's noticeable enough, these parts can be hidden with foliage.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

@HorseloverFat
Your keeper branches will be one the "outside branches of the 2 whorls of branches. The branches in the interior of the whorls, even if they "head the right direction" won't be useful. Reason, is the scars. If you keep an outside branch, the trinks will not have huge scars on the outside. If you try to remove the outside branches of the whorl, the bark will end up too damaged to heal with branches removed all around.= the trunk. So for each whorl, pick 2 outside branches to keep, and start removing the rest.

If you wound the trunk with branch removal more than half way around the trunk, the scar may take forever to heal or might not heal at all. You don't have to remove all the excess branches at once. Taking 2 to 4 years to remove all the branches is no big deal. It won't make the reverse taper significantly worse. The trunk needs time to re-route flow through the cambium as you remove branches, so only take a portion of the excess off each year.

So think about the wounds that will be left on the trunk as you remove branches. Don't leave too many, or too large a set of wounds.

Also in your whorls, not everything comes from the same spot. Its okay to leave branches at different levels.

 

[HorseloverFat]

@HorseloverFat
Your keeper branches will be one the "outside branches of the 2 whorls of branches. The branches in the interior of the whorls, even if they "head the right direction" won't be useful. Reason, is the scars. If you keep an outside branch, the trinks will not have huge scars on the outside. If you try to remove the outside branches of the whorl, the bark will end up too damaged to heal with branches removed all around.= the trunk. So for each whorl, pick 2 outside branches to keep, and start removing the rest.

If you wound the trunk with branch removal more than half way around the trunk, the scar may take forever to heal or might not heal at all. You don't have to remove all the excess branches at once. Taking 2 to 4 years to remove all the branches is no big deal. It won't make the reverse taper significantly worse. The trunk needs time to re-route flow through the cambium as you remove branches, so only take a portion of the excess off each year.

So think about the wounds that will be left on the trunk as you remove branches. Don't leave too many, or too large a set of wounds.

Also in your whorls, not everything comes from the same spot. Its okay to leave branches at different levels.

Great! Thank you!

Follow-up question...

If i had access to wound paste, would it be acceptable to make the drastic prune “this time” or do you still advise a slower reduction?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

With azalea ALWAYS use cut paste. Cut flush, do not indent into the trunk, any "scoop out" into the trunk will never heal. Leave a stub if you are not experienced at cutting flush, then come back the following year and cut flush.

The point was too many large wounds to heal all at once can result in either death of the trunk, or permanent open wounds that never heal. Deadwood and shari on azalea become the entry point for wood rots, often leading to the collapse & death of the tree. There are rare exceptions, but wide or large zones of deadwood on an azalea usually become a problem, often a terminal problem. One example of an exception is the shari in Brian van Fleet's "Ben Oki Kurume Azalea", that tree has a deadwood stripe up and down the trunk, and it seems long term stable. But the exception is just that, an exception. I lost several azaleas with "deadwood".

So, ideally, you do not want wounds on all sides of the trunk. Only take off a couple of these whorl branches each year. If you cut them all at once, you might as well chop below the whorl and rebuild from scratch. Which is an option, but not the way I would go.

 

[HorseloverFat]

With azalea ALWAYS use cut paste. Cut flush, do not indent into the trunk, any "scoop out" into the trunk will never heal. Leave a stub if you are not experienced at cutting flush, then come back the following year and cut flush.

The point was too many large wounds to heal all at once can result in either death of the trunk, or permanent open wounds that never heal. Deadwood and shari on azalea become the entry point for wood rots, often leading to the collapse & death of the tree. There are rare exceptions, but wide or large zones of deadwood on an azalea usually become a problem, often a terminal problem. One example of an exception is the shari in Brian van Fleet's "Ben Oki Kurume Azalea", that tree has a deadwood stripe up and down the trunk, and it seems long term stable. But the exception is just that, an exception. I lost several azaleas with "deadwood".

So, ideally, you do not want wounds on all sides of the trunk. Only take off a couple of these whorl branches each year. If you cut them all at once, you might as well chop below the whorl and rebuild from scratch. Which is an option, but not the way I would go.

Thank you SO much for your patience and thoroughness with me, Leo. It is greatly appreciated as well as digested and catalogued.

(Also I really enjoy BVF’s Ben Oki... I visited that thread a few times in my research) Also EXCELLENT “note taking” ... which I eat up.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Almoooooooost....

 

[Pitoon]

For what it's worth my Pleasant White blooms around mid May, i'm in zone 7B.