Azalea thoughts

[Danielm]

Hi all
I’ve acquired this little satsuki originally imported from Japan and wondered what I can do with the shape ?
It’s a cracking little tree and has a great trunk

 

[Adair M]

On YouTube, search for some videos by John Geangel about azalea pruning and bonsai creation.

 

[just.wing.it]

I agree with AdairM, and John's videos are good.
You can cut back hard after blooms begin to fade, and begin build a smaller branch structure.

 

[Adair M]

You can cut back hard now! You won’t get any blooms, but you’ll get more growth.

When they develop satsuki in Japan, they don’t let them bloom for 10 to 12 years. They use the energy the tree would waste on flowers to build trunk and branches.

 

[shinmai]

Really nice bark. If ‘twere me, I’d cut that branch stub more flush to the trunk.
I would also wait until after blossom drop to prune/style, but that’s because I’m a blossom junkie. Satsuke are so typically Japanese.....care for them for eleven months, get one month of beauty to appreciate, and then be patient for another year. I could be dead a year from now—I don’t have ten or twelve years to spare.
One thing I learned sort of the hard way: when you want to wire and bend, don’t water for a few days. It reduces the turgidity of the stems and then they are easier to bend without risk of breaking.

 

[Danielm]

Some great tips guys ??
As it’s new to my collection I’ll let to bloom this time .... which shouldn’t be long now as buds are forming nicely.

Agreed about the trunk cut ... it needs to go closer to the trunk.

Also probably needs repotting as the water has started to run off not through

 

[Barry]

I would remove the lowest branch also.

 

[Danielm]

Thanks Barry, is that because it extends too much ?

 

[Barry]

actually you have too many branches at that junction. The branch is also growing almost vertically and is crossing in front of other branches.

 

[JosephCooper]

Chisel and carve the deadwood first, then I think you should go with Barry's idea.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

You can cut back hard now! You won’t get any blooms, but you’ll get more growth.

When they develop satsuki in Japan, they don’t let them bloom for 10 to 12 years. They use the energy the tree would waste on flowers to build trunk and branches.

You can cut back now an it is true you won't get flowers, but the rest of that story is not completely accurate.

Adair and I agree to disagree on this, but you will get just as much growth if you cut it back after the flowers as you will if you cut it back before it blooms, thus removing all of the flowers. And, if you do remove the flowers in a cut back, it really won't take off that quickly, you will maybe be only a couple of weeks at the most ahead. Once it sets buds and prepares to flower, it is in that mode, and it still takes it a while to start putting out new growth. The plant has the energy to flower and put out new growth. It is not gonna grow any more or less if you remove the flowers. There is no mechanism inside the plant that says, "hey, I have three times the energy since I don't have all of those flowers so I will now put out three times the foliage, and three times as fast." In fact, I think it makes them a little sad, since they can't show off what they worked the whole previous year for. They grow like weeds anyway, you will be pruning and wiring new growth all summer and get to enjoy some flowers. Let it bloom!

All of this is nothing I have seen on the internet, heard, or read in an outdated book. It is from personal observation from years of growing azaleas.

 

[Harunobu]

You can cut back hard now! You won’t get any blooms, but you’ll get more growth.

When they develop satsuki in Japan, they don’t let them bloom for 10 to 12 years. They use the energy the tree would waste on flowers to build trunk and branches.

Why do people keep saying this?
Go to Kanuma city in Google streetview, switch date to 'May' and look around for yourself if you see blooms on the satsuki in the bonsai nurseries.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Why do people keep saying this?
Go to Kanuma city in Google streetview, switch date to 'May' and look around for yourself if you see blooms on the satsuki in the bonsai nurseries.

Yeah, I know, another azalea myth. I have a friend in my bonsai club who studied in Japan at Kanuma City, he said that they never removed the flowers off of any azaleas, unless they were thinning the flowers on a show tree for exhibition. One, it is not necessary, and two, there were just too many azaleas.