Azalea 'Violetta' growing a trunk for 10+ years

Glaucus

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This was one of the first azaleas that I bought back in 2012, 'Violetta' (Dutch Kurume Kerkhoff/Multiflorum hybrid, not Glenn Dale).
And I have been growing it out in full ground for a while now.

Sadly, I do not have a lot of before and after pictures of all pruning I did. Somehow, those got lost. Which is why I am posting now, so they don't get lost again (assuming this place is still here in 5 or 10 years, hopefully).

I selected this one because it was a nursery plant with somewhat of an uniform trunk.

Spring 2012:
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Actually, it had some twin trunk action going on. So Initially, I decided to keep the dominant two trunks and to try to grow the base fat to prevent reverse taper.
You can see that besides the two-trunk split at the soil level, the dominant trunk has two areas with potential reverse taper if left unpruned.
It recovered from that initial pruning in a pot. But because it wasn't growing rapidly and because I wanted this one to have a sizable trunk way down the road, I decided to plant it in the full ground. This must have been 2014 or 2015.

After 1 or 2 years in a pot with mediocre growth, and 1 year in the ground, I believe in the second or third full growing season in the full ground, it started to grow really vigorously. Including backbudding at the base of the trunk.
At this point, it still had the smaller twin trunk, but by pruning that one back the main tree had become way more dominant. At some point I pruned back the twin trunk to almost nothing. And then finally, it was completely removed.
This resulted in even more backbudding at the base, which I let grow freely for a year.

Then jump to 2020. The total height now was significant, as every year I selected one shoot to become the leader/apex. Often, I would keep a twin shoot, but keep it weaker. You can kind of see it in this branch structure.

1684346263315.png

The base had now fattened up a little bit. Not significant even in 8 years of growing. You can see some pruning scars and backbudding in the next picture, where the twin trunk is now completely gone.


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Near the end of the 2020 growing season, it looked like this:
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Letting all these shoots grow some more, here in September 2021
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I believe I reduced the amount of shoots somewhat in 2022, but no pictures.

Then I have this hazy picture of March 2023, before I did some serious pruning:
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This March 2023. I really reduced the amount of branches and shoots. But more importantly, I pruned out a long section of the apex. I decided to chop out the apex to try to grow it more sideways. And this top section was too long and straight to be used in a final design anyway. If you look along the entire trunk, there is kinda a bit of movement and natural-looking sections. But then it would become long and straight because that section grew rapidly as a dominant leader.

Now, mid May 2023, I can see the response to the pruning.
This is the tree with the chop on the top:
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There are still plenty of branches to fatten up to create more taper at the base. But maybe removing the shade will give me more backbudding in 2024. Or maybe right away.

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There are some pruning scars. The branches that I left can fatten up quite a bit more without leaving major scars when I eventually remove them. And there is 1 new shoot growing from the back just above the soil level. Some other new buds I already removed.

For some of the branches higher up, I reduced to 2 shoots:
1684347203788.png

Notice the reddish extrusions just before the node where I pruned? Those are new buds. Note that I also removed almost all flower buds. This may also have contributed to these buds growing there. The buds come from a shoot that grew in 2021. And they are just below where the flower bud sat in 2022.

Also, the apex which I completely chopped is budding back:
1684347352788.png

The fatter section pointing towards the viewer is probably what I will remove, because it is too fat for the apex. But I did not cut it flush off yet. By leaving 5cm for both sections, I give more area for backbudding.
Just some new shoots growing on that fat section will help keep the flow of nutrients going from the roots all the way to the apex, preventing any dieback. And this section will not get fatter any time soon.
Additionally, if I prune off the fat section flush, and somehow I also don't get backbudding on the thinner section, I might get a dead apex. This way, one acted like a backup. Ideally, I would have kept a pair of leaves on one of them, to be 100% sure there is no dieback.
But that area was too bald already, because I had not pruned it and it grew so vigorously.
At my measure, I can reduce this even more. and see if I can create some type of crown for a future bonsai design, while flatting up the trunk even more.


The major lesson for me is actually that even with a fast growing (non-satsuki) cultivar, and conservative pruning. This trunk still does not amount to much. It may need 10 or 15 more years.
But there is some taper there already. And with directed pruning, you can achieve quite a bit.
And it definitely seems that once you prune, you set the stage for future backbudding. Once you have pruned a section and it will backbud there in response to said pruning, it will keep backbudding in that same general area in the future, even if you have not pruned.
And this even though it is a kurume which does not normally fill out bald unshaded branches with new buds spontaneously (which most satsuki will do).

I did not dig this one up. So I have no good idea on the roots or nebari. Which is maybe also a mistake. Maybe in 3 to 5 years, I need to prune back both the roots and some shoots and see if that can improve the development of the nebari.
And then maybe I will also wire downwards some branches to be part of the final design.
 

StarJasmine

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Wow, that took quite a long time to thicken up the trunk! Do you know if that is normal for azaleas, or is it because of the climate, or something else?
 

Glaucus

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I am not sure. I may be doing something wrong. The Japanese certainly can grow a whip to max height in 3 to 5 years time, then start to fattening it by making it grow sideways.
Maybe it is a mistake to prune halfway the growing season. Maybe one should first get a tall tree by completely preventing all growth except for the leader.
And then prune only at the beginning of the growing season, so it can grow completely free all throughout the growing season, and then also keep all those leaves during all of winter.
Satsuki growers in Japan apparently can get 50 to 60cm long shoots. I can't get close to that on any evergreen azalea.

Not aware of anyone field-growing a bunch satsuki trunks for bonsai in Europe. Right now, I have just a few. Not sure if I will be able to scale it up. I have a field where I could potentially do so. But I do not have a good setup for shading.
Also the daily watering. I don't want to kill potentially nice satsuki trunks because I grow them in a shadeless field.
I'd mean basically running a nursery.

For this one, maybe season 2024 and 2025 allow for some decent fattening finally, as I don't need to prune at all.
 

Glaucus

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Some updates (Late June 2023) on the response to chopping out the apex:
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Side view of the main leader where it was chopped this spring.


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Looking straight at the chop scar made last spring


So a ton of growth. There are like 3 or 4 new shoots growing from the stump in the apex that was pruned out and left without green.
Not sure if that part will be kept in the final design yet. But the focus now is on fattening up the thinner branches that emerge from the base of the trunk.

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Base of the trunk


Since it is not a satsuki, it won't backbud on old wood everywhere and spontaneously when exposed to the sun.
You can also see the trunk section swells up more at the node sections. And when pruned, it has a strong tendency to backbud at those pruning sites. I actually cleaned out some backbuds near those swollen areas already, just leaving those on the left back side, to give a future option in case I prune off everything there is right now.

I am thinking that at some point, I need to do a hard prune to see if I can get buds exactly in-between those nodes. In the area of the trunk that kinda gets a gentle concave curve to it. And grow a big sacrificial branch there.
While keeping a branch at the outside of each bend.

I also need to take a look at the nebari at this one. Digging it up and doing a big prune on it. The nebari might be really poor since I never focused on it.
Maybe when all these branches I have right now are finger thick? Maybe late winter 2026 or 2027? Then 3 or 4 more years to grow the new branches exactly in the internode area to be finger thick? And then I have a true fat tapered azalea trunk I can put in a pot? Ah, bonsai is so slow.
 

Lizzy1426

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Hi there,
Thanks so much for sharing all those pics and developing notes and thoughts. Your Azalea looks AWESOME, very exciting to see someone's ideas transforming before my eyes like that!
I love azaleas, but there is not an enormous amount of good progression/development info (in English anyway) online (though I think I will explore THIS forum a bit more). There's alot of stuff about initial styling of nursery stock and putting into a bonsai pot, but not alot of follow up, and I love to see even a few months or a year of change in other people's projects. Other info is on maintenance of already developed specimens, and pretty much all Satsuki, and little mention of other cultivars. I saw a YouTube video a while ago, (unfortunately I can't remember who's channel it was), but there was mention of cleaning the bark (removing moss and grime etc and giving it a light scrub with a soft brush) in winter every year to help encourage back-budding - especially in the areas where you need the buds. But they were referring to quite a refined specimen, so maybe that is for a later stage.
Im a newbie, (not to gardening and nature I've been into those forever ;) ) and only got into bonsai about 5 years ago..so I'm only at the beginning of my bonsai education ..but Ive always loved Azaleas...I think they're fascinating shrubs. How can you not love the incredible flower display they produce.

Thanks again, the info you provided here is invaluable.
Liz.
 

yashu

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Well I’m glad this got bumped. I just picked up a $9 Violeta from the end of season sale at the big box store.
 

Glaucus

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Well I’m glad this got bumped. I just picked up a $9 Violeta from the end of season sale at the big box store.

It is probably not the same 'Violetta', there are a bunch of evergreen azaleas named that way. Pitoon has a thread on the other cultivar with this name. Might show up in the 'similar threads'. And I believe there is a third, even.

Anyway, this one is growing very well now. The pruning I did didn't slow it down. Goes to show the power of building up health and additional energy reserves.
But considering I have had this one for 10 years, it is a bit disappointing that it is still so thin.
This progression would have true value if I also had some pictures of around 2016-2017, and once I have it as a semi-bonsai in say 2028.
This actually reminds me that now is a good time to wire some of the branches to be parallel.
 

Deep Sea Diver

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Great thread and good thoughts!

The issue seems to me is that most folks try to keep an azalea’s trunk cleared off… this is contradictory to expanding the trunk.

The thought is to fatten any azalea trunk one needs to let lots of the branches grow up the trunk starting from above the the nebari on all sides…

…equally spaced around and up the trunk and extend with no pruning. Make the tree look like a Christmas tree.

… for a bunch of years.

… It’s all about multiple sacrifices…

… takes patience!

Later on it’s all about a lot of selective pruning and developing a bonsai

However, that’s not the only way to create a nice azalea bonsai.

cheers
DSD sends
 
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