Bonsaidoorguy's 2020 - 2025 azalea contest entry.

[Bonsaidoorguy]

Finally saw some azaleas at the depot that looked good. Picked up this guy, small leaves, bright red flowers and not too bad of a trunk to start with. I'll enjoy it's flowers then get to chopping.

 

[Jorgens86]

I suggest to pinch all flower buds and start to cut so it grows more vigor

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Finally saw some azaleas at the depot that looked good. Picked up this guy, small leaves, bright red flowers and not too bad of a trunk to start with. I'll enjoy it's flowers then get to chopping.View attachment 289776

I like these! It is a kurume azalea, and in some ways I think it is better than satsuki for bonsai. I find that the growth is tighter than satsuki. Also, enjoy the flowers, in my experience, they do not rob the plant of any vigor.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice 'Hino Crimson',
The bush has plenty of vigor, look at the strong growths from last year.

I would not remove all the flower buds, as flowers are the whole point of raising azalea. You could go through and thin them, maybe remove half of the buds. But do yourself a favor, let it bloom at least partially. So you can see the color of the flowers, so you can pick the right pot to compliment the flowers. And so you know how the flowers lay out, so you can plan enough room between branch pads to properly display the flowers.

The canard of removing all the flowers except in years when it is to be displayed is not necessary for the health of the tree, and does not speed up development significantly. So let at least a portion of the buds develop and bloom.

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Nice 'Hino Crimson',
The bush has plenty of vigor, look at the strong growths from last year.

I would not remove all the flower buds, as flowers are the whole point of raising azalea. You could go through and thin them, maybe remove half of the buds. But do yourself a favor, let it bloom at least partially. So you can see the color of the flowers, so you can pick the right pot to compliment the flowers. And so you know how the flowers lay out, so you can plan enough room between branch pads to properly display the flowers.

The canard of removing all the flowers except in years when it is to be displayed is not necessary for the health of the tree, and does not speed up development significantly. So let at least a portion of the buds develop and bloom.

Myth busters, we are!

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

the flowers look great. Each bloom is about dime size. Gotta get some trays ready to propagate some cuttings when I start chopping.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

So the flowers were done and it was time to start. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for well placed buds.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Wow, you really went to town cutting the tree back. It should be fine, it should back bud nicely. And you probably got a couple trays worth of cuttings from that.
Excellent.

 

[Pitoon]

View attachment 303683View attachment 303684View attachment 303685So the flowers were done and it was time to start. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for well placed buds.

You were serious about the chop! The color on those flowers looked great. I did notice you didn't leave any leaves on the tips. In my experience leaving leaves at the tips keeps the sap flow and helps promote faster budding. Interesting shape you cut back to. What's your plans?

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

You were serious about the chop! The color on those flowers looked great. I did notice you didn't leave any leaves on the tips. In my experience leaving leaves at the tips keeps the sap flow and helps promote faster budding. Interesting shape you cut back to. What's your plans?

Well with some luck on bud placement, I'm shooting for a pad down low, and developing a couple pads up higher moving towards the lower pad. I took the growth off the tips trying to encourage more budding down lower. Had to remove a fairly good size root wrapped around the base of the trunk. Hopefully my savagery wasn't too much.

 

[Harunobu]

I know 'Himo-crimson' isn't a perfect red and that pictures can be deceptive in representing true colour. But that really looks very purple. Assuming it is not mislabeled and if it does look more crimson to the naked eye, maybe you can play around with the colour settings for the final photo in 5 years?

As for the true hard cut. I often have tried an intermediate cut. I found that especially with kurume/kiusianium/kampferi, they don't bud back on the truck at all if they still have foliage on them somewhere. They just push growth from the most convenient bud that was dormant, and leave all other ones dormant. So I would recommend a hard cut like this on a plant like this. You don't want to thicken up those branches that you already have, but now with foliage nearer to the trunk. You want brand new branches for most except maybe the primary lowest branch.

Best to be savage to a plant like this. But when I see someone completely defoliate a very old established azalea bonsai, I do shiver a bit. But apparently that is common practice in Japan and not dangerous when done by a Japanese expert in the Japanese climate.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

I know 'Himo-crimson' isn't a perfect red and that pictures can be deceptive in representing true colour. But that really looks very purple. Assuming it is not mislabeled and if it does look more crimson to the naked eye, maybe you can play around with the colour settings for the final photo in 5 years?

As for the true hard cut. I often have tried an intermediate cut. I found that especially with kurume/kiusianium/kampferi, they don't bud back on the truck at all if they still have foliage on them somewhere. They just push growth from the most convenient bud that was dormant, and leave all other ones dormant. So I would recommend a hard cut like this on a plant like this. You don't want to thicken up those branches that you already have, but now with foliage nearer to the trunk. You want brand new branches for most except maybe the primary lowest branch.

Best to be savage to a plant like this. But when I see someone completely defoliate a very old established azalea bonsai, I do shiver a bit. But apparently that is common practice in Japan and not dangerous when done by a Japanese expert in the Japanese climate.

The pictures do look a little purple but the blooms were a deep rich red. With a five year timeline I figured I had enough time to place some branches where I wanted.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

Excellent. So for the most part I'm getting budding were I wanted. I surely can't complain.

 

[Pitoon]

Excellent. So for the most part I'm getting budding were I wanted. I surely can't complain.View attachment 312170

I see some really good potential with the bud locations.

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

getting some nice growth. I'm happy with how it's coming along.

 

[Pitoon]

Looking good!

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Hi @Bonsaidoorguy. If you haven’t had a chance to yet, please to fill out the azalea media (substrate) poll.
My thanks and please disregard this note if you’ve already polled.
Cheers!
DSD sends

 

[Bonsaidoorguy]

first wire to get the branches going in the right direction. I think it's coming along nicely.

 

[Krone]

Is it safe to prune and repot at the same time?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Sure, It depends on the amount of pruning and the time of year.
Cheers
DSD sends