Deep Sea Diver’s 2020 - 25 Azalea contest entry

[Pitoon]

Spring is here and your azalea could be blooming (depending on your location) or starting to leaf out with this season’s flush……it’s time for updates!

I would also like to add at this time we have 3 prizes to award. Many thanks to @Forsoothe! and @Deep Sea Diver for donating. I am also donating a prize as well.

If you are no longer interested in continuing in the Azalea Contest, please let me know so we can close your thread, thanks.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Wintering over in ground experiment went awesome, that is.... until a way word rabbit decided that me contest satsuki was gonna be a healthy dessert!

Luckily I discovered the miscreant in action one night while taking out the recycling. It was a cold and rainy January night and I feared Wrecker Rabbit would return to finish the meal. So I dug it up and stuffed it into a 2G pot and tossed it into a cold frame, where its going to be next winter if it survives.

Three weeks ago I root washed this Satsuki with 27 others and put them all in 90% Kanuma and 10% Pumice and put them in the cold frame, which is open during the day this time of the year, until today. It had to endure a severe pruning and shaving to get rid of three stumps.

Today was a sunny day, mid 50’s so out it came for a look see. Since it was out, I wired it up to get a basic design set. Now it’s in the garage on a 58 degree heat mat under lights to see if it will survive. If it buds back, I’ll do some further trimming in a couple months.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

.

 

[Pitoon]

@Deep Sea Diver how does the kanuma and pumice mix work for you? Does it dry out too quickly?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Not sure. It’s too early to tell for the majority of my Satsuki as it’s springtime in Puget Sound and we have had a lot of “Seattle sunshine”.

So far the mix seems a bit more friable and is holding water well. I’ve another Satsuki that’s been in the garage on heat mats under lights for three weeks to keep a closer eye on it. It is doing well in this media and holding water normally.

There are some recent cuttings in this mix and they are doing good so far. I’m experimenting with this blend to see if I can avoid some of off and on the fungus issues and gnats experienced with my whips this past winter. (An experiment that was really interesting btw. )

A handful of small first year cuttings came in from Julian Adams last week in Turface. It will be interesting to compare the growth in this media vs the kanuma mix and the 50/50 Peat/Perlite used last year.

This step, given this works, is to rootwash some of the whips and put them in this media and do a side to side comparison.... maybe also stick some in ground... Since there now are 6 dozen 8-14” first year whips of various cultivars, that would be a very interesting experiment... and you know how I love experimenting!

So early days. Thanks for asking.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Pitoon]

Interesting for sure. I have grown azaleas in Napa 8822 with no issues. But those small granular substrates dry to fast for me, and adding a sphagnum dressing just gets picked by the birds looking for worms making a mess.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

At this point Ican say that the 90% kanuma 10% pumice (or a bit less) media mix is working pretty much similar to 100% Kanuma. It seems a bit more friable than 100% Kanuma.

Here’s my contest entry today.... still limping along on a couple cylinders. It’s backbudding ever so slowly. However all my newly potted azaleas are pushing growth late his year, so I figure all is a-ok at this point and that this little survivor will burst forth with incredible growth in the next months!

Happy Memorial Day!
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Rabbit eaten contest entry update. Kinda looks like a Junkyard Dog to me at this point.

The good news is: the tree is ever so slowly starting to gather energy and leaf out.
Front…ish

Back


AND I have a couple new places to store my potted azaleas during the winter. More on this later
Cold frame

Colder frame

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Kikisui today. Up potted to Tokoname pot, started working on nebari. This sucker has really hard wood..

Slow boat to bonsai. Chug, chug, chug!

 

[Pitoon]

Kikisui today. Up potted to Tokoname pot, started working on nebari. This sucker has really hard wood..

Slow boat to bonsai. Chug, chug, chug!
View attachment 438424


View attachment 438423

Looking good!

 

[woodkraftbonsai]

Kikisui today. Up potted to Tokoname pot, started working on nebari. This sucker has really hard wood..

Slow boat to bonsai. Chug, chug, chug!
View attachment 438424


View attachment 438423

What's going on with that parafilm there? Lookin good!

-Andrew

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good question Andrew!

. Old DSD Trick. I thought I heard a slight “snick” …yes that dreaded snick azalea folks use as a danger sign. … when wiring and thought there was some potential instability in the apex… so triple wrap in parafilm up and down and up!

It’s staying until at least next spring and maybe ‘23 fall+ or it bursts!

The sad thing with azaleas making a slight crack is they can still grow robustly…and appear stable, but may never join all the way again. So once the wire or wrap goes off, down the branch goes down. The idea is to grow out the remaining side so that it can handle the stress on its own.

Healing seems to work better with paraffin then anything else. No cut paste as that sends to fill inside the wound and won’t heal properly. Like my chest surgeon once said, “I use no bone growth factor junk in my work, just clean bone to bone contact!”

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I let this Kikusui Satsuki bloom a little this year.



Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Pitoon]

I let this Kikusui Satsuki bloom a little this year.

View attachment 442231

Cheers
DSD sends

Those are really nice flowers.

 

[Carol 83]

I let this Kikusui Satsuki bloom a little this year.

View attachment 442231

Cheers
DSD sends

I noticed while watering tonight than mine has another bloom, I thought it was all done. Nice.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

The little Kikisui has been pushing out a lot of growth since flowering. It’s time to give this slow grower a solid trim back. Goodbye flowers!



Lots of basal growth, as usual.

Please note the base collar. This is a new technique I’m experimenting with due to the frequent erosion of the media around the nebari last year. The erosion degrades the health of the azalea. Moss doesn’t grow well when this happens, the rhizosphere and roots aren’t getting that important protection summer and winter especially. Finally it slows the development of the nebari. Just made it up one day. @Orion_metalhead - what do you think?

Growth has been pushed back and thinned out and now the base collar has to be cut down to slope the media level a bit.

.

As one can see, the area is very moist. Roots have grown into the collar zone, while their is plentiful young growth on the lower trunk, This new growth will be left as sacrifice ‘branches’ to speed up the growth of the trunk. Leaving these and the collar likely might detract from the contest, but the health of the tree takes precedence. Anyways tree, like all my others is on a 10 year program.

It’s time to cut down the collar’s height.



Collar cut down, pinned in place with “bent top wire stakes” . Next step is another new thing I’m testing out today. Soaking kanuma and mountain moss in water to wet patch and level the remainder of the media. Likely done by masters for years?


Surface roughed up very slightly, then patched. Next step add moss. I use a 80/20 mix of dried Yamagoke and Sphagnum btw. The moss needs to be soaked (overnight is best) before applying. Way gooey. I got this hint from @Shimnai who got this idea from Rick Garcia. (The preorders of Rick’s Azalea book should ship tomorrow btw)



Moss applied. I know it’s up to the lip. But with care the moss will grow and fill in. Then water will flow through and as it backs up in the pot the moss will act as a bit of a moisture barrier. Azaleas like to stay moist.



Final step. Imho an azalea cut back like this requires more shade. One week under the bench, next two-three partial sun. Then normal routine.



Your trees will thank you after they get a good moss coverage.

Here’s an example showing a Taiyo Satsuki cultivar. Showing moss all filled in.



Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

This little guy seems to like its home now! Time for another partial cut back.

Frontside?


Backside?


cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

October 23 - End of season before prepping for winter storage. Tree went a bit sideways this year after a couple pruning passes. Still wants to push very strong shoots all over so very healthy.… a bit of ramification starting to build.





Showing lower branch to both help heal wound and thicken trunk.



cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nebari Progress….

About two years ago we were testing a way to accelerate the growth of azalea nebari. We used the contest test as an example, along with quite a few others not shown. Today will see how this experiment went.

This experiment was inspired by a comment Roberta Walters, a Gondo instructor, at a Puget Sound Bonsai Association meeting (see YouTube 4.2001) In it she responded to a question about how to create a good nebari. Roberta’s response was to bury the nebari deep to create fat roots.
Coincidently Michael Hagedorn discusses this very topic using Maples on his blog this week.)

This is contrary to what a lot of azalea people do with a new tree, instead bringing whatever nebari is there up to the surface and attempt to grow the nebari out from there.

So we decided to try our Roberta’s advice… on steroids.

About three years ago we began installing ‘base collars’ (our name) atop the nebari section of a number of azaleas. My better half didn’t like the aesthetic, but what the hey, that’s science!

Hers’s what this tree looked like the first year the collar was installed. Both the collar was installed, biochar was added to the media. and a thick layer of mountain moss was maintained. Specific shallow rooted succulents were encouraged to grow in the moss to help boost activity in the rhizosphere. ( the collar was a cut down yogurt container - also used cut down cottage cheese container tops for larger trees).



The collar was removed in 2023 after two years.

Image today almost a year later.



Moss removed



Tree out of the pot




After surface cleaning. A well formed conical nebari with fine roots over the top is present. Looks great! It seems the base collars did the job well, fostering close to the trunk growth of the nebari. Is this the only way to achieve these results? Not sure. But I do now the untreated nebari on our trees tend to be much flatter. So an idea for other azalea folk to try out.




Following up. Repotting in the same container… (was raining throughout).
Note small guage tie wires crossed, media added, tree tied down and thickly mossed with mountain moss tucked into the nebari and top of the media.




Bird screen installed and tree sprayed, then soaked 20 minutes, then sprayed again.



Back on a bench in afternoon shade with some other buddies to play.



cheers
DSD sends

 

[Pitoon]

Nebari Progress….

About two years ago we were testing a way to accelerate the growth of azalea nebari. We used the contest test as an example, along with quite a few others not shown. Today will see how this experiment went.

This experiment was inspired by a comment Roberta Walters, a Gondo instructor, at a Puget Sound Bonsai Association meeting (see YouTube 4.2001) In it she responded to a question about how to create a good nebari. Roberta’s response was to bury the nebari deep to create fat roots.
Coincidently Michael Hagedorn discusses this very topic using Maples on his blog this week.)

This is contrary to what a lot of azalea people do with a new tree, instead bringing whatever nebari is there up to the surface and attempt to grow the nebari out from there.

So we decided to try our Roberta’s advice… on steroids.

About three years ago we began installing ‘base collars’ (our name) atop the nebari section of a number of azaleas. My better half didn’t like the aesthetic, but what the hey, that’s science!

Hers’s what this tree looked like the first year the collar was installed. Both the collar was installed, biochar was added to the media. and a thick layer of mountain moss was maintained. Specific shallow rooted succulents were encouraged to grow in the moss to help boost activity in the rhizosphere. ( the collar was a cut down yogurt container - also used cut down cottage cheese container tops for larger trees).

View attachment 536826

The collar was removed in 2023 after two years.

Image today almost a year later.

View attachment 536827

Moss removed

View attachment 536828

Tree out of the pot

View attachment 536829


After surface cleaning. A well formed conical nebari with fine roots over the top is present. Looks great! It seems the base collars did the job well, fostering close to the trunk growth of the nebari. Is this the only way to achieve these results? Not sure. But I do now the untreated nebari on our trees tend to be much flatter. So an idea for other azalea folk to try out.

View attachment 536830


Following up. Repotting in the same container… (was raining throughout).
Note small guage tie wires crossed, media added, tree tied down and thickly mossed with mountain moss tucked into the nebari and top of the media.


View attachment 536839 View attachment 536831 View attachment 536832

Bird screen installed and tree sprayed, then soaked 20 minutes, then sprayed again.

View attachment 536833

Back on a bench in afternoon shade with some other buddies to play.

View attachment 536845

cheers
DSD sends

Good job on getting that spread going.