Gumpo Pink at the house!

[John in Toledo]

This is what happens when you have to wait while the pharmacy fill your psych meds.

Found two like this at Meijer grocery store garden center. $1.50 each. I fell in love with the tiny leaves. Main trunk is pencil thin (not as small as a regular pencil. Clo


ser to a "Husky"),and they are a real tangly mess of twiggy branches. But each has some trunk movement right out of the gate. Found a historical thread here and will dig around for more.

High heat 'round these parts lately. I'll probably move them up to the next size grow pot to get some thickening and not do much else. Perhaps get one into the ground for a winter or three.

Better to thin out those tangly branches now when I set it up for growth spurt or in the fall, when we're getting ready for a nap?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Yep, do a thinning out. Nice find.

 

[GrimLore]

Better to thin out those tangly branches now when I set it up for growth spurt or in the fall, when we're getting ready for a nap?

Now, and trim unwanted whorls, you should have enough growing time left for it to develop buds for next year. Here I do any major chops by Mid-June but being we seem to be having a late but longer grow season I have chopped/trimmed a few as late as yesterday. The Gumpo I did 3 weeks ago is back budding and setting up for new buds already. I Hino I received late needed a LOT of repair/trimming and emergency repot. Finished it yesterday and it is showing it will do the same.

Grimmy

 

[John in Toledo]

The "whorls " are crazy! Like 5 or 6 new shoots from a single juncture. Is this like Boxwood in that we only want bifurcation, and not more from a growth point? Simplify to two shoots?

I'm excited about these. I post cleaned up pictures over the next few days.

 

[GrimLore]

I'm excited about these. I post cleaned up pictures over the next few days.

I normally take off all whorls that grow straight up or down unless I see a need to get them to hardening off and eventually filling in a horizontal blank spot after it back buds, etc...

Now if you want a tall plant we would be talking a different story over many years of developing. As is a rather small potted Azalea can be properly trained in a few short years to be covered in blooms without a lot of fuss, just proper cutting, properly timed - They are a fun plant once understood and the new bud and back budding is insane once understood

Grimmy

 

[John in Toledo]

Gumpo bones. What'dya think? Aggressive enough?

 

[shinmai]

I think you made a lucky find, and a great job cleaning them up. Good for you!
Just a suggestion....to echo what the Grimster said, little azaleas have a lot of appeal precisely because they are little. Especially if you have a couple of killer small pots, like some of Chuck Iker’s, they can have a very special minimalist/miniaturist kind of vibe. You actually have some really nice movement in the bones. Personally I think they’d be great for small shohin-size—if you approach it from that angle, the proportions of the trunks look great.
As for sticking them in the ground, at that size they’re a lot more vulnerable to a hard freeze than their nominal cold hardiness rating might imply.
And for what it’s worth, one dog piss and it’s curtains. Just saying.

 

[John in Toledo]

Thanks, @shinmai I do have one little pot that I really like. Maybe I can find a few more. Replant in fall for azalea?

 

[shinmai]

I don’t think you have to wait. Since they’re done blooming, and showing strong new growth, I’d think you could go ahead.
I am doing pretty well with some that I’ve reduced and repotted very recently. For what it’s worth, I lift them from the pot, and then use a chopstick and a garden hose to see if there’s any surface roots of consequence—and there usually aren’t. I use a serrated knife to slice through the cylindrical root mass, and have several times removed the lower three fourths with no ill effects. Large grain kanuma underneath for drainage, smaller around the sides and on the surface. I try to cut the edges to give me at least a half inch of soil all around the perimeter. So far, so good, with about twenty rhodendrons and azaleas.
This would also be a good time for preliminary wiring, since you’ve cleaned them up so nicely and will have a much easier go of it without all the small branches in the way.

 

[John in Toledo]

Two of three made it to pots today. The curviest is still in the nursery container while I figured out about azalea roots and planting. I'll work the curviest one sometime over the weekend.

 

[shinmai]

Looks like you’re off to a great start. There’s still enough time for the new growth to form flower buds for next year. Best of luck!