Hack's azaleas

[Hack Yeah!]

I've got a few azaleas I'd like to start keeping track and figured I'd go ahead and get a thread started. First up, G G gerbing that I bought in 2018, hard cutback in March 2019 and blooming for first time now. Long way to building a canopy but I'm happy with the start.

 

[j evans]

Nice, I really like it.

 

[Bonsainoob88]

Any new pictures of the tree ?

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Any new pictures of the tree ?

Not much change since last pics, after it bloomed I cut a couple of unneeded branches and wired the remaining ones downward. It's very vigorous, maybe ready for another cutback next year

 

[barrosinc]

just keep cutting it back before spring and you should get ramification in no time.
(I would sacrifice flowers a couple of years, maybe leave one or two buds).

 

[Carol 83]

I would sacrifice flowers a couple of years

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Don't worry Carol, it needs a little girth on the primaries so I think I can easily plan on cut back after flowering

 

[Carol 83]

Don't worry Carol, it needs a little girth on the primaries so I think I can easily plan on cut back after flowering

Just sayin', what's the use of having an azalea, if you don't get to see it bloom.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Here's a landscape azalea, satsuki of some type I think. When I moved into my house 4 yrs ago it suffered drought related dieback. Soon after my friend who turned me on to bonsai suggested I cut them back and see what happens. They back budded ok and this one ended up in a flat for a couple of years. Originally collected May 2018

 

[Hack Yeah!]

After that first season, October 2018

 

[Hack Yeah!]

May of 2019

 

[Hack Yeah!]

May 2020, cut back the long leader

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Hard cutback and bareroot root repot today. Some long roots dictated the potting position but it's on its way.... Waldo street pottery

 

[Harunobu]

Whoa, great find for a garden plant. But you put it in such a small pot, it makes me dizzy aesthetically. Since it is so thin and no real risk for reverse taper, I wonder if you should have let it grown out for one more year before pruning hard. Let it grow out until it is a complete bushy pillar and you can't see the bark anymore. And then prune even harder than you did. Maybe you can try that next cycle. I see you cut out the entire apex and got rod of the empty part of the trunk. Looks like the good decision.

Looks like a 'Wakaebisu'.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Thank you for looking and the advice. I'm certainly interested in helping it progress and will be happy to place it back in a larger container next season.

 

[Harunobu]

I am not sure how small a pot you can go with on azalea. I just know they need larger ones than usual. And this seems small even aesthetically. But at least it is more deep than narrow. I am not exactly sure what your plans and what your expectations are for the plant to do next. And all those shoots seem very green and strong. So you seem to be doing a great job. I do think I noticed that the shoots you left on, you left on completely. Including their tips? Often, people would cut these shoots to encourage backbudding. But maybe you want more elongated branches first?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Very nice,
I do like the pot choice, and I do not feel it is too small for your tree. You will know if it is too small, you will find it will need watering more than once per day, that is a sure sign the pot is too small. If watering once per day, or once every other day is adequate, the pot size is just fine. I think some of Harunobu's impression comes from the angle of the camera to the tree. The area of the upper middle trunk that looks too thick, almost like reverse taper appears to be leaning toward the camera, so the optical illusion creates the image of reverse taper. Similar with pot size, the pot is further away from the camera than the middle of the tree, and so appears smaller than it really is. I think overall it is a good match of pot and tree. Nicely done.

If that is 'Wakaebisu', it is a nice and vigorous cultivar that should respond well to anything you do with it.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Wakaebisu, forgot to take before. Repot and cutback.

 

[Hack Yeah!]

Pink satsuki, hard cutback was repotted in 2019

 

[Hack Yeah!]

View attachment 293641

The tree from post #1 got pretty leggy over the past year. Blooming now, I'll cut it back in a few weeks. Fertilizer got most of the moss, tried saving it in another container.