Hi no maru & Suzu no homare

[baron]

I did a repot last year and some styling on the Suzu-no-homare last june after flowering.
Maybe I should've cut back more...







2 weeks later

 

[penumbra]

Absolutely stunning. Thanks for sharing.

 

[baron]

The hi-no-maru had quite lovely flowers too, but I didn't get to repotting/styling.
Will do this year. Still in doubt wether I should do it in a few weeks or after flowering again.
It might still freeze during nights now, but can also be too hot during the summer...



Current state of both trees.

 

[baron]

Did some work on the Hinomaru past weekend, mostly cutting back branches as per @Adair 's suggestion in one of my other threads.
Guess there's still too much green and I should have cut back a lot more?






Also it was quite a bad storm outside so had to work indoors and got some help from my furry friends

 

[Harunobu]

I know it is too late to repot now, but wouldn't it make sense to make use of their vigor now and repot after flowering?

Or would it be better for the tree to style them first after flowering, let the recover and then repot next spring?

Also because of the bud removal there is a lot of new growth already. Should I trim it back already to free up the flowers?
Or would that be stupid if I do repot in about two months?

I do believe it is better to repot in spring before they flower so they recover better without the summer heat.

Taking about the pictures as they were last year, yeah you missed the 'repot before the roots start growing' timing with quite a few weeks. Note that the roots start growing before you see the first new growth. I would have repotted after flowering/hardening of the new growth. You prune back the new growth to two shoots with two leaves. The right time to repot is probably right now, combined with protection from frost if that somehow was still to come. My cuttings are putting out new growth so roots would be growing right now.

I don't know why you say 'because of bud removal, there is a lot of new growth already'. And why trim back the new growth just as it emerged? Your plants waited all winter to be able to grow and photosynthesize again. And you immediately want to take the investment they made away from them?

Personally, I'd rather see virgin new growth obscuring the flowers as bit, indicating that it is healthy, over flowers 'naked' on a background of old winter foliage. But I know many (Japanese) don't agree and display a tree without any new growth. Also note that a tree isn't displayed every year so this 'transgression' isn't incurred annually.

Note that repotting after flowering is a Japanese thing done during the very wet Japanese summer. If you have dry hot summers (I am thinking California rather than Belgium), treat carefully.

 

[baron]

I did repot it now and reduced quite a lot of the root mass.

 

[baron]

I removed most of the flower buds (more on the hinomaru), but left a couple to enjoy. The flowers aren't as great as last year .

 

[Harunobu]

[edit]
Nevermind, I saw this is an old thread and I just typed exactly the same thing as I typed several months ago. My memory is going....

There must be special tricks in getting the flowers to be as pristine as possible. I have all my satsuki just sitting in the garden. And every year, I get some flowers that just don't look perfect because of the weather. Either rain and wind putting tons of dirt and mud on the flowers. Or them having a bad shape. Or not lasting very long because of humidity and high temperatures. Now it has been really dry and now when the first flowers are emerging, it is starting to rain.

 

[JudyB]

[edit]
Nevermind, I saw this is an old thread and I just typed exactly the same thing as I typed several months ago. My memory is going....

There must be special tricks in getting the flowers to be as pristine as possible. I have all my satsuki just sitting in the garden. And every year, I get some flowers that just don't look perfect because of the weather. Either rain and wind putting tons of dirt and mud on the flowers. Or them having a bad shape. Or not lasting very long because of humidity and high temperatures. Now it has been really dry and now when the first flowers are emerging, it is starting to rain.

Do you think that people who have show level trees and perfect flowers have a protection, like a greenhouse or even open shed to keep the buds dry and out of the wind? Given that I'm in a cold climate, mine basically start to bloom inside a building, and I don't have problems with blossom rot or wind damage.

 

[Harunobu]

For sure, they must have. I don't know what the Japanese that show satsuki at festivals and shows do exactly, but I am sure they have a refined protocol to make sure the flowers come out best. Pretty sure that once a flower opens, you don't want water on the flowers, at all. Especially the large flower azaleas, when rain comes in halfway the flowering season, it knocks off all the spent flowers, and the petals let go, but stick to other parts of the plant and it becomes even more of a mess. Of course, hail is worst.

But just having them all open up roughly at the same time and have them all properly shaped; it already doesn't just happen on it's own. Last two years I haven't been able to take nice flower pictures because of the weather. Having an azalea without any brown spots, or holes in them, or misformed petals, that doesn't just happen by itself. For sure they spray fungicide as well. And of course an azalea has so many flowers, you can just remove the bad ones and still have nice ones left. Especially for white or very light pink variety, a tiny brown spot just ruins a perfect display.

Keeping it inside in a greenhouse and spraying fungicide must go a long way. But I don't know the details.

 

[quietobserver]

For sure, they must have. I don't know what the Japanese that show satsuki at festivals and shows do exactly, but I am sure they have a refined protocol to make sure the flowers come out best. Pretty sure that once a flower opens, you don't want water on the flowers, at all. Especially the large flower azaleas, when rain comes in halfway the flowering season, it knocks off all the spent flowers, and the petals let go, but stick to other parts of the plant and it becomes even more of a mess. Of course, hail is worst.

But just having them all open up roughly at the same time and have them all properly shaped; it already doesn't just happen on it's own. Last two years I haven't been able to take nice flower pictures because of the weather. Having an azalea without any brown spots, or holes in them, or misformed petals, that doesn't just happen by itself. For sure they spray fungicide as well. And of course an azalea has so many flowers, you can just remove the bad ones and still have nice ones left. Especially for white or very light pink variety, a tiny brown spot just ruins a perfect display.

Keeping it inside in a greenhouse and spraying fungicide must go a long way. But I don't know the details.

I have two Hi No Maru Satsuki. The flowers seem to vary based on overwintering conditions. They’re both potted in pure Kanuma, get the same amount of sun/shade year to year, so the winter/spring conditions are the only variable I can figure out that influences the blooms. Mine lose the red center / throat many springs, which sucks considering I wait all year for that little “rising sun” bloom. I’ve owned them both 6-8 years and I’d say 2/3 years I get a white flower with a pinkish center and the 1/3 years I get a nice red center with a white flower. Hopefully someone can chime in with some insight.

 

[Harunobu]

I've heard before that sports, especially sokojiro, simply don't appear during some years. And then of course weather could be the thing that decides if they do or don't appear. I don't know anyone fully understand the molecular biology reasons for sokojiro, and why they appear some years but not others. It must be complicated, because some cultivar have sokojiro occasionally in some flowers. And there are cultivar that have sokojiro in all flowers consistently.

Since you have two plants that are genetically identical and experience the same conditions, do they both always do the same thing? If they don't, then it must be a very stochastic/noisy biochemical process.

 

[quietobserver]

I've heard before that sports, especially sokojiro, simply don't appear during some years. And then of course weather could be the thing that decides if they do or don't appear. I don't know anyone fully understand the molecular biology reasons for sokojiro, and why they appear some years but not others. It must be complicated, because some cultivar have sokojiro occasionally in some flowers. And there are cultivar that have sokojiro in all flowers consistently.

Since you have two plants that are genetically identical and experience the same conditions, do they both always do the same thing? If they don't, then it must be a very stochastic/noisy biochemical process.

Kind of inconclusive results. They seem to both trend the same way but honestly work keeps me from tracking and keeping up with my collection in the manner I’d like. Even in “good” years I get some great blooms and a lot of the low quality blooms. They were both imported to the US at the same time from the same nursery in Japan. Not sure if they originate from the same mother plant or not, but I would tend to assume so. I’m not sure how long this sport has been around. The pictures of Barons are as mature as any I’ve seen.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Secrets to nice flowers:

Get your azaleas up off the ground. While the azalea are in bud, put the pots on a bench several feet off the ground. This will get the blooms away from splashing dirt, ground dwelling insects and animals too.

Use a slug bait or molluscicide to eliminate slugs and snails. Keep on top of insect issues especially in spring before blooming.

And truly one of the secrets is to remove damaged flowers before taking the "show photo". Grooming and arranging your tree before the photo session really counts. Grooming a tree for presentation is not just for when you take your tree to a local show, do it at home, for your own enjoyment and your own photographic record.

 

[baron]

Secrets to nice flowers:
Get your azaleas up off the ground. While the azalea are in bud, put the pots on a bench several feet off the ground. This will get the blooms away from splashing dirt, ground dwelling insects and animals too.
Use a slug bait or molluscicide to eliminate slugs and snails. Keep on top of insect issues especially in spring before blooming.

The main issue I noticed this spring was a lot of aphids.
I did a dormant spray during winter and sprayed again a few weeks ago because I mainly have maples and satsuki.
Aphids seem to really love those fresh young maple leaves...

I can imagine how the sun/temperature can affect the flower color, but wonder if the flower shape could also be affected by this.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Culture is everything.

While flower shape and color is genetically and epigenetically governed, horticulture, or growing conditions have a very strong influence.

If you really want to know what an azalea is capable of, you really need to grow it for multiple years, and have reasonably good horticulture. You local climate may actually limit the range of quality you will see, but in general, the better your horticulture, the "better" the flowers.

For example, cool evenings, warm daytime temperatures, plus sufficient nitrogen, especially as ammoniacal nitrogen (ammonia ion either in-organic or from amino acids) will enable the development of more intense anthocyanins, the purple pigment in azalea. More pigment - better color. Too warm, especially at night, insufficient sun, not enough fertilizer, all can contribute to weak purple colors.

Good humidity, 60% to 80%, enables flowers to expand more fully, to open well and develop full size.

The list goes on, key is good horticulture plays a significant role in developing a good floral display.

 

[quietobserver]

Poor photo. First of the flowers. Sat in the rain all night but still looks line a nice season. Plastic trainer sitting in the pot it’s going into soon.

 

[JudyB]

very pretty flowers.

 

[baron]

Very very pretty!

 

[just.wing.it]

Wow, both are very nice!