Over wintering azaleas

[steve27]

I put my azales in my unheated garage about two weeks ago there are windows in my garage
and it wont get down to much below 38-40 .
I notice this morning. that alot of the lower leaves are yellowing . I have two and both are doing the same.
sorry I dont have pictues yet.
Can someone tell me whats going on.
thanks for your help!!

 

[Giga]

Azaleas should not be stored in a closed environment like a garage. Also some species are semi-evergreen and lose around 50-65% of their leaves. I would put them back outside and then mulch around the pot/container. This also depends on the species as some are very hardy some not. Maybe some info and pics?

 

[Stan Kengai]

It's normal. Just losing older leaves. If the leaves at the branch tips start going, then you have a problem.

 

[skrit]

The 9 or so we have planted all around the foundation are about 60% yellow currently. These are shrubs in the ground rather than bonsai, but I think it's pretty typical this time of year for the semi-evergreen varieties.

 

[steve27]

Azaleas should not be stored in a closed environment like a garage. Also some species are semi-evergreen and lose around 50-65% of their leaves. I would put them back outside and then mulch around the pot/container. This also depends on the species as some are very hardy some not. Maybe some info and pics?

thanks for thr reply. why is it a bad thing to keep them inside a garage? I do have a fan in the room to circulating the air

 

[Poink88]

I have a few azalea and I leave them out year round. Our winter is milder but we have several temp drops down to low 20's the past few years. The only azalea I provided some kind of protection from the low 20s are the newly collected ones.

Mine get yellow leaves when they get on the dry side.

Check the cold hardiness of your specific azalea and provide protection (i.e. bring it in) when it goes near the lower limit.

 

[Alain]

i had a huge azalea bush in my yard and its leaves turned yellow/brown to even a nice blood-red in winter.
Now I have a Satsuki azalea bonsai and its leaves also turned brownish.

Sound normal to me.

 

[Dav4]

You can overwinter a cold hardy azalea in an outbuilding like an unattached garage as long as the azalea is dormant and kept cool. With the moderate temperatures lately, I'd be leaving doors and windows open, if possible, to maintain good ventilation and keep the area as cool as possible. Also, if it's a cold hardy azalea, don't be afraid to let it be exposed to sub freezing temps. I have satsuki azaleas that routinely stay on the bench with temps in the low 20's F on some nights...prolonged temps in the teens or lower, along with cold winter winds, will require more protection.

 

[Giga]

You can overwinter a cold hardy azalea in an outbuilding like an unattached garage as long as the azalea is dormant and kept cool. With the moderate temperatures lately, I'd be leaving doors and windows open, if possible, to maintain good ventilation and keep the area as cool as possible. Also, if it's a cold hardy azalea, don't be afraid to let it be exposed to sub freezing temps. I have satsuki azaleas that routinely stay on the bench with temps in the low 20's F on some nights...prolonged temps in the teens or lower, along with cold winter winds, will require more protection.

I agree with this, BUT just be aware that in a garage you can get fungus and/or mold so just keep an eye on any bonsai in a garage that doesn't get regular ventilation

 

[marc206]

YOu should be fine all of my azaleas are left untouched over the winter. I am in the pnw and they pop right back in the spring.

 

[fredman]

Azaleas are tough and resilient. They do need natural ventilation. I used to leave mine in a cold frame over winter but they don't like that. All sorts of problems occur. Keep them outside. Its normal for some Azaleas to brown and shed leaves.

 

[Dav4]

YOu should be fine all of my azaleas are left untouched over the winter. I am in the pnw and they pop right back in the spring.

Azaleas are tough and resilient. They do need natural ventilation. I used to leave mine in a cold frame over winter but they don't like that. All sorts of problems occur. Keep them outside. Its normal for some Azaleas to brown and shed leaves.

It really depends on the variety. Satsuki azaleas, which are very frequently used as bonsai material) are marginally cold hardy in the NE USA, where it can fall below 0 F (and much colder depending on the exact location). I practiced bonsai up there for over a decade, all the while lusting after a good satsuki azalea bonsai, but I never got one knowing they required more winter protection then I could give...and I overwintered trees in an unattached garage, too.. I normally would agree with keeping the tree outside, but in this case, I might be a bit more cautious.

 

[Paradox]

I have a chinzan and a Kurume azalea that were both kept inside my dark garage all last winter. Both survived and grew fine this year. I have added 2 more chinzan and a satsuke and they are all in my garage.

Steve, my Karume has turned all yellow (its a white variety and they turn yellow in the fall).
One of my chinzan's has some red and the others are mostly still green.

I have been trying to open my garage door for a couple hours in the evening and most of the day on Saturday and Sunday if I can. I did this last year when it warmer in the garage.

I wouldnt worry too much about them yet. Just make sure they stay moist and you should be ok. Hopefully we start getting some cooler days more consistently like it is supposed to be this time of year.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I winter my Satsuki in an unheated well house - total darkness, temps hover just above freezing. I found it was critical to install a FAN, in the well house. It runs 24 hrs a day, blowing toward the wall. Keeps air moving and fresh. Without the fan all sorts of rot problems would occur. Once I added the fan this space became an ideal winter storage area. As long as it is below 40 F the need for light is minimal, most trees, even evergreens will do fine in the dark if it is cold enough. My zone 5b winters are too cold for azaleas, so the well house became necessary.

 

[robert gardner]

I read all the messages on care of Azaleas they were very informative. I just got a Cherry Drop Azalea it is still in its original nursery pot. I will need to remove the soil around the Azalea with a root hook.
I now that the roots are fragile so any ideas how to remove the nursery soil without doing any root harm. I live in the Seattle area and I am putting it into a medium size oval to encourage more plant growth.
Any good helpful ideas on this. The Cherry Drops are an amazing color when in bloom.
THANKS for reading and if you want to respond please do so.
ROBERT Gardner

 

[River's Edge]

I read all the messages on care of Azaleas they were very informative. I just got a Cherry Drop Azalea it is still in its original nursery pot. I will need to remove the soil around the Azalea with a root hook.
I now that the roots are fragile so any ideas how to remove the nursery soil without doing any root harm. I live in the Seattle area and I am putting it into a medium size oval to encourage more plant growth.
Any good helpful ideas on this. The Cherry Drops are an amazing color when in bloom.
THANKS for reading and if you want to respond please do so.
ROBERT Gardner

A couple of suggestions.
A gentle stream of water or dipping in a pail of water can slowly help remove compacted soil with finer roots.
Using a wooden chopstick gently will do less damage than a root hook.
Putting the chopstick in a pencil sharpener first will give you a better point to work with. Leave it a bit blunt on the end, less damage that way.
The same chopstick can be useful for helping to distribute the new soil mix between the roots!
I like to use a smaller particle mix for finer rooted plants. Typically the size that stays between the second and third smallest screen in the three screen sieve set.
Kanuma is the best for Azalea if you have access to the product!
Have fun, try to retain the center or heart of the root ball without disturbing too much. Azalea are sensitive that way!

 

[Harunobu]

When I first started collecting azaleas I had many of them in pots. And during the worst frost, I would move them inside an unheated shed.

Sometimes, some of them would simply not emerge from their winter dormancy. Just nothing would happen in spring and then when summer came it became obvious the plant was dead. I have not had this problem at all anymore now that I put plants in my garden in full soil. Luckily, we have had only very mild winters since. Except for the very strong frost spell of early march 2018. I don't remember seeing any signs that plants had struggled. But I think we used a cloth map to offer at least some protection, if not only from the wind. But I think it was the year before that my Haru no Sono was completely defoliated as the plant started pushing new growth very early because of warm weather in march, and then a late frost spell came somewhere in April and destroyed all the new growth. So then it had neither the old leaves nor the new leaves. But it started pushing a second round of new leaves anyway and survived fine.

I haven't observed anything like bark splitting off because of frost, which is something that is described for some satsuki cultivar and apparently very fatal.

Personally, I would be worried about having a plant in a tiny pot with tons of frost and everything freezing completely solid. Quite a lot of frost is needed for the entire top soil of garden to become solid. But apparently, this is not a problem in bonsai? I wouldn't dare to do this is a several hundred euro Japanese import bonsai for which I have no idea how hardy it is in Europe.

That said, if it does get cold enough, satsuki azaleas largely based on R.tamurae will be the first to die. Asahi no Hikari, Issho no Haru, Haru no Sono, Aikoku, Gyoten, etc. Plants like Kozan, Nikko, Chinzan, Kinsai, Osakazuki etc should be much hardier. R.indicum is significantly more hardy than R.tamurae. And it should rival kurume azaleas. Japan is elongated North to South and as a result they experience very different temperatures. And this is reflected in both species and cultivar. I don't know the fine details, but in Japan it is known which cultivar really dislike being in the heat of Kyushu all summer. And which ones really cannot handle the cold of the mountainous areas of Kansai or Hokkaido.