Rescue Azalia This Time Of Year?

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

I spotted an azalia that is in the path of a major road widening project. The company doing the work is chipping most everything and using it as mulch on exposed ground and any surplus is being sold to some company that has wood fired boilers for fuel.

The plant has a trunk about 4" across and roughly 6" from the ground starts branching off into smaller branches. I grabed one of the larger branches and tried to wiggle the trunk to see how firmly it was in the ground. It is like a telephone pole, it ain't movin. Because of the drought the ground around here is currently like concrete.

At any rate, I see azalias around here putting out new growth right now and this plant is doing that also. I guess the end of summer flush has started.

Is there a possiblity that an azalia dug this time of year might make it?

I'll have to track down a supervisor on the project in order to get permission to remove the plant before they chip it up.

 

[Zaelthus]

I dug up an old Azalea that size last year, but I took most of the root ball. It took three people to lift the plant so it was quite large...This summer it is thriving and doing much better than when it was at its old home. I think if you can get enough roots and plant in the right soil/spot and keep it adequately watered you should be ok. With mine it went straight back into the ground at home without root/foliage reduction, if you're putting it into a training pot and have to do a lot of hard pruning that may lessen your odds (or just increase recovery time). Not sure how hot it gets where you are but that could be a factor as well.

 

[Bill S]

Slip the backhoe operator a twenty to pull it out, and load it in your truck. Then plant it in your yard to recover

 

[Dav4]

Slip the backhoe operator a twenty to pull it out, and load it in your truck. Then plant it in your yard to recover

...and try to water it for several days before you dig. If you get enough root, it has a descent chance.

 

[Poink88]

I collected one last month as shown here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?8324-Urban-Yamadori-Azalea

It has a lot of buds now but due to the (TX) heat, it is very slow to grow (still just buds...I counted about 50). It might actually be better to collect now than last month since the temperature should be lower and more conducive for growth. Just get it...you've got nothing to lose but some time.