Setting Azalea Flower Buds, and Pruning

[just.wing.it]

If I don't have any flower buds on my Gumpo Pink (satsuki hybrid) in the winter....will I need to wait a full year without pruning to see the flower buds for the following year???
In other words....I have a Gumpo Pink that I've been pruning the last two years, with no regard for flowers.
It currently does not appear to have any flower buds on it.
Do I need to allow unrestricted growth all next year, '18, in order to form flower buds for '19???
And at that point I could begin pruning after blooming, and get flowers every year?

 

[barrosinc]

I don't own gumpos... But you should recognize when the tree sets flower buds. If you price before that day you should have flowers. If you prune after that (basically pruning the flower buds off) you won't get any.

I have an azalea that looks satsuki kinsai and sets buds in spring so i can prune firing The year and just leave it as is during spring.

It's all about knowing your trees.

 

[0soyoung]

Generally, some time after the summer solstice, individual shoots will stop growing - usually because a flower bud just set. Flower buds are just metamorphosed vegetative buds. On azaleas/rhododendrons, flowering buds are bigger/fatter than vegetative buds and occur only at the tips of (obvious) stems.

Also, generally, once having become a flowering bud, it will always be a flowering bud.

Hence, don't prune shoots that stop extending after the summer solstice if you want flowers (verify the existence of a fat/larger tip/apical bud). Shoots that are continuing to extend do so because the tip bud is still a vegetative one - you can prune these with no loss of flowers.

This says nothing about what to do to get flower buds to set, just how to recognize they are being set (whether you want them or not). Removing just the leaves closest to the tip will usually prevents the apical bud from metamorphosing into a flower bud (a lot of work for those who fret about 'wasting energy' on flower buds), so these leaves play a key role in making flowers. Exactly what they do ...

 

[Mellow Mullet]

Generally, some time after the summer solstice, individual shoots will stop growing - usually because a flower bud just set. Flower buds are just metamorphosed vegetative buds. On azaleas/rhododendrons, flowering buds are bigger/fatter than vegetative buds and occur only at the tips of (obvious) stems.

Also, generally, once having become a flowering bud, it will always be a flowering bud.

Hence, don't prune shoots that stop extending after the summer solstice if you want flowers (verify the existence of a fat/larger tip/apical bud). Shoots that are continuing to extend do so because the tip bud is still a vegetative one - you can prune these with no loss of flowers.

This says nothing about what to do to get flower buds to set, just how to recognize they are being set (whether you want them or not). Removing just the leaves closest to the tip will usually prevents the apical bud from metamorphosing into a flower bud (a lot of work for those who fret about 'wasting energy' on flower buds), so these leaves play a key role in making flowers. Exactly what they do ...

Yeah what he said... Oso is Oso smart!

My Gumps are usually the last ones to really show buds for flowers, if I have time I will take some pictures today, working midnights again. Anyway, I prune usually until mid/ late July. I only then prune long extentions after that. Then in early spring when you can see the flower buds, I prune for shape so it looks nice when in flower. Hope it makes sense.

 

[just.wing.it]

Thanks guys!