Some new Satsukis

[baron]

I recently won a few auctions and I'm fairly proud to say I added another four azaleas to my collection. Was told they were all Japan imports from a few years ago.
The Aoi No Hikari is around 60 years old, the Benizuru would be around 45 years. The Chinzan and Sechu no Matsu are around 25 years old.

Does anyone have any tips in getting the Aoi No Hikari more vigorous again so I can prune back next year in order for it to bud back into the old wood.
Or just remove the flower buds now and feed heavy come spring?

Chinzan


Sechu no Matsu (root over rock)


Benizuru


Aoi No Hikari

 

[Bavarian Raven]

The third one pictured is my fav by far.

 

[coachspinks]

Nice trees! What auctions?

 

[just.wing.it]

Awesome dude!
I love me some zaleas!

 

[discusmike]

Nice

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Does anyone have any tips in getting the Aoi No Hikari more vigorous again so I can prune back next year in order for it to bud back into the old wood.
Or just remove the flower buds now and feed heavy come spring?

Aoi No Hikari
View attachment 217174

This is actually the subject of my next blog post. Without having the tree in front of me, here is where I would start:

1. Does the soil drain freely? Azaleas are slow-moving, not particularly thirsty trees, but do need well-drained soil and steady moisture. If it’s not draining well, I’d plan a repot in the spring and start there.
2. You can knock the flower buds off with your thumbnail, and I probably would do that, but most of the energy is already invested at this point.
3. Use a toothbrush and scrub the trunk and branches out to the first bifurcation gently with water. Take some photos of the trunk on all sides and see if you can find dead spots in the trunk. It will be obvious when the trunk is scrubbed clean and wet. Trace those dead spots to see if you are losing parts of the tree, or if the overall vigor is related to soil condition, or just getting old.
4. I would continue feeding this through the winter with some fish emulsion and keep it above freezing. You won’t get more growth, but it can help strengthen the tree for spring.
5. If you can get it to start growing strongly in the spring, I would prune it back hard, really hard, back to the secondary branches in about May, scrub the trunk and branches again with a toothbrush, keep feeding, and then keep everything that grows.

Look on YouTube for Peter Warren’s videos on satsuki. A lot of this information came from him when I was fortunate enough to work with him a few years ago, and he has since released most of it in videos. It works.

 

[baron]

The third one pictured is my fav by far.

It's a very nice tree, but I mainly chose this one for the variety and it's flowers http://satsukimania.com/en/varieties/422-benizuru

Nice trees! What auctions?

Was a Belgian online auction of a bonsai nursery getting rid of about half their inventory to make room for just as many trees coming in next month apparently.
https://www.moyersoen-auctions.com/ords/f?p=2008:11:8937314294645:::11,RP:P11_AUCTION_ID:15141

This is actually the subject of my next blog post. Without having the tree in front of me, here is where I would start:

1. Does the soil drain freely? Azaleas are slow-moving, not particularly thirsty trees, but do need well-drained soil and steady moisture. If it’s not draining well, I’d plan a repot in the spring and start there.
2. You can knock the flower buds off with your thumbnail, and I probably would do that, but most of the energy is already invested at this point.
3. Use a toothbrush and scrub the trunk and branches out to the first bifurcation gently with water. Take some photos of the trunk on all sides and see if you can find dead spots in the trunk. It will be obvious when the trunk is scrubbed clean and wet. Trace those dead spots to see if you are losing parts of the tree, or if the overall vigor is related to soil condition, or just getting old.
4. I would continue feeding this through the winter with some fish emulsion and keep it above freezing. You won’t get more growth, but it can help strengthen the tree for spring.
5. If you can get it to start growing strongly in the spring, I would prune it back hard, really hard, back to the secondary branches in about May, scrub the trunk and branches again with a toothbrush, keep feeding, and then keep everything that grows.

Look on YouTube for Peter Warren’s videos on satsuki. A lot of this information came from him when I was fortunate enough to work with him a few years ago, and he has since released most of it in videos. It works.

Awesome, I'll keep an eye out for it!

1) Yes I it does, but I'd like to repot them in spring anyway (or after flowering) so I can have a look at the roots.
2) That's what I thought. I might leave a few to see the flowers tho
3) Ok, I'll give it a go. Would you apply a winter wash too while I'm at it with the toothbrush? I'll take some pictures during and after.
4) I gave them all a dose of the autumn fertilizer I use. It's a low nitrogen (believe 3-6-2) local product. The nurseries I follow workshops doesn't believe in the 0-10-10 kinda ferts. So my plan was a few more doses of this low nitro one and come spring load them with organics and fish emulsion.
I don't have a greenhouse, but I can keep them covered and out of the wind so my plas was to mulch around the pots. Winters aren't to bad here.
5) Alight, will keep this updated on how it does. Would it back bud and form new growth or just extend the growth on the current green?

Will have a look at the google machine. Thanks for the info @Brian Van Fleet!

Last Q; not too sound stupid, but how would having the tree in front make a difference? You mean in determining it's vigor, age or health? or plan of action?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

3) Ok, I'll give it a go. Would you apply a winter wash too while I'm at it with the toothbrush? I'll take some pictures during and after.
Not sure what a winter wash is. If you’re taking a dormant spray, sure.

5) Alight, will keep this updated on how it does. Would it back bud and form new growth or just extend the growth on the current green?
If you prune it hard, it will absolutely bud back from old wood.

how would having the tree in front make a difference? You mean in determining it's vigor, age or health? or plan of action?
All of the above. Tough to look at one photo and diagnose the cause for a lack of vigor. Usually you can work through a progression: roots, followed by care/environment, pest/disease, then maybe some type of physical damage. Looking it over in person can aid in finding problems.

The soil appears to have some dark coloring on the kanuma, algae? is that a factor? You say it’s draining, so maybe not.

Pests hide on the undersides of leaves. They’re not really visible in the photo.

The trunk has a lot of old bits of bark, which you’d normally treasure in a pine, but bark isn’t really a trait we require in a good azalea. It may be covering a problem like a dead section of trunk.

Often Satsuki Azalea respond badly to a big pruning cut, and will die down to the ground below the cut. Then the apex dies, followed by more branches until the tree is gone. The photo shows a big cut over the first left branch, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on with it. Normally, the dieback starts localized at a main branch or two, then spreads. Yours doesn’t seem to be following that trend, fortunately.

Maybe was pruned hard just before it was listed, and you’re just seeing what’s left. If the cut ends are fresh, that could be the problem, and you can expect explosive growth.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Last Q; not too sound stupid, but how would having the tree in front make a difference? You mean in determining it's vigor, age or health? or plan of action?

This is a North American idiom. "without it in Front of Me" meaning he is without the ability to physically inspect the object being discussed. It means that while we can make plans, before actually beginning work, inspect and re-evaluate the tree, to make certain the plan is appropriate, or change plans if the health of the tree indicates a change would be more appropriate. Photos can be deceptive .

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

This is a North American idiom. "without it in Front of Me" meaning he is without the ability to physically inspect the object being discussed. It means that while we can make plans, before actually beginning work, inspect and re-evaluate the tree, to make certain the plan is appropriate, or change plans if the health of the tree indicates a change would be more appropriate. Photos can be deceptive .

Thanks Leo, it didn’t occur to me that this was his question! Thought we all spoke redneck round here.

 

[baron]

3) Ok, I'll give it a go. Would you apply a winter wash too while I'm at it with the toothbrush? I'll take some pictures during and after.
Not sure what a winter wash is. If you’re taking a dormant spray, sure.

Sorry, yes that's what I ment

5) Alight, will keep this updated on how it does. Would it back bud and form new growth or just extend the growth on the current green?
If you prune it hard, it will absolutely bud back from old wood.

Makes sense!

how would having the tree in front make a difference? You mean in determining it's vigor, age or health? or plan of action?
All of the above. Tough to look at one photo and diagnose the cause for a lack of vigor. Usually you can work through a progression: roots, followed by care/environment, pest/disease, then maybe some type of physical damage. Looking it over in person can aid in finding problems.

The soil appears to have some dark coloring on the kanuma, algae? is that a factor? You say it’s draining, so maybe not.

Pests hide on the undersides of leaves. They’re not really visible in the photo.

The trunk has a lot of old bits of bark, which you’d normally treasure in a pine, but bark isn’t really a trait we require in a good azalea. It may be covering a problem like a dead section of trunk.

Often Satsuki Azalea respond badly to a big pruning cut, and will die down to the ground below the cut. Then the apex dies, followed by more branches until the tree is gone. The photo shows a big cut over the first left branch, but it’s hard to tell what’s going on with it. Normally, the dieback starts localized at a main branch or two, then spreads. Yours doesn’t seem to be following that trend, fortunately.

Maybe was pruned hard just before it was listed, and you’re just seeing what’s left. If the cut ends are fresh, that could be the problem, and you can expect explosive growth.

Of course you can't make a diagnose based on the single image I gave, I know. Was just wondering what you would be looking for in case the tree was in front of you. So thanks for clearing that up

I know it's not the real deal, but does this help maybe?

I'm going on a limb and guess the algae have something to do with the water they use at the nursery it came from seen as all of them have it.. They have a lot of ponds and koi, maybe they reuse the water or something. Hence why I intended to inspect the roots. I checked the leaves but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

Should I intend to remove the bark then while using the toothbrush?

As far as I can tell the big cut on the left isn't that fresh. The trunk does seem to have a lot of the sticky semi liquid cut paste that doesn't get hard on it.
There is some new growth as you can see so I'm hopeful.

 

[baron]

This is a North American idiom. "without it in Front of Me" meaning he is without the ability to physically inspect the object being discussed. It means that while we can make plans, before actually beginning work, inspect and re-evaluate the tree, to make certain the plan is appropriate, or change plans if the health of the tree indicates a change would be more appropriate. Photos can be deceptive .

I assumed as much, was just wondering what he would be doing to it (touch it, smell it, taste it,... i dunno ) or what signs he'd be looking for

 

[queenofsheba52]

Those are some really pretty trees! Glad you could take advantage of the auction.

 

[j evans]

Nice find, hope you have loads of fun as I really like all of them. Congrats!

 

[Potawatomi13]

Nice. Imagine much $$$$ changed hands. Not so crazy for zigzag trunk though. Consider air layering just above elbow 3 and making 2 trees?

 

[leatherback]

oh wow. Such a shame I did not know about this auction. You got some nice trees there!

 

[Ruben Bouwmeester]

Nice tree's. First thing i was thinking: http://cargocollective.com/jabokebonsai/Boeken she is really good in satsuki.

 

[baron]

Nice tree's. First thing i was thinking: http://cargocollective.com/jabokebonsai/Boeken she is really good in satsuki.

I actually have that book, but couldn't find anything specific about old trees and their vigor. I'll re-read it again tonight, maybe I missed something :/

 

[discusmike]

Have you pulled the tree out of pot to inspect the roots?? It might just need rootwork to invigorate it again.

 

[baron]

Have you pulled the tree out of pot to inspect the roots?? It might just need rootwork to invigorate it again.

No, I haven't. Was waiting till after the flowers to do that.