Trunk chop a Azalea?

[EricInSD]

Last year in Spring I bought an Azalea "Patio Tree". It's almost 4' tall with all the foliage on top. Will an Azalea grown like this survive a full trunk chop? If so, when is the best time of year to do it?


Thanks!

 

[Themilkyway]

I don’t think it’s worth it for that straight, skinny, and sub par nebari. Sorta a waste. It’s a nice tree as a patio tree imo. However, if you wanted to do something, maybe try air layering near the top for more of that interesting movement I see there

 

[shinmai]

I concur. It looks like a good place would be right above the support stake. Any chop near the base is going to give you few if any new shoots on the trunk—instead you’ll get a lot of clump-like basal shoots with a big ugly broomstick in its middle.

 

[EricInSD]

Thanks. I won't chop this particular tree. It was purchased for our anniversary so my wife would kill me. This weekend I'm going back to the nursery in LA where I got it and hoping they have more. The price was right at $50.

Airlayering sounds like a good option. I guess I didn't think of that because of the size of the canopy but that's a high quality problem!