Azalea hard prune?

emorrin · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:18 am Post subject: Azalea hard prune?

I bought a mallsai early last summer, glued rocks and all. I am almost positive that it is an azalea but not sure which cultivar. I am assuming it is a Satsuki since that is the most popular. Anyway, when I brought it home, it was on its last leg, so I re potted into better soil, nursed it back to life , let it do what it wanted to do and here I am today. It is thriving but really bare in the center due to lack of light.

It is already root bound so I am going to re pot it in a couple of days. My question is can azalea's be hard pruned back to old wood. I have a picture below. I want to cut back all branches about 2 to 3 inches. I may also loose some branches all together. I am wondering if it will bud back easily on old wood.

I am still a little leery about hard pruning. I have had great luck with Arboricola Scheffleras and am not worried about doing so on maples but I bought a Chamaecyparis Lawsonia 'Ellwoodii' at a super market during Christmas time and killed it by hard pruning. Out of my 23 bonsais and bonsais in training, this would have been my first loss since I started early last summer. I guess I am not doing too bad. I like to be on the cautious side however. When I cannot find the answers in any of my books, I usually turn to this site due to the good advise everyone has given me so far.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/BonsaiRomeo124.jpg

TB420 · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 6:27 am Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

Ed, yes you can hard prune azaleas, they are a shrub and back bud like crazy when pruned hard.

Are you sure that is an azalea? I am pretty sure that it's not. It looks like a fig. The bark looks like a F. nerifolia and the leaves look like a F. microcarpa or a Chinese banyan tree. Does it bleed white sap when a leaf or small branch is removed?

PS, that cluster of bar branches up top needs to be dealt with. If left for very long it will cause a big lump and an inverse taper.

Tom

freezingcold · Orange Belt Joined: 01 Jun 2007 Posts: 289

look nothing like any or my azalea's Very Happy

emorrin · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 12:55 pm Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

Tom,

I am sure it is not a fig, no white sap bleeding when I cut. I have several figs and even pinching out the buds on them causes profuse bleeding of sap.

I thought for sure this was an azalea but now am having a couple of doubts based on the posts here. Just like most mallsais, when you get them there is no info on the species. The leaves look closest to an azalea to me so I am assuming that this is what it was. I have been wrong before though. I thought I had a cherry brush tree but it turned out to be a serissa.

Any one have a clue to what this could be if it is not an azalea?

I am posting an older picture of it here to see if this helps:

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/azaleaAug2007.jpg

Surrey John · Posted: Wed Mar 12, 2008 11:55 pm Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

Ed - I'm no Azalea expert, but your tree is no Azalea! Looks nothing like either of my two small azaleas. If it isn't a fig, what could it be? Just a possible suggestion - the elaves look very likea camellia. SJ

emorrin · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:45 am Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

John,

I took a closeup of a couple of leaves. The longest one is no longer than 3.5 cm. I was looking for images of camellias on the Internet and the leaves do look alike. There are two reasons why I cannot say for definitely sure it is a camellia however. 1. The leaves on the camellia bonsai I saw were much bigger. 2. It didn't flower in the winter. The explanation for not flowering in the winter may be explained by the fact that is was not treated well before I got it (i.e. mallsai). The leaf size is the only thing that throws me off.

http://i265.photobucket.com/albums/ii208/emorrin/BonsaiRomeo125.jpg

Well the good thing is it if a camellia or azalea, they both seem to be able to take a hard prune and are similar in care (i.e. likes acidic soil, fertilizer). Sounds like I won't put my kanuma to waist in either case Very Happy

I still would love to know for sure what species this is though Crying or Very sad

Surrey John · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:48 am Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

Ed - I agree it is very difficult to be sure what your plant is, but I'm still fairly sure it isn't an azalea. I took a pic of a Camellia about a month ago at Kew Gardens - if you look 2/3 way down in Carol's thread "Roses" in Potting Shed for 24th Feb you will see this plant. The leaves in this pic are exactly the same as those on the 3 Camellias in my garden. One, white, flowered in January, the second, pink, is flowering now, the third, in bud still, will flower in a week or so. So they don't just flower in the winter, they can go through the spring as well, depending on the variety.

That said, I have to confess that I don't really know what a very young Camellia looks like! It's cerainly true they have the same general feeding requirements as an Azalea. Good luck with it, anyway.

SJ

Stymie · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:31 pm Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

I have a red Camellia flowering in the 'Japanese strip' at the moment. The leaves are very similar in shape, dark green and glossy. They appear on the shoots in a spiral order. There are no opposing pairs. Are your's like that Ed? I can't be sure from your photograph.

emorrin · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:34 pm Post subject: Re: Azalea hard prune?

Don,

The leaves do have opposing pairs. Each new set grows approximately 90 degrees from the previous set. They are not in a spiral order. If you look at my very first picture I posted you can kind of see this if you check out the bottom leaves on the plant.