Evergreen Azalea, not so evergreen.

[Bonsaimatt]

Hallo!

My first post here (not my last ).

I havn't done the photo bit yet, but I will. I've read alot on evergreengardens.com and I own a few books. I'm not a total noobie to bonsai, but 3-4 years is still "newish". Newayz, I have about 40 bonsai right now and one of them, an azalea (It's not a true bonsai yet, I got from a garden center, it's maybe 3 yrs old). It does have a nice root system and upper leaves, well until a few weeks ago. The way I got it, it was growing in a 1 gallon plastic training pot, that pot was broken and crazy old. I repotted it (I know I guess I shouldn't of, it was october I think) but I tried very hard (temptation sucks) to not prun any roots because of the season. It's root system, although compact, was pretty much filling the whole pot out. Plus it had alot of lower branches that went into the dirt and came back out the top of the pot. I removed four of those nicely formed branches because they had grown their own little root systems. I then potted those in tiny containers, they are doing very very well, nice and green. Mommy however is not so green. The new pot I put it in is about the same size as the one it came in (1 gal), just newer. I added some "holly tone" (the bag says it's good for azaleas too) to the bonsai soil (hoffman's bonsai soil) to increase the acid in the soil. I didn't test the old soil to see how acidic it was (I guess I should of), but I don't think that's my problem. The holly tone has created a hard surface in the top of the pot. That (I think) is reducing the amount of top fed air and water. Now thats it's getting freezing outside the water bit is different, but thats off topic for now. I know for sure that the soil hardened prior the frosts. Well finally my question...

Should I, although it's not the right season, repot my plant to give the soil a "looser" mix? BTW the leaves are dropping and they look alot worse off than the mini plants that came on it at first. I hope my descriptions help. I'll try and post pics this weekend. Thanks guys in advance! And thank you for welcoming me (in advance )

[Gnome]

Matt,

Thanks guys in advance! And thank you for welcoming me (in advance )

You're welcome, literally.

My first post here (not my last ).

Excellent, we can surely use more active members.

The holly tone has created a hard surface in the top of the pot. That (I think) is reducing the amount of top fed air and water.

This is something I have encountered when using home-made organic fertilizer cakes with my trees. Can't you just chop up the surface with a chopstick of pencil perhaps. Be careful, as you know Azaleas have shallow roots.

The way I got it, it was growing in a 1 gallon plastic training pot, that pot was broken and crazy old. I repotted it (I know I guess I shouldn't of, it was october I think) but I tried very hard (temptation sucks) to not prun any roots because of the season. It's root system, although compact, was pretty much filling the whole pot out.

I can sympathize with you about the roots, I have two Azaleas that I purchased at a landscape type nursery, not a box store. I had high hopes for them as they actually had trunks as opposed to most young ones that are a mass of smaller branches. Imagine how disappointed I was when I examined the roots, that were in fairly large pots, and found a SOLID mass of roots in the shape of a smaller square pot.

Somewhere in the Evergreen Garden Works article page Brent discusses fall potting. You probably should be keeping the plant frost free this year as, if memory serves, he lost a lot of plants that were potted in the fall.

Should I, although it's not the right season, repot my plant to give the soil a "looser" mix?

I would really think twice about disturbing the plant again now. It was recently re-potted, it is in decent soil now right? I think I would just wait it out for the remainder of this season and reevaluate my options next (2008) year.

Mommy however is not so green.

I don't think this is necessarily a problem, they do tend to lose their color over the winter, here at least, and look kind of bronze. New foliage will probably emerge this Spring.


Good luck with the Azalea and make sure to visit us again.

Norm

[Bonsaimatt]

Well I think I'll have to post some pics for ya, the leaves don't look brozeish at all. Almost insect damage, but I can't find any bugs that would do that (and only single out that tree). I tried the stir the soil thing, and the next time I watered it, the soil hardened up again. I even poked a few 1-2 inch holes (2 pokes) with a pencil to allow better absorption. I'm not to worried about this plant, since it's not a bonsai yet. I have other plants that I give more attention too. I got this plant because of the branches growing into new plants. I paid $7.95 for it and (I put the wrong number of little guys in on my first post, sry) got 5 plants out the deal, not including mommy plant. I think I might remove it from it's current pot, do no work on the roots (which BTW I only cut what I had to get the little ones out), repot in a bigger pot with more soil and a better mix of soil, without a top layer of holly tone. I'll just mix the holly tone into the soil. But first I'll get a picture for you to look at. Now don't get me wrong, It's not that I don't care about this plant (otherwise I wouldn't post about). But I'm not scared to try something late in the season either. If it dies my loss is minimal (plus I get to learn something about late potting), and I got 5 more plants to live with. Those 5 are cute little mame guys right now . Thanks dude!!