Early Christmas Present

[Colt Carson]

My previous Bonsai, a Trident Maple I had for over seven years, sadly died some time ago. I suspect it may have been due to Verticillium Wilt. So my wife gives me one of my presents early… a Satsuki Azalea she purchased from BB. She gave it to me early, because she had no idea what to do with it until Christmas. My record planting Azaleas in the yard is pretty dismal… probably doesn’t help that my city water is high pH. So now I have this little Azalea that I am determined to help thrive. I may transfer the Azalea into the old Maple's pot in 2027… so cleansing that pot will be important. I am thinking a good wash, two days in the freezer, then a couple hours in a low temp oven. My main concern now is my city water pH. I purchased a pH meter, and some pH Down (phosphoric acid) to try my hand at producing some 6-6.5 pH water for the Azalea. I have several gallons of distilled water to use initially. I am not sure how strong this pH Down product is… can disposable plastic pipettes be used to add the product to the water? Any additional thoughts would be much appreciated.

 

[DeepSouth]

Nice little azalea! I am sorry to hear that your trident died. If your water is high PH, the trident may have weakened because of that, they also like a low PH.

As for your watering, the easiest thing to do is to collect rainwater in a barrel and use that. If you just have one tree, this is a pretty good solution.

When the tree is eventually repotted, you can use a low ph soil like kanuma.

Before I added a system to correct my PH, I added granular sulfur to the soil, but I am honestly not sure if it did anything.

 

[Colt Carson]

After some reading of Rick Garcia's book Satsuki Azalea Bonsai: A Fundamental Study, I realize I may have made a mistake when making the pic of the Azalea, and made the picture from the back. I think I am correct in saying (when viewed from the front), that the tree should lean towards the viewer at the top. If so, here is the correct frontal view…

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Greetings and Merry Christmas Eve!

When we try to help folks out with disease, infestations, water and media issues, one of the first things we look at is where the OP lives and USDA Cold Hardiness Zone. These data don’t seem to be in your profile. It would help us to update it.

Rainwater, per @DeepSouth is your best bet. It will have minerals needed by the plant. Distilled water has absolutely no minerals. It’s pH out of the still is 7.0, but will readily absorb carbon dioxide and become acid from 5.0 - 6.5 pH

In this case, given no rain water is available, it would help to know the actual pH and Hardness (milligrams per liter (mg/L) calcium carbonate {CaCO3} of your water (also ppm). This will reveal how hard the water is.

One can find these data by looking at the Water Quality Report issued by your local water purveyor.

That said would think adding 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid to a gallon of water would be a really good start. Use your pH meter to double check. Citric acid is cheap 10.00 per 2 lbs.

pH Up/pH Down are pricey and it’s a tad finicky to manage these.

No matter what is used, once a formula is dialed in, all should be fine. Please recheck periodically as water purveyors often change the pH a tad during a year.

As far as the tree goes, it looks very healthy. Likely will need a repot in a better bonsai media over time.

The trunk was bent awhile ago, but not followed up with further wiring to keep the bends in place until these became fixed in position. No worries, yet one might consider wiring and bending the trunk more in late spring, once the wire cuts slightly in put another wire(s) to hold the deeper positions in place. Likely will need 2-3 bigger wires about 4.5-5.5 to do the job. Not necessary if you like the azalea as is.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[bunjin]

I think you should worry not so much about the water pH, but the soil pH, which one measures, after a brief saturation, with a Kelway tester. After many tests I have found that peat moss lowers the pH better than other substrates. After peat I would recommend various bark mixtures to lower the pH plus they break down slower. Most commercial azalea/camellia mixes have too much mulch in them for use in bonsai. Kanuma helps lower the pH, but is not essential. Hopefully your new pot is larger as it is very challenging to keep azaleas healthy in a show-sized container. And, as always, moisture control is essential - the most common error I see is overwatering.

 

[Colt Carson]

Greetings and Merry Christmas Eve!

When we try to help folks out with disease, infestations, water and media issues, one of the first things we look at is where the OP lives and USDA Cold Hardiness Zone. These data don’t seem to be in your profile. It would help us to update it.

Rainwater, per @DeepSouth is your best bet. It will have minerals needed by the plant. Distilled water has absolutely no minerals. It’s pH out of the still is 7.0, but will readily absorb carbon dioxide and become acid from 5.0 - 6.5 pH

In this case, given no rain water is available, it would help to know the actual pH and Hardness (milligrams per liter (mg/L) calcium carbonate {CaCO3} of your water (also ppm). This will reveal how hard the water is.

One can find these data by looking at the Water Quality Report issued by your local water purveyor.

That said would think adding 1/4 teaspoon of citric acid to a gallon of water would be a really good start. Use your pH meter to double check. Citric acid is cheap 10.00 per 2 lbs.

pH Up/pH Down are pricey and it’s a tad finicky to manage these.

No matter what is used, once a formula is dialed in, all should be fine. Please recheck periodically as water purveyors often change the pH a tad during a year.

As far as the tree goes, it looks very healthy. Likely will need a repot in a better bonsai media over time.

The trunk was bent awhile ago, but not followed up with further wiring to keep the bends in place until these became fixed in position. No worries, yet one might consider wiring and bending the trunk more in late spring, once the wire cuts slightly in put another wire(s) to hold the deeper positions in place. Likely will need 2-3 bigger wires about 4.5-5.5 to do the job. Not necessary if you like the azalea as is.

Cheers
DSD sends

I don’t know why you can’t see my information… under my screen name is my location (Gulf Coast USA) and my USDA zone (9A). My city supplied tap water is 8.2 pH. I can’t currently check the hardness, but years ago when I kept tropical fish, the tap water was soft at about the same 8.2 pH.
Merry Christmas to you Sea Diver, and also to everyone else here!

 

[Paradox]

After scrubbing the pot, soak it in a bucket of bleach water overnight. That should kill anything on it. Just rinse it well and let it air dry for a week to be sure all the chlorine is out of the clay. Probably won't need a week but just to be sure

 

[Colt Carson]

After scrubbing the pot, soak it in a bucket of bleach water overnight. That should kill anything on it. Just rinse it well and let it air dry for a week to be sure all the chlorine is out of the clay. Probably won't need a week but just to be sure

Thanks… all my steel Bonsai tools I baked in the oven at 170 Fahrenheit for well over an hour to remove any possible fungi.
I had thought about bleach solution for the pot, or possibly strong vinegar solution.