Fall/Winter Care Advice Needed for Imported Satsukis

[Time Wizard]

I unexpectedly received some imported satsuki azaleas today that I didn't think had actually been shipped to me. They are three 'Kinu no Mai' satsukis from Japan. I feel like I am capable enough to keep satsukis alive through the winter in my area, but these have been completely barerooted, packed in sphagnum moss, shipped across continents, man-handled by the USDA, then shipped to me. They have been stuffed in a box for potentially up to 4 weeks (I am not entirely sure when they were shipped). They seemed to be alive and somewhat healthy when I opened the package and the sphagnum moss was still moist. I potted them up in some kanuma with a small amount of peat moss and sphagnum moss mixed in. The satsukis I already have are handling the 'cold' temperatures of my area just fine while being left outside. Temperatures in the past few weeks here have been getting down to maybe 25 F at the lowest (but only for a couple hours before it warms back up). Temperatures for the next week are projected to be between 71 F and 31 F.

What should I do with these bad boys? Given they had been barerooted then were potted up again today, I don't think I should leave them outside at night with the rest of my plants. Should I keep them out in the sun during the day or keep them in the shade? Anything else I should look out for?

@Glaucus and @Deep Sea Diver I would greatly appreciate your input here.

Thanks.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nice! Thanks for asking.

Given these are kept….

- Add kanuma to match level in left pot for Alall pots.

- Very correct, these need to be protected all winter and early spring. Keep temps well above freezing. 40’s or 50’s would be minimum. If space we’d slowly bring up temps to 55-60 with heat mat/thermostat/light this is the best path

- 5 hours too much to start Start with dappled shade only 3 hrs, work to max outdoor over three weeks and 12 hours inside over 4 weeks but screen lights first 2 weeks if inside

- If inside will need to be hardened off next spring

An a alternative it’s to contact the delivery service,,,,

PM me as desired

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

btw: your profile does not list USDA zone or approximate location. This advice is conservative to zone 8b

Best
DSD sends

 

[Time Wizard]

- Very correct, these need to be protected all winter and early spring. Keep temps well above freezing. 40’s or 50’s would be minimum. If space we’d slowly bring up temps to 55-60 with heat mat/thermostat/light this is the best path

- 5 hours too much to start Start with dappled shade only 3 hrs, work to max outdoor over three weeks and 12 hours inside over 4 weeks but screen lights first 2 weeks if inside

- If inside will need to be hardened off next spring

Is them not becoming dormant a concern here? 50s seems a bit warm to me for them to be at for the winter. I think my garage might be a good place to keep them at night although I need to double check what the temperatures might get to. How exactly would I harden them off in the spring?

btw: your profile does not list USDA zone or approximate location. This advice is conservative to zone 8b

You can't see my USDA zone and location? It's visible to me.

 

[bdmatt]

My teacher had a shipment of Satsuki azaleas from Japan earlier this Fall. Got about 3 of them, one of which was in the Kanuma satsuki azalea festival.

His aftercare is pretty straight forward. He pots them up in 9 parts kanuma and 1 part pumice. In previous years, he has used pure kanuma. Trees are then top dressed with a thick layer of sphagnum moss, then placed into an area with partial shade. He placed importance on the sphagnum moss. The azaleas are rarely exposed to full sun because they straight up fry here in Socal. Instead, he has them outside under a pergola and are misted frequently. His automatic misters go off every couple hours, which keeps the humidity high.

His oldest imported azalea (one that he's had for a decade now) has been thriving in these conditions. He keeps newly imported azaleas in the same area where all his acclimated azaleas are at. Temperatures reach the mid 40s but he doesn't move them around.

 

[Glaucus]

Looks like these came from Yamaka Engei. At least, they look exactly like them. I suspect they were imported this month.
Which means they are dormant. 71 F and 31 F is quite a big range. So pay attention if they are not tricked into thinking it is spring and waking up. If they do wake up because of the warmer SoCal weather, protect them from all frost.
If they stay dormant, I don't need they would need any protection.
If they are dormant, they also don't need a lot of light. So I would say keep them in a shaded spot. With 73F in the full sun, the soil will warm up a ton. Which wouldn't be good for dormancy.

These don't have a lot of movement. I have a few similar ones, and they were wound around a square shaped wooden stick. That's how they got the movement they have. The ones that are properly wired up are more expensive (like double). So these are very nice for getting the right cultivar and making a meika flower display style tree. These probably also ship easier because they don't have 'awkward' bends.

I never got my imports to grow at the same rate as I can see they did in Japan. For SoCal, a misting system seems like it could be extremely beneficial. But sadly not really viable for just a couple of plants.
Satsuki just like high humidity a lot, while sitting in very airy, fast-draining substrate.

I could see your USDA label when I first say this post yesterday.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Is them not becoming dormant a concern here? 50s seems a bit warm to me for them to be at for the winter. I think my garage might be a good place to keep them at night although I need to double check what the temperatures might get to.

Not staying dormant is not an issue as lond as the imports are protected over winter. The goal is to get the plant working now. For eaxample. We winter over a few azaleas every year with no issues. Cuttings are normally always wintered over.

How exactly would I harden them off in the spring?

Here’s a genre guideline. Expose to part sun/outside temperatures at about 55 degrees. Start with about four hours. Inside at night. End of week up to eight hours. Next week up to full exposure.

You can't see my USDA zone and location? It's visible to me.

Sorry. All I saw was SoCal. Yes 9A is visible.

Good Luck!

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

His aftercare is pretty straight forward. He pots them up in 9 parts kanuma and 1 part pumice. In previous years, he has used pure kanuma.

The 90/10 Kanuma/pumice media is getting more popular as it's easier to work the rootball with this mix. It also improves the drainage.

Trees are then top dressed with a thick layer of sphagnum moss, then placed into an area with partial shade. He placed importance on the sphagnum moss.

Would you mind asking your teacher is why he uses sphagnum vs Yamagoke (Mountain moss)? We’ve tested both up here and found Yamagoke to grow more readily. If fact it’s easy to grow sheets of it, so it’s already greened up.

Perhaps availability, or does it not grow as well down south?

The azaleas are rarely exposed to full sun because they straight up fry here in Socal. Instead, he has them outside under a pergola and are misted frequently. His automatic misters go off every couple hours, which keeps the humidity high.

Like this! Wondering what the pH of the water is in Riverside?

His oldest imported azalea (one that he's had for a decade now) has been thriving in these conditions. He keeps newly imported azaleas in the same area where all his acclimated azaleas are at. Temperatures reach the mid 40s but he doesn't move them around.

Does the misting system keep the newly imported trees safe from overnight freezes?

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Glaucus]

Wait, you want them to leave dormancy asap and use the SoCal weather as an advantage? But they said it gets below freezing. I would just let them stay dormant and wait for spring. Which in SoCal is February?

As for changing environments, I have taken small plants from outdoors where they were near zero to indoors at around 20C under grow lights without an adaptation period. There didn't seem a shock response to sudden higher temperatures or sudden more intense light.
But that's small plants and I have only tried it a few times. But there seemed no issue with the strong transition. It did take them about a month to actually start showing signs of growth. I am actually going to do the same this year. Just waiting a few more weeks.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Wait, you want them to leave dormancy asap and use the SoCal weather as an advantage? But they said it gets below freezing. I would just let them stay dormant and wait for spring. Which in SoCal is February?

Actually recommended 40-50F which would hardly break dormancy. But didn’t catch the 9A USDA zone

However recommended if put inside would slowly break dormancy using a heat mat and grow. That would be best if inside imho as had bad experience trying to maintain winter dormancy inside even in an unheated garage up here. Plants always break dormancy in the garage. So I find it’s best to just let the plant grow. Would be much harder to maintain dormancy in SoCal.

It’s not an issue for going one winter without dormancy whatsoever…. as you know we regularly grow azaleas without breaking dormancy for one and sometimes two years in a row with no issues.

Yet….. After consideration and new information doubt OP’s azaleas are dormant. Light starved yes. Sort of like the cuttings received that are thee weeks in the box that grow well, albeit slowly at first.

@bdmatt seems to indicate his teacher pots barerooted azaleas in OP‘s area and tosses under misting pergola outside. Not a bad idea for OP if can provide the proper care.

As for changing environments, I have taken small plants from outdoors where they were near zero to indoors at around 20C under grow lights without an adaptation period. There didn't seem a shock response to sudden higher temperatures or sudden more intense light.

This is true here also for plants already in the pot. Yet these are barerooted. imho acclimation to light is the safe way to go.

Best
DSD sends

 

[bdmatt]

Would you mind asking your teacher is why he uses sphagnum vs Yamagoke (Mountain moss)? We’ve tested both up here and found Yamagoke to grow more readily. If fact it’s easy to grow sheets of it, so it’s already greened up.

I'll ask him on my next visit. He's used sphagnum since his first import. I'm guessing because it worked so well, he doesn't want to change it up. He also has a good amount of azaleas, so it may be a cost issue to dress them all in yamagoke.

Like this! Wondering what the pH of the water is in Riverside?

My teacher's garden is in north LA. He occasionally uses koi fishpond water and filtered water in the mister and sprinklers. No clue to the pHs of either as it's not really something he's gone in depth with me.

Does the misting system keep the newly imported trees safe from overnight freezes?

We don't really have an issue with overnight freezes. It gets cold, but there's no danger to the trees, even the newly imported ones. Also, the ambient temperature in his azalea section is a few degrees warmer than the garden. The mister activates twice in the night opposed to the several times during the day.


Our zone is 10a/10b, so just throwing them outside under the pergola with misting is enough. The temperatures drop just enough for the azaleas to enter dormancy. They start waking up late February to early March. The newly imported trees, if they are dormant coming here, wake up a bit earlier I noticed.

Here's a pic of the oldest import. Nothing difficult to the set up. Same spot for 11 years. Misters set up 4 feet above the tree, pergola to protect from harsh sunlight, and some sprinklers, The recent imports are in identical set ups.


If OP has any questions specific to Socal azalea care, I can text my teacher for answers.

 

[mighties]

wow how much is this?? i am crazy about azalea and we dont have anything like this in canada and i would love to get some but...unless if i get it directly from japan i feel like it will be very expensive.

 

[Time Wizard]

wow how much is this?? i am crazy about azalea and we dont have anything like this in canada and i would love to get some but...unless if i get it directly from japan i feel like it will be very expensive.

They were I think $455 USD for the three azaleas. CanadaBonsai was a website I came across a bit looking for this cultivar. They seem like they might be a good choice if you're in Canada.

 

[mighties]

They were I think $455 USD for the three azaleas. CanadaBonsai was a website I came across a bit looking for this cultivar. They seem like they might be a good choice if you're in Canada.

Oh wow expensive…I found Canada bonsai is very expensive too thankfully I did find Bette priced source but more into looking for what @bdmatt has like above photo - bigger azalea.