Hard prune azalea

[Matte91]

Hello guys.

I just collected this azalea from a garden. It has lots of fine roots. But the leaves look old and unhealthy. It has been suffering while it was in the ground.

Would you make a hard prune now to get back budding and new healthy growth. Or would you wait a year and keep the old leaves?

Thank you.

 

[brentwood]

I've had that happen, caught an early freeze typically - should drop all these and start greening up early spring. I'd wait till after blooming, if that happens, before any heavy pruning.

Good luck!
B

 

[Glaucus]

This tree seems to have some weak branches. Yes, the leaves look old because they are old. They have been on that plant all winter. Because it is spring, the coming month it will put out new growth. Which should look fresh and healthy.
The issue may be is that because this plant has many weak branches, the growth that you do get is not strong because it is spread out over many branches. And this growth will be short. And result in a lot of flower buds relative to the health of the tree.

If you prune hard, you will get fewer shoots that can elongate more and then produce 1 flower bud each. That said, every leaf, even though it is old, that you prune off now immediately removes a food source that feeds the tree right now.

 

[shinmai]

i would respectfully, mildly, dissent. I would suggest that any green, healthy leaves are essential to keep. That being said, brown dead leaves are not only not doing you any good, they are also retarding the possibility of new growth between said leaves and their source branch or trunk.

If it was just collected, its roots need recovery time, and will not support a hard cutback. I would advocate for removing all non-healthy leaves, and then a very mild pruning on those same branchlets, I would identify any possible locations for nascent buds, and prune back to maybe a centimeter beyond them. In doing so, you will not be wasting the stored resources on having the tree trying in vain to reconstitute the damaged end growth. Rather, you will be inviting the tree to produce new growth without the shock of a hard cut-back, which it is probably too weak to sustain. I would also seal any pruned branch bigger than 3 to 4 millimeters with Top Jin or something like it.

I have done this already this spring with two azaleas, one domestic landscape variety and one small satsuki. In both cases the trees seem to have ‘jump started’ new vegetative growth, which may in turn result in flower buds by fall. Also, since in the process of collection you have inevitably lost many fine root hairs, I would be misting twice daily, root-watering sparingly, and foregoing any fertilizer until autumn. At that time I would fertilize with something gentle, like a 50% dilution of a 10-10-10 kelp extract or a similarly dilute fish emulsion, from the autumnal equinox until your likely local hard freeze.

I would emphasize that this is only my own experience, in my climate. The task right now is to restore the health and vigor of the tree. Sculptural pruning can wait until that has been accomplished.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Gosh the condition is hard to tell from that photo. You’ve got some excellent ideas from other members…. here are my thoughts. Its very similar.

…If this is your first yardadori, the safest bet is to just let the tree grow with no pruning at all until after the tree blossoms and buds out strongly. Any dead twigs can safely be removed from the gitgo.

Fertilize lightly in 3-4 weeks @ 2 week intervals only after the tree buds out. Fish emulsion is fine. Increase to full strength about 2 weeks later if all goes well. I use Humic/Fulvic acid and kelp supplements once a tree is growing strongly. Use what you are comfortable, keep in mind overfertilizing azaleas is the number one cause of death.

This year I wouldn’t worry about flowers. Add either a Miracid type fertilizer, which has micronutrients, every other time you fertilize or add an Osmocote Plus type extended release fertilize, which also has micronutrient, at about 1/3rd strength this year.

Once flowering is finished, one can cut back to a point above green inner growth if indicated by the strength of the growth pattern. Seal all cuts as described previously.!

Best of luck with your tree!… and keep us posted. I’m interested to see how this tree turns out.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Glaucus]

The way I judged this, if you remove all unhealthy leaves and weak/dead branches, it would be kind of a hard cut.

Leaves that are partially dead still work and function. So that is why I would remove branches that have very few leaves and keep the ones with a lot of damaged leaves.
A plant in this state isn't going to respond well to a hard prune. The idea is to keep the strong parts and get rid of the weak ones, so the push of growth isn't spread out too thinly.

Many landscape azaleas have leaves that have dead tips at the end of winter. It is not good, but it happens. I wouldn't remove those leaves just because they have dead tips. But the plant is going to rely on the new foliage pretty soon.