I need some advice for my Azaleea Satsuki

Thank you @Deep Sea Diver and @Carol 83 .

My phone is unfortunately not very good at focusing in close up photos, so i took new pictures with another phone, in which i hope the fungus like formations are more visible.
 

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Hello everyone!

I came back with an update on the state of my azalea. Unfortunately it keeps getting worse , and as you can see in the picture, few of the new sprouts has browned and dried down, and it looks like it's advancing down the branch. This particular branch looks like it is the worst affected from the entire tree.

What would you do in this situation? Should i cut down the affected branch so it doesn't spread further? I mention that old as well as young leaves do slowly brown on the entire tree, but this branch looks the most affected. I also took your advices into account and now the plant is outside on the balcony, paid more attention to watering cycle, stopped using the fertiliser and also used a mild anti fungal.

Thank you for your time!
 

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That doesn't look good. It looks like what leaves on a cutting do that isn't rooting. It is like necrosis of some kind. Not drying out. Not fertilizer burn.
Did is also go gunky and soft?

Cut off the affected area. Looks like fungus is growing on your root ball. But I guess it could also be dried up salt? I have seen this before with (my parents) house plants.
So I would say stale air, permanently wet root ball, warm temperatures, maybe low light.
The old leaves look fine, but yeah something is wrong. Which is why I say it looks a bit acute. Not like a gradual decline.
About the 'orange blob', not sure. Isn't it some scar tissue from a branch that was pruned off? Do you mean that area is swelling up over time, forming a blob that is orange? When it looked like normal flat bark before?

Don't fertilize it.
 
Sorry to see this.

Azaleas can take so much, then reach a critical level and die back dramatically. It seems this plant is on that flight path. Anything from hereon is emergency room work. In this case the cause seems to be, as @Glaucus points out, likely a fungus infection caused by multiple factors.

Here’s what I would do, others may have differing opinions.

Recall as the foliage surface area decreases the need for water also decreases. Also fungus like it wet, azaleas like the media just moist. So the goal is to reduce the moisture level in the media to the bare minimum, while providing moisture on the foliage...

Cut off all affected parts to healthy wood… (clean tools afterwards.)​
Mist all foliage and trunk thoroughly with a solution of 1 tsp 3% Hydrogen Peroxide in 16oz of water. Use an old toothbrush to lightly scrub the area on the trunk of concern.​
Take the plant outside in a mostly shaded area, out of the rain. (If this is not possible one could try to do this inside, but the chances of survival are lower. Azaleas are outside plants. In the case of keeping it inside, get the plant out of the sun and use a small fan to circle the air around the plant. Low flow)​
Water lightly with 3 tsp of 3% Hydrogen peroxide solution in 16oz of water, enough to penetrate the top layer of the soil, not enough to soak the entire root ball. This is counterintuitive as likely the root ball is wet, but the H2O2 has to be delivered to the roots to do any good at this point. Wait about an hour, then ‘chock up one side of the pot about 4 - 5 cm to lower the water table inside. Then switch the chocked up side daily.​
Continue misting foliage 2 x 3x daily timed to dry by nightfall , but do not water the media until it becomes barely moist. Then use the higher concentration H2O2 solution to water the surface as needed.​

I wish you good luck on this effort.

Cheers
DSD sends
 
That doesn't look good. It looks like what leaves on a cutting do that isn't rooting. It is like necrosis of some kind. Not drying out. Not fertilizer burn.
Did is also go gunky and soft?

Cut off the affected area. Looks like fungus is growing on your root ball. But I guess it could also be dried up salt? I have seen this before with (my parents) house plants.
So I would say stale air, permanently wet root ball, warm temperatures, maybe low light.
The old leaves look fine, but yeah something is wrong. Which is why I say it looks a bit acute. Not like a gradual decline.
About the 'orange blob', not sure. Isn't it some scar tissue from a branch that was pruned off? Do you mean that area is swelling up over time, forming a blob that is orange? When it looked like normal flat bark before?

Don't fertilize it.
Hello!

So, the affected leaves do indeed go soft and gunky, and indeed it looks like some kind of necrosis. As for the orange little balls, they formed about 3 weeks ago on one side of the base of the trunk. I really think they are some kind of mushrooms/fungus, because they look like small scale specimens of those that you can observe on big trees in nature. I bought an anti-fungal and sprayed that part of the trunk, and they kind of dissapeard, but the bark in that area now looks black and unhealthy. As for the white thing i think it is dried up salts because in the beginning i watered it with tap water.
 

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The fruiting body of a fungi is the tip of an iceberg. The rest of the fungi is in the soil.
best
DSD sends
 
There are times when one has to look at the net value of a individual and the potential to contaminate the herd, and walk it to the trash, -not recycle bin, and be rid of it.
 
I am wondering if part of your trunk is dead, the area facing towards the camera. You have this transition from reddish bark to white to brown. It might have been that part of the trunk and part of the roots died when someone pruned the branch that used to come from that area. Actually I have never seen an azalea die from fungus or root rot or a partially dead/hollow trunk. So not sure what to advice if this is the case. I think people usually carve out the dead tissue. Just a theory, so think about it before you do something drastic.

Not sure about the risk this one poses for other plants. Microbes are everywhere. They become a problem when they infect something wounded or dead and beat the immune response.
 
Yeah, wouldn’t get into carving. That would only make a not so good situation worse!
 
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