I think you will be fine. I’ve been water washing azaleas on and off for the past two weeks and most of the azaleas are in some form of pushing new shoots or another… I think I’m at 35 or so now this year.
If you do the transition carefully the tree will bloom anyways. Yet if you desire maximum growth, cut these off, or leave a few just for fun!
Here’s a data dump on this procedure in case you haven’t done rootwashing before…and maybe a review if you have.
Please be sure to do a good job getting all the bark and soil out. I’ve gotten a few orphans in the past years that weren’t washed correctly. This doesn’t end well.
Lately I’ve changed my method, dropping the water bath… Now just water washing with my wand, alternating with a chopstick. Using the wand and chopstick to break up the rootball slowly, stroking down on the sides and outward from the top…. then turning the plant upside down and sweeping outward from the middle outward while working into the center… up the center alternating with using the water wand to sweep down and out, then upward in the center and a chopstick. About 20 minutes work.
Getting out those darn bark chips and perlite chunks the chips hide behind is the worst. Use tweezers…
Here’s a couple images from a 3 year old satsuki I shot Monday.
Intial break up
Working into the core. Note: work inside the bottom and top and wash…eventually working your way through
Final clean Up and getting ready to root trim so roots will fit radially in the pot. You will be surprised how few roots you have remaining…
Usually using a 5-6” diameter deep pot is best (about 2” deep inside or so ). I do not recommend using a show pot unless it has azalea dimensions, which 98% do not. It’s a waste.
Using Tokoname pots for most rootwashed azaleas, but boring 4 5/16” holes just onboard of the outside bottom edge at the N/S E/W axis for drainage if they aren’t provided.
Also using plastic training pots, oval or rectangular. I’ve found their drainage isn’t good enough to get best growth, so recommend drill 8-12 ish extra 5/16 or 1/4” holes on bottom, including N/S/E/W. I use single layer large kanuma on bottom, so no loss through these holes.
One may be a bit shell shocked after their first couple root washed. I was. Flat out flabbergasted! It is inevitable to lose or trim off many fine roots, but work carefully just the same. These will grow back in the next year.
Final…potting. Bury the nebari roots for the first year unless the nebari is already ready robust and well formed (usually not)
Good luck and please post before and after?
Cheers
DSD sends
