Pruning Azalea help

[ShadyBonsai]

Hello I have a small azalea that has gotten a bit leggy in the last year or so. I would like to prune it back but not sure of azaleas habits. Can I prune back to the main stem, does it back bud? If so when should I do this? Any other suggestions would be helpful thanks

 

[Hack Yeah!]

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Based upon my observations over the years, It’s really going to depend on the species, cultivar, the health of the azalea and your aftercare. @johng down South often uses a satsuki called Chinzen if I recall correctly.

Alternately one would prune each junction down to two branches, starting at the bottom… moving up. Cut paste well. Wait for backbudding. When the internal backbuds get strong, cut back to just above these. Continue downwards until the tree is as compact as you want… this is the healthy option.

This will not fix any root issues. One needs to root wash to work the roots… just don’t do this all at once

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Shibui]

All the azaleas I have worked with bud very well on bare wood, especially thin, young wood like those long shoots. I would just give it a hard trim and wait for the new buds. Cut paste is only needed on thicker cuts.

 

[Glaucus]

It has too many branches. You should reduce the number of branches by just completely flush pruning off more than half of them.

As for the 'leggy' part, this is the natural growth habit of this variety. If you only do the above, then next season you will have a bunch of new branches on top of what you have now. And they will also all be bald except for the leaves just around the flower bud. The new shoots that if will grow from the flower buds will be full of leaves until autumn.

If you want lo bring leaves closer to the center of the tree, you will have to prune back some twigs to a bald stub. It will bud back near those cut sites only. If you have a long bald shoot and you prune it bare just near where the leaves are now, it will bud only at the tip. If you want it to bud near the main trunk, cut the branches to be very short. If you want it to bud from the trunk, cut them all off.
You can also prune like in that Youtube video. But it all also depends on your artistic vision and your ambitions.

So yes, you can prune back to the main stem and if you want to do it, you should do it now. You can also prune off all unnecessary branches only, and prune back to the main stem next year before it even flowers.

Consider pruning off most leaves to really remove the production of the hormones that keep the dormant buds dormant. But also comsider leaving just a few leaves to keep the sap flow going.

 

[Clicio]

All the azaleas I have worked with bud very well on bare wood, especially thin, young wood like those long shoots. I would just give it a hard trim and wait for the new buds. Cut paste is only needed on thicker cuts.

@Shibui , just a quick question, do the azaleas bloom in late fall/winter in Australia?
Here they are known as "winter flowesr" and all are blooming right now, not in the Spring-September/October.
The question is related to the original post, because I usually prune them after flowering, which means July/August.
Does the same happens over there?

 

[Shibui]

Most of the azaleas we grow are Indica hybrids. All the azaleas I know of down here have main flowering in mid-spring.
Satsukis start as the Indicas are finishing and go through to the beginning of summer.
Indicas often have a second flush of flowers in autumn but nowhere near as prolific as the spring blooms. We saw quite a few azaleas flowering well in gardens around Melbourne a few weeks ago (autumn) so maybe autumn flowering depends on climate. Melbourne is cooler through summer and warmer in winter than here.

Azaleas are pruned after flowering to avoid taking off the flower buds before they open and because azaleas have a growth spurt immediately after (Indica) or as flowers open (satsuki) so after flowering is the time they are primed ready to grow and will respond vigorously.
We avoid trimming azaleas from the end of summer because that's when embryonic flower buds are forming at the tips of shoots. Trimming later results in reduced flowering next spring.
I assume as yours are autumn flowering the buds start forming 6 months before which would be end of your 'winter'.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

All the azaleas I have worked with bud very well on bare wood, especially thin, young wood like those long shoots. I would just give it a hard trim and wait for the new buds. Cut paste is only needed on thicker cuts.

Out here we‘ve only worked with mostly northern azalea varieties and smaller trees and it’s been hit and miss for universal cutbacks on these.

Sometimes one gets lucky and 90+% of the hard pruned branches push new buds, sometimes it’s much less.

for example

- I hard pruned a Bixby Dwarf last fall and this spring it pushed buds on the remaining stubs and backbudded to boot.

- Then I cut back a Kaho hard and, amazingly enough as this satsuki is known to be vigorous, only 50% of the shoots pushed buds.

- Lastly our resident rabbit hard pruned a Polo (rabbits have very sharp teeth I’ve discovered) and only 25% of the branches pushed buds afterwards. (Gotta get a pellet gun!)

So we’ve learned to be a bit more cautious with our cutback technique. Not saying we aren’t up to experiment as we’ve plenty of azaleas.

Cutpaste and cut putty have yielded good results for us for rapid healing. Especially certain brands like Top Jin, Kirikichi … dried then covered with azalea/conifer putty for larger cuts. That said, it is my observation after doing a number of tests that not sealing wounds generally still heals the wounds, but at a much slower rate.

I wonder maybe that’s why azaleas are known for slow healing?

Anyways fwiw

cheers
DSD sends

 

[Clicio]

I assume as yours are autumn flowering the buds start forming 6 months before which would be end of your 'winter'.

Thanks @Shibui , so I will keep pruning them in July/August.