Azalea bonsai leaves starting to turn yellow

I bought an azalea bonsai yesterday from my local bonsai nursery. Some of the leaves are starting to turn a yellowish colour. Is this a problem? I live in the south east of the uk and have little experience with azalea bonsai. Is this normal for this time of year. Also can anyone give me advice on winter care for azaleas?

Nothing to worry about - it's the leaves changing colour for winter. As for winter care - I left Azaleas out in the worst winter we had on record a few years ago when temps fell to -18. They all grew as normal come spring.

Thankyou.

"T" wrote:Nothing to worry about - it's the leaves changing colour for winter. As for winter care - I left Azaleas out in the worst winter we had on record a few years ago when temps fell to -18. They all grew as normal come spring.

Hello,
Some satsuki are really nice in a collection.
Maybe i should ad the following;
Is this azalea imported recently and from where?
Has it adapted to your Kent climate in the nursery , otherwise take it easy and don't go under 0 celsius, best to hold around 0 celsius.
Cheque if the soil (kanuma) is still draining enough, otherwise be careful with to wet wether conditions.
If this azalea is not repotted by your bonsai supplier, this will be the first thing to do in spring and some flower bud reduction as well.
For now clean the tree from all those yellow leaves if they let go.
Sunip

I have been visiting the nursery regularly over the last year and have seen it every time I have been there... So I am pretty sure that it is used to the local climate. As for when it was last repotted I am not sure but I will find out. How often should azaleas be repotted?

edlowes wrote:
How often should azaleas be repotted?

Hello.
It depends but generally spoken, in a time space of 5 to 6 years the root system will be totally exhausted and one should not wait that long.
Personally i go for 3 years but again it depends, when the satsuki is in a comparatively small pot it will maybe 2 years.
Important is to remove the black soil around the trunk when this appears over the years the kanuma is finished then.
Another thing is to watch if the tree gets enough water and air in the soil directly under the trunk.
Imported satsuki are shipped over in containers with no watering, they dehydrate on the journey,
the time in those containers can last for two months i am told.
There is the saying a dry azalea is a dead azalea, so you can imagine they have to recover first before any styling can be in place.
Sunip