1st UK sun, Azalea wasn't happy

new bench built and in place.
receiving sun from 1pm through till sun set.  believe i am SW facing garden

came home to our 1st hot day in UK yesterday to find the Azalea had wilted up. ok this morning after a good water

time to find a new position not on the bench?  (i have no where as yet)

or just try and manage better watering?


any summer tips?


thanks

Hi Marc

You can keep the tree in the same spot, no problem.... You can do like I do...I make a wooden box for some of my trees, just a frame arround the bonsaipot, no buttom, to keep the roots cool...it works very well for trees who like full sun, but dont like cooked roots.

Kind regards Yvonne

Yvonne's is a good suggestion. Another option is shade cloth round the pot and visible soil. But you are right about finding the right watering regime, bearing in mind the basic "plan" needs to be altered to suit the daily weather.

And also remember to work out well in advance, who/how your trees will be looked after if you go off on holiday. Train your most trustworthy mate up now rather than the day before.   

Great suggestions. I may just try cloth around pot for now

so a better pot could also help?
pot within pot etc

black thin plastic not ideal

Also, perhaps a soil that is a bit more organic and that retains water better then "standard" bonsai soil. But placing the pot in a flat filled with mulch that is kept dampish also will do the trick.

Thanks

I'm not liking how hard the akadama is etc but don't feel I should repot as yet and it could do with a better pot

maybe if I'm careful and don't root prune?

Your bench looks great! Nicely done

Maybe a bit of capillary matting in the bottom of a gravel tray might help watering for very hot days? I'm going to give this a go as a trial run for when I go on holiday next month, I'll let you know how it works if you like.
I like Yvonne 's suggestion too, sounds sensible for those plants that like cool roots. Especially those in black plastic pots!

thanks

Any pot suggestions that may help?
maybe just put pot inside another for now to help keep cooler advised not to disturb as yet

When I go off on holiday I plunge my trees into plant seed trays filled with gravel or if I. That keeps the roots cool and retains moisture better. No reason why you cant do something similar with your trees right now. I certainly wouldn't be tinkering about changing pots to new ones.

Remember though that anything you put your trees into must in itself have drainage holes or you will drown the tree.

I only have 4 days away this year and all will be moved and kept cool and mother in law to water

I'm just thinking of way to keep roots cooler through this summer on my bench

I will try and water in mornings and evenings etc and try the suggestions or place the pot inside another pot to take some of the heat off (not a repot)

marc74 wrote:...and mother in law to water

i hope she likes you...   

lol she does and will be feeding the cat also anyway

I may swap to a square blue glazed pot which would be minimal disruption and will also help against falling over in wind and should help to be a little bit cooler I'm sure

You could also try shredding some wet spagnum moss and spreading it out over the soil surface, that helps to retain moisture. you'll find that the trees that are kept in pure inorganic wont dry out as quick.

ok all good suggestions

came home today and was looking much better after another hot day.  a UK heatwave in May... wow    

im watering in the mornings also for now but i feel a new pot is priority
thinking a new pot without disturbing roots too much and a bit of moss contained

Nice trees and a nice bench as well.

Glad the azalea survived it's ordeal but I am a bit surprised it suffered so badly.

In bonsai terms you've got it planted in a very big pot. It should really be able to survive a thermo nuclear attack in there let alone few hours of British spring sunshine! Unless of course all the roots are very near the surface for some reason.

It wasn't re-potted and heavily root pruned this spring was it?

Either way, this is England so the chances of the weather staying like this are slim (tomorrows forecast for up here in the Fens is warm in the morning, rain in the afternoon and then cooling off considerably over the next few days).

Good luck anyway whatever you choose to do but I think I'd just shade the pot either by dropping it into a bigger ceramic one or building a shade box like Yvonne suggested (you wood working skills are obviously up to it  ).

You could mulch the surface with a bit of chipped bark or something as well perhaps?  

Regards

Richard

well it was obviously just a wilt and not too bad, extra water then picked up fine.

im more thinking of future protection to alleviate the issue and im sure we have a great summer to come


newly bought as is and wouldn't have thought been repotted etc
just was a hot day no doubt and needed more water


lets see what happens going forward



edit: would fit this pot perfect without much disturbance and just add a little extra to fill corners?
a good type or should be more deep?

Look, you have actually quite a decent bit of raw material there in that azalea but it still needs some work on it so the question is really - is that the final pot you see for the  tree? If not, then don't waste your time and effort repotting it now - it's out of the normal season for repotting. It's not a matter of just plunging it into a new pot and filling up the sides. If you want to do any sort of branchwork on the tree this year then it also needs to be firmly anchored in which will cause a bit of stress to the tree. Azalea branches are notoriously brittle so having the tree moving even slightly as you work on it could lead even more to breakage.

If this tree were mine, I would keep the plastic pot protected for this summer and possibly move it out of the full glare of the sun into a dappled shade area. That would let me do some branchwork. Then if I felt it was ready for its final pot, that would be next spring's task.


ps  also note that putting sphagnum moss over the soil for any protracted period of time may result in surface roots appearing.  There's a reason why it's used in the air layering process.

Cool

thank you

2 flowers briefly came this last week

hoping will get some more soon