Potting Azalea first time.

I have a couple of azalea that I'd like to get into pots. Currently they are in nursery containers. How much root removal is safe for the plant?

Thanks,
Ed

in azeleas i have always repotted them after they flower but you may do it different in america

Found this Googling about.. http://www.rockymtnbonsai.org/html/Azaleas.html

harry dovey wrote:in azeleas i have always repotted them after they flower but you may do it different in america

Thanks Harry, but I'm not re-potting a finished tree, but potting for the first time pre-bonsai material that I'll finish developing in the pot. The flowers are not a factor at this point.

Thanks for the link Joe, but, alas, still no info on how much root is safe to remove at one time.

My concern is removing too much root ball when getting it down to bonsai pot size.

Thanks for your time.
Ed

um i am no expert on them i do have a few but i think they are fairly safe to cut off a fair bit of root but I would wait for another opinon. is the pot it is in over size for the tree or could you show some images
Harry

The roots on azaleas are very fine and usually colonise the pot quite densely. If it is in a standard plant pot, I'd lift it out and inspect the roots. If it is densely rooted, cut off the lower third, with a sharp saw, this year and pot it into a very slightly wider but shallower pot for a year. Then next spring do the same again and that should allow you to get it into a bonsai pot.

Repotting after flowering is normal, if you wish to see the flowers, but ideally do it now and carefully remove all flower buds to conserve energy.

Sorry, no images handy Harry. They are in eight gallon nursery containers right now. I think it's safe to assume that there is a lot of root ball there since they are pretty large for the containers they are in.

Kev, thanks. That's what I needed to know. I'll do just that.

I generally find it to be safer with all early pottings of young azaleas to give them quite a bit of extra pot. You want them to grow trunk and surface roots, and giving them extra room expedites this growth.

Jim, did you miss that these were in 8 gallon pots, they can't be that small or young.

Yup. Guess so. But I still wouldn't pot them up in anything even close to a final size bonsai pot.

In my experience with satsuki azaleas by working at a nursery that sells mostly satsukis, removing 50-60% is conservative. I dont know about florida, but I am not touching my satsukis until about 2 more weeks. Also, I recommend never repotting satsukis after flowering. Flowering is the 2nd biggest stress to a satsuki, the first being barerooting. Have two major stresses in one year is not good for them. That being said, I recommend not letting a satsuki flower the year that it is repotted.

Shimsuki

Have any pictures???

Kev Bailey wrote:Jim, did you miss that these were in 8 gallon pots, they can't be that small or young.

Sorry this is off-topic but it's something that's been bugging me for awhile.

I've tried to find a converter on Google for US size pots which always seem to be by volume (ie gallons) whereas in Australia our nursery pots are spoken about in height (or sometimes diameter) of the pot (ie 200mm pot).

I really just can't imagine what size an 8 gallon pot is.

Ron-AU wrote:

Kev Bailey wrote:Jim, did you miss that these were in 8 gallon pots, they can't be that small or young.

Sorry this is off-topic but it's something that's been bugging me for awhile.

I've tried to find a converter on Google for US size pots which always seem to be by volume (ie gallons) whereas in Australia our nursery pots are spoken about in height (or sometimes diameter) of the pot (ie 200mm pot).

I really just can't imagine what size an 8 gallon pot is.

Check this out...
1 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 5 x 6 1/8 x 7
2 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 7 x 8½ x 8½
3 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 8 x 10 x 8 7/8
5 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 9 5/8 x 11 1/8 x 10¼
5 Gallon "Tall" Premium Nursery Pot 12¼ x 8¾ x 10½
7 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 12 7/8 x 14¼ x 11 5/8
10 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 14½ x 16 x 11 3/4
15 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 14½ x 16 7/8 x 15
20 Gallon Premium Nursery Pot 17 1/8 x 19 5/8 X 16 7/8

Thanks for that, Joe. Much appreciated.

Cheers, Ron.

Arn't nursery pots generally ROUND?

At least up to 10 gallons or there abouts...

Pat