Satsuki Azalea's, an easy species to start with?

I have done a little looking around and I noticed the the satsuki azalea is a beautiful bonsai. I was wondering if this was a good species to start with?

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Satsuki would probably be considered an intermediate level species because it has a few idiosyncrasies, actually I was going to say a few, but I kept thinking of more.

I would suggest that you do add an azalea to your beginning collection, but don't spend a lot of money on your first plant.

SOME AZALEA CONCERNS:

1. If you ever let an azalea dry out completely, it's dead.
2. Repotting is done in early summer, as flowering ends. Some growers use a mix of peat and fir bark, but 100% kanuma, a yellow, volcanic clay imported from Japan is the soil medium of choice.
3. Azalea prefer (actually demand) an acidic soil. Use organic fertilizer or fertilize with Miracid to keep the soil pH down.
4. Being a shrub, it's apex is weak with respect to the lower branches. This is the opposite of what you might expect, so care must be taken to nurture the apex of the tree.
5. Azalea is extremely thin barked and slow to heal wounds.
6. Azalea branches are extremely brittle after two years or so of growth. Branches may split when bent. This damage can usually be repaired by applying some kind of sealant early in the process.

Please don't let these notes discourage you from appreciating azaleas for their wonderful blooms and wonderful cinnamon-colored bark. You can learn more about azaleas cultivation and training on the www.treebay.com site. Look in the articles section under azalea.

Regards,

Matt

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