Improving rootage on an azalea

dustin

Greetings,
Ive found an azalea I cant seem to get out of my head, and may take the plunge and buy it. It would be my biggest investment to date, at $325, my local dealer actually has it priced at $400 but came down for me. Anyways, I guesstimate the tree to be 20 years old, its got great branching and appears to be very healthy, in a slanting style. The front rootage is beautiful, but my only complaint is that its got no exposed roots on the backside whatsoever. This isnt a show stopper for me as Ive done some research on older, properly trained azaleas and feel the price is right, but what can an azalea handle as far as root encouragement? Im very familiar with encouraging roots on a deciduous or evergreen tree but the azaleas got me stumped.

Thanks in advance for any advice/exp shared,
Dustin

Advertisement

rockm

You lookin' for us to say "no, don't do it?" I don't think you'll get that answer here. If the plant has crawled up your back and you have concluded that it's worth the $$, then it sounds likes it's a done deal.

You want a little push over the line? Consider yourself shoved

For what it's worth, azaleas can push new roots pretty easily. Developing back roots on the nebari shouldn't really be a problem. In my experience, if you run across a tree that stays on your mind, it's probably worth buying and worrying about the smaller flaws later.

dustin

Well Im not really looking for the push to buy, although it might have sounded that way as I am contemplating.

What I do when Im shopping/browsing my local vendors is ask myself:
1)Do I like how this tree looks, style and appearance and potential etc...
2)Do I know how to care for this particular type of tree?
3)If the tree has issues, or if I like everything but want to change something about it, do I know how to correct/accomplish these issues/traits?
4)Is the price something I can afford?

I can usually think through 1,2, and 4 in a matter of a few minutes, but #3 usually has me churning for days sometimes. I draw pictures, view specimens in books, thinking about what the trees potential is. Problem is that all this pondering usually ends up with me losing the tree to another buyer, but its my process when purchasing a tree thats got a significant(in my terms) price on it.

So with an azalea with some age on it, can I simply scare the trunk where Id like roots to grow, apply root tone, and bury in sand/peat. Similar to a maple or elm?

jjeter

Dustin,


What is the azalea planted in now. If it is in kanuma, just add some more to just about where you want the new roots to grow. Azaleas have great rooting capabilities. I got a similar tree last year at BCI 2004 in June and at the suggestion of Gondo who did the workshop, added about 1 inch of kanuma to the base of the tree. When I changed the topsoil about a week back, I had a new set of feeder roots about 2 to 3 inches long starting about 1/2 inch down in the soil. It shouldn't be a problem to start new roots where you want them on Azaleas.

Good Luck

Jeff

dustin

Jeff,
It is planted in Kanuma, so it sounds like its pretty easy to accomplish.

Thanks

rschlafer

I would love to see a picture.

__________________
- Todd

coloradobonsai.com
Specializing in Yamadori Bonsai/Pre Bonsai.

zoot

Me too.

__________________
Best regards

Zoot

'You got to be original, man...' Lester Young 1909-1959

a-mused

To go along with jjeter's reply, I've found Kimura's technique for improving nebari to be rather excellent, perhaps a little more time consuming, but the results can't be argued with.

In a nutshell, the process is to expose the part of the nebari you want to get new roots on (or create an entirely new nebari!), use a 0.5mm drill (I use a 1/32" bit), and drill a small hole precisely where you want the new root to grow. Using a toothpick, apply the appropriate strength rooting hormone powder into the hole, then pack moist (not dripping wet!), long-fibered sphagnum moss around the site (I soak mine in water + superthrive - please no superthrive argument replies. I use and like it, you may not, and that's that.), and then apply soil to cover the moss. Watch your watering carefully so you don't accidentally create a wet, soggy mess of the moss but do manage to completely water the tree to keep the rest of the current root system happy.

If you're creating an entirely new nebari, you can also place a wire girdle somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2" below the new site/drill holes (I use 3mm aluminium or 10/12 gauge copper, whichever I grab first) and tighten the girdle until it bites fairly deeply into the trunk. Normally I'll girdle the trunk first to give me a guide as to where the holes should be placed vertically, relative to where I want the new nebari. I've done this with Hokkaido elms, cotoneaster, and dwarf pomegranates and it works very, very well. Just proceed slowly and make sure the girdle is parallel to the eventual soil line if you're changing the potting angle. Use appropriate protection when working with rooting hormone (surgical gloves or equal, a dust mask, and safety glasses are usually sufficient). When working with rooting hormone, I'll take a cleaned yogurt container (one with a plastic lid), place a small amount from the jar of powder and onto the lid for ease of application, and then dump whatever is left over into the yogurt cup, put the lid on it, and put it in the trash after I'm done - for safe disposal. This also ensures you don't accidentially contaminate your container of rooting hormone. For easy rooting species, normally 0.1% or 0.3% IBA works fine - you can find plenty of references to the appropriate strength for any given species using Google and various agricultural sites, like Cornell, etc. Once you start working with much stronger strenghts (up to 4.5% IBA if you're in the mood to root a 2x4!), just use more care in how you handle and store the stuff. Do keep in mind that stronger is not implicitly better. If you apply 4.5% IBA hormone to an easy rooting species that really needs just 0.3%, you're probably going to get some necrosis in the new roots - if they root at all. Most of the time, you're going to find the IBA strengths listed in "ppm" on many ag. sites (e.g. 2000ppm) - to convert this to a percentage, just lop off the last three digits and the rest is the percent (so 2000ppm is 0.2%, 8000ppm is 0.8%, etc).

Kind Regards,
-d

I.B.

Dave,

I would just remove a section of bark where new roots are desired, dust with a root-inducing hormone, add long-fibered sphagnum peat moss and kanuma soil would do fine, especially with azaleas. I've had great results with this, especially with easy to root deciduous species.

The "tootpick" method will also work, BUT, it is not "Kimura's Method". Perhaps he has used it, but I distinctly remember first hearing about it at the BCI convention in 1973 (when Kimura was still an apprencice in Omiya). I believe Chase Rosade first talked about it. In fact it is documented in "Native Treasures", but I'm too lazy to go look it up....

Bill

__________________
William N. Valavanis