New to the forum... be gentle

[Ergantos]

I found this gem at the nursury today. Couldn't help but see some potential. Any suggestions from everyone would be greatly appreciated






This little gal had just finished flowering and is a Azalea Madonna.

Again, any styling suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is my first Azalea. Was just too pretty to pass up for 4 bucks

[treebeard55]

Welcome to the forum!

I see the beginnings of nice nebari, and it looks very healthy. Two things I would suggest right off the bat.

First, it looks like you have multiple branches coming out of one spot on the trunk. Pick two, and remove the rest. This is to avoid reverse taper (a big aesthetic no-no.)

Second, once you've pruned, leave it alone! Put it in semi-shade, fertilize well, and don't subject it to any more trauma for a year.

Best wishes!

[Ergantos]

Now to choose which two... Decisions decisions. Thank you so much for your input!

[Mortalis]

You should change the planting angle by 90 degrees.. so I don't have to tilt my head.. Yeah bad joke..

[Ergantos]

Originally Posted by Mortalis

You should change the planting angle by 90 degrees.. so I don't have to tilt my head.. Yeah bad joke..

Problem fixed! Now I can't decide where to cut? Almost all pics of azalea online show flowered not where you can see the pruning.

[Mortalis]

I am not very familiar with Azalea as I am a ficus man myself But Here is what I would do with it.

1.Do as Treebeard suggested and select two branches one will be your first branch the other will be your new trunk line.
2.Put it in the ground for a year.
3.Dig it up prune the roots and cut back branches.
4 plunk it down in the ground again for another year. This time you can prune and wire while its in the ground if you want.
5.Dig it up again and plant it in its first training pot.

The point is at this stage your tree needs a little time to be ready for actual training.
I even plant my "stock" ficus trees in ground from around April to October.
After you have a good trunk then start your training.

I know your enthused and excited just direct that enthusiasm into multiple tree's and keep plunking them down until they are ready. For something you can enjoy in a pot NOW.. Get yourself a nice gallon Juniper and style away they almost always have a little something to offer.

Now keep on pulling those trees once a year and root pruning. When you put one in ground make sure you put another one of the same kind you don't care much for in a pot. That gives you a chance to learn how to keep them alive and healthy without endangering the trees you are actually working on.