Azalea work..

[paddles]

Ok, I have a few questions please, about azaleas... when I look at pretty pictures on the net, of azalea's done as bonsai, many have smooth bark on the trunk, I seem to remember that someone said to me once that they "brush" the rougher bark off the trunk.. is this true? does it affect the growth of the tree? ie would you only do this to a tree that was about to be displayed?

another thing is fatteneing and root grafts/nebari work... is this a useful thing to be done to an azalea? or are azalea's as a plant that tends to have a very fiberous root system, less likely to develop a surface nebari?

I have read the wiki on azalea, and taken note of what has been said about fert/watering/repotting etc, but was wondering about the bark??

thank you

[Matthew]

have a look at some of the azealea bonsai pics from japan. They match any tree in there nebari and trunk girth. Its just allowing the many years of good technique to grow one like that.

[shibui]

Hi Paddles,
Brushing the outer bark off atree would not affect the growth rate. The outer bark is actually dead but is retained as a protective coating - much the same as our skin.
Juniper is another species that is exfoliated to display that wonderful reddish coloured bark you see in the photos of Japanese shimpaku juniper.
I've used a wire brush to gently scrub the trunks and branches of my junipers. Toothbrush just didn't remove the outer bark so I needed to resort to the wire brush. A small brass brush (may be available at some hardware stores?) would be a little softer on the bark and easier to get into tight spaces.
If you scrub hard enough a wire brush can cut right down to the living tissue below the bark - which will probably not kill the tree unless you scrape off large sections right down to the wood - so take some care at first.

Scrubbing the bark might even increase trunk size. There was a technique of stabbing, cutting or pounding the bark to cause small wounds. The scar tissue when the wounds heal is thicker than normal growth so the trunk gets thicker so if you were to scrub along the grain with a stiff wire brush enough to cut tiny scratches into the living bark it would probably heal just a little thicker than otherwise. Hope this makes some sense without actually showing. Note I have not actually tried this technique long term so treat this info as theory only rather than my recommendation.