Should I bother with this azelea that I dug up today?

[Andrew L]

I will keep this short because I don't feel like typing everything out again- I originally wrote a whole heap but when I posted it the writing disappeared.


So we're clearing out all the garden at our new house because the garden is in bad shape & we're re-doing it.
All the azaleas were rough & had leaf problems, I got my sister to trim them all back so I could dig them out.

I thought that I might experiment with this one to see if I can make anything out of it considering I'm a newby.

So I gather from what I've read on the Internet that you should clear away as much dirt from the roots as possible, trim some of the roots back and soak it in seasol for (?) hours and re-pot it in appropriate soil, keep it out of direct sunlight and gradually introduce it into the sun.
The dirt on the bottom is like clay so I'm not sure on how to remove it with ripping off the roots.

Lastly. Should I bother with this due to the health and because it was cut so far back...








Here's a jade that was dug out, if somebody wants it they can have it for free.

[kcpoole]

Absolutely you shoud keep it
Nice find

just put he whole lot in a pot as is with new soil and then water with seasol for the next few months until you see vigourous new growth

Azalea shoot back well from bare wood so no worries there

How big is it?
Ken

[LLK]

Absolutely you shoud keep it

Yeah, by all means, if you don't mind the fact that you'll never get a good bonsai out of it, since that circling root and the very thick root growing from it will prevent the development of a decent nebari. A thick trunk is not enough to start a bonsai. If it were mine I'd chuck it, sorry! However, some people will probably say, "keep it, what have you got to lose?".

[Graeme]

Bit harsh there LLK. Sure the circling root is going to mean the Nebari wont be good tomorrow and yes that rather large protuding root is a bit on the bigger side, but all problems can be corrected over time, The one plus to your little azalea Andrew is the trunk girth. That isn't the easiest thing to find and to find one as small, in height as your is also a plus.
I would tell you to throw it out as well, but you are a bit far away for me to just pop down and retrieve it after you do, so I will go along with Ken and suggest you give it some good loving for the next year and see what you come up with. By the way, that leaf damage looks like it could be Azalea Blight. Give the tree a good spray with Malathon and follow that with another in 7 days. It is a bugger of a bug to kill so keep onto it.

[rawhide]

I would certainly keep it Andrew ,yea it may never be a show piece tree but it still could be a very nice azalea to have in your collection .
keep us posted i recently liberated one of a simmiler size and shape so it will be interesting how it comes along .its all a learning curve
and the more you practice the better bonsai dude you will become


PS .keep the jade for the above reason of learning plus its always nice to give a tree that you dont like so much to another up and coming newby