Azalea Sao Tome

[Jarad]

Here’s the Azalea I purchased from Ray Nescies on Sunday.

AR03 - 2015-04-13-Front.jpg

Here's the trunk and nebari.

AR03 - 2015-04-13-Front Trunk.jpg

The tree needs a bit of work and I will update this thread after I have worked on it.

Comments and critiques are more than welcome.

[Watto]

Good luck with it as they make great bonsai. Please keep us posted.

[Elmar]

Yer I second Watto, you would have gotten good inspiration from the Napean show (there's pics up now on Bonsai South forum) - the nebari looks good (tho I'd see about removing that cross-root?!?)...



Cheers
Elmar

[Jarad]

Will definitely be updating this thread.

This little tree will be attending the club meeting with me tomorrow night, I will upload a photo Wednesday.

Radial roots are more appealing than cross roots hey? I should have looked a bit harder at the nebari.

[Jarad]

Tuesday night I attended the CCBS workshop, did alot of chatting and a little bit of snipping. Then went home, cracked a beer and continued snipping.

During the workshop I did what felt like a tonne of snipping I was impressed with the pile of branches I had sitting next to the pot, until I looked at the before photo... Anyway, here's a couple of after photos.

AR03 - 2015-04-14-Old Front.jpg

AR03 - 2015-04-14-Trunk.jpg

I grabbed some masking tape to label different options and help with directions.

When I first purchased the tree, I was going to follow 1A, because the bonsai novice in me said "height is good!" Then when I thought about it more a voice in my head said "Sharp angles are better!" so I was going to tilt the tree 30-45 degrees to the right and go with 1B. Then when I was labelling the branches I saw 1C and thought that could work too.

The view is labelled as "Original Front" after one member spent 5-10 minutes poking, prodding and rotating then showed me where this tree has the most movement and taper which is on the other side of the tree where i have spent the least amount of time cleaning up, I will upload a photo when I've cleaned it up more.

I had to wait till I finished the bottle of liquid courage before I attacked the cross root

I got about 3 decent sized cuttings of different shapes and sizes (one twin trunk in about 15-20 years ).

P.S. Please don't say "You should make it a dome top, because azaleas make great dome tops" because I already have a dome top.

[Jarad]

On a side note, approximately how long do Azalea cuttings take to grow roots?

[elljuu]

I took some cuttings from an azalea bonsai in January this year and I used some of the hormone jell. All my cuttings now have a small amount of healthy roots. I estimate about 6 months before you see a root. 12 before you can repot. The azalea loves sun so that would help if you can get the cutting in a little sun each day

[Jarad]

I was under the impression that it would take about a month, I appreciate you letting me know. They get a few hours of afternoon sun And are living in a small greenhouse.

This is also a reminder that I need to finish working on this tree...

[Jimbomelville]

Nice tree Jarad.
I got a similar one from Ray Nesci a couple of years ago.
Similarly to you I wanted to create a bonsai with clouds rather than mushroom top.
I was fortunate to have a member at Nepean Bonsai Society that knows a lot about azaleas and he has guided me along with mine.
Initially I just had to take out the branches that we're going straight up or straight down, trim back quite heavily all over and then select my branches and wire them into submission.
The following year I started to create the pads.
It is now starting to look like what I wanted and really a short time considering the patience you require in bonsai.
Keep seeking instruction from your other club members and this one will do the same.
Cheers.

[kcpoole]

I was under the impression that it would take about a month, I appreciate you letting me know. They get a few hours of afternoon sun And are living in a small greenhouse.

This is also a reminder that I need to finish working on this tree...

How did thos cuttings develop? any sucess?

How it the outcome of the main tree?

Ken

[Damian Bee]

Hi there. Just out of curiosity
What did that beauty set you back?

[Jarad]

Thanks Jimbomelville,

I'm taking it slow with this one. It has plenty of options. I need to sit down with a whiskey or a wine and make some decisions.

Ken, those big storms we had hit Gosford pretty hard and blew the top off my mini greenhouse causing me to lose all but 3 of the cuttings.

Damian, it was $95. There were 4 others up there.

[Jarad]

Here's an update on this one, I'll take some photos from the side and chuck them on here too.

I had an air layer on this guy for a while and it kept drying out, then there were ants and then I just decided to just chop off the layer. I air layered branch "A" in the post above from the 16th of April.

AR03 - 2017-01-15 - Top.jpeg

And to my surprise, here's the successful air layer:

AR04 - 2017-01-15 - Top.jpeg

And here's another that I picked up a little while back:

AR02 - 2017-01-15.jpeg

These guys had been neglected for a while and had become quite leggy, so they all got cut back pretty hard. As you can see they are all back budding. The first Azalea that I bought from Ray Nesci is approximately 20 years old (I think), the air layer is 10 (I'm assuming) and the last is almost 30.

Also, an update on those cuttings Ken, none survived.

[Jarad]

And here are some better photos:

Azalea No. 1 (30 yr old):
This guy will be taken back to its former dome top glory.

AR02 - 2017-01-17 - 1.jpg

AR02 - 2017-01-17 - 2.jpg

Azalea No. 2 (20 yr old)
Not sure where I will be taking this one. All I know for sure is that I'm loving the nebari.

AR03 - 2017-01-17 - 1.jpg

AR03 - 2017-01-17 - 2.jpg

AR03 - 2017-01-17 - 3.jpg

AR03 - 2017-01-17 - 4.jpg

Azalea No. 3 (10 yr old)
This guy is destined to be a small twin trunk

AR04 - 2017-01-17 - 3.jpg

AR04 - 2017-01-17 - 4.jpg

Comments, suggestions and critiques more than welcome.

[Jarad]

While I was away over the last 2 years, I'm sorry to say all 3 of these guys now fall in the deceased section.

They were kept in the perfect location, but were defeated by the summer of 2017.