AusBonsai

Azaleas have flowered well this year.
I have a range of different varieties collected from local gardens during garden makeovers. Flowering times are sequentila wjhic is good for the range of spring shows I attend.

Kurume looks just amazing. I would like to have that one

Very nice , a garden makeover is a good way to collect aged material , just need to be in the right place at the right time .

Cheers Ian

So much good material gets destroyed with recent knockdowns and rebuilds. What you can't see from these trees is the amount of effort needed to get them out of the ground, be able to lift them into some sort of container and into transport, unload them, have enough space for them in your yard, have a suitable container/spot for them to grow. Large material = $$$ for growing medium and water. Then you have to keep them alive while (you hope) they recover.

Hats of to Shibui and others who go to the effort to work with this sort of material

I recently acquired a huge ficus that was grown in a massive pot (it had also bolted) for close to 50 years. It was physically a struggle to get it to my place. A couple of weeks back when everyone was posting photos of their flowering plums, there was an old plum tree which was dug up and left by the side of the road. I stared at it many times over the next 48 hours before passing it up. Just too much effort even though the rewards are great.

Azaleas are one of the easier species I have collected. They do not have big root systems so spade down on all sides and many just lift out of the hole. Occasionally need to undercut a bit so widen the trench and chop under.
Many of mine have survived with radical root reduction so no need to dig a huge root ball.
They transplant well bare root so shake off as much soil into the hole to lighten the load. Chop back big roots on site to make it easier to move the plant.
Azaleas sprout very well from bare wood so branches can be cut back hard before or after digging to make it easier to dig and to move the stump.

Many of the azaleas I've dug were a mass of trunks from ground level. Many of the trunks have their own roots so clumps can be chopped apart with an axe to separate better looking trunks and get several trees from one. Take off trunks that bend the wrong way at the same time to make lifting and transport and potting easier.
I've transplanted azaleas at all times of the year with great survival rates.
A couple came from a builder friend who discovered the concreter had helped by removing the azaleas on Friday afternoon to do the new concrete path. Those 3 sat on the nature strip in the sun all weekend and were delivered to me on Monday afternoon. At that stage I was dubious about chance of success but all 3 lived.

Azaleas really are one of the easiest species for transplant.
Other trees may not be quite as co-operative

In a way I am not surprised they survived. If I look at the azalea cuttings I take, they can look healthy and appear to be growing well (but slowly) and thinking six months after I have taken them, “surely they have rooted by now”, they are happily sitting in whatever medium I put them in.

I just had to leave them longer and not move them!!!

They are a bit like junipers and ficus on that front. They last ages, but just don’t root as quickly.

shibui wrote: ↑November 10th, 2022, 5:21 pm Azaleas really are one of the easiest species for transplant.
Other trees may not be quite as co-operative

Totally agree with Shibui, Super easy to Grow and Collect
I use Kanuma exclusively as my potting medium on all of mine

Ken

Heres my Yama no hikari sorry the tags in the way of the trunk still a nice display.

sorry to hijack.

Simon

One of mum's trees that she got 20 years ago, only styled last year.

Simon

Ok, so I caved in and finally went and got one of 3 very large azaleas from somewhere I have permission from the owner. The digging wasn't super easy due to sideways trunk growth and a large tap root. However, it was much easier to transport (weight-wise) than some of the other larger trees I've collected.

I had to cut through the tap root but there is a reasonable amount of feeder roots.

Interested to know how likely is it to survive? Is it Ficus / Olive level of ease to keep it alive?

I've planted it in the ground and given it a good soak. I noticed some of the small side trees that grew off this plant have been living basically off the moisture they were getting through the air (very poor soil / only a small amount of roots and just at surface level), so I'm hoping this will be hardy.

Some people advise with some species to remove a lot of the leaves to reduce transplant shock through transpiration. Should I chop this close to the ground or should it be ok? Can I just get away with giving the leaves an extra mist?

I am surprised to hear of an azalea with a tap root?? Normally a spreading very fibrous root system. I guess you are certain it IS an azalea?
Also 'side trees living off moisture from air' ?? Azaleas sucker profusely and any suckers from ground level will grow roots but most of their nourishment comes through the connection with the main trunk and roots. The small roots are just a bonus for the plant and may have only started to grow recently but if conditions are right those roots will take off and that sucker could become a new plant independent of the parent. I usually cut those off and pot up separately. Even just a couple of small roots is usually enough for them to survive.

Azalea may not be quite ficus survival rating but would be close to olive provided you don't let it dry out.

I often cut azaleas back when transplanting just enough to reduce water demand but leaves do help new roots to grow so probably better not to completely chop to stump though I have done that a few times and they still grow.

I think there was a bunch of damage to the branches at some point. Some branches were loosely buried under the dirt but had completely separated from the parent. Root system less than an inch deep and the surface dirt was completely dry. The 'side trees living off moisture from air' wasn't a scientific observation, just saying they were getting their moisture from somewhere and still putting out leave.

I didn't get a pic of the root system before I put this into the ground, but I followed a large root down about 20cm before giving up and just chopping it. It was about 8cm in diameter. There were some side roots coming out from just above where I chopped also, so thought that was a good place to chop.

Definitely an Azalea. They were flowering a month or so back when I went to speak with the owner.

Thanks for your help. If it survives and flowers again next year will post a pic. The olive I dug a few months ago is pumping, so I'm confident I should be able to keep this alive.