Azalea Care
A Few Tips On Azalea Care
Azalea care is relatively easy as long as you follow the rules of thumb when planting them. They are quite hardy, but they need certain acidity and moisture levels in order to stay healthy. Once established, the azalea will give you years of nearly trouble free enjoyment, as long as you give it the best head start possible. If you have clay soil, your first and most important step with azalea care will be to fortify your soil with organic materials and peat moss, mounding it above the flat surface so the your beautiful evergreen shrub will have aeration and drainage. Chopped up or mulched oak leaves offer a great natural fertilizer when you initially plot your azalea garden, and you can follow this up by feeding on a regular basis.
The most sunlight that an established azalea can withstand is 6 hours per day, and these will preferably hit during the morning hours when the sun is not as strong. Thus, planting them on the north to northwest side of a garage, house, or stand of evergreen trees will work out nicely. This will help to ensure that your shrubs are shaded during the afternoon hours when they could easily be overwhelmed. Azalea care includes a lot of watering for the year of the transplant, and they will need to be watered twice per week during the summer months thereafter. The soil should be moist but never damp, as the azalea only roots 8 inches into the soil and is easily drowned. No flooding or sogginess, or else your efforts will be lost to death of your plants. (This is another reason for mounding.)
Your next concern with azalea care will be pruning, and you will be relieved to know that unless you are growing a bonsai specimen, this evergreen does not need to be cut back very far or very often. In cases where you are confronted with an azalea bush which is old and overgrown, causing decreased flower production and unsightly bulk, you can head the bush. This is a pruning technique which is used to cut the shrub down to a 6 inch stalk, readying it for new growth the following year. This will rejuvenate the roots and cause them to store plenty of nutrition for a big push of new growth. You can also head wayward or unwanted branches to shape you azaleas into a hedge.
Azalea care may also require a pruning technique know as thinning, which you would use to remove full branches from the trunk or full sticks from the branches. This is sometimes necessary in order for light to get to the center of the plant, allowing for new growth from the inside.