名媛直播

I've had this Azalea and a few other types for a couple of years but would still consider myself a newbie.

I'm seeking some advice.

Tree = Azalea
Country = South East England
Location = outdoor garden partial sun

After the first few days of this year I took one of the photos attached and at that point (to a newbie) I considered my bonsai to be healthy. It had green foilage and lots of buds ready to flower this year.

A week or so ago I went to move the trees position in my garden to give it more morning light and noticed it had taken a nose dive (compared to its picture two weeks before)

Lots of leaves were almost fully black and they're appear dry to touch and hard.

I've read plenty of info online and some suggest under watering. I personally can't see that being my problem as I have kept on top of that.

They also mention overwatering which is something I can see to be a problem as in late December, the UK had at least a week or two of constant rain!

For the purposes of a new picture (taken today) I moved the tree indoors and some of the leaves have dropped off, just when the tree was in transit. I also noticed small green bugs.

Any help advise would be greatly appreciated.

This is my favourite tree!!

Hi,
名媛直播-Newbie (1 year) here. I assume it is indeed because of overwatering. I had a similar issue with my ficus tiger bark some time ago. Do you know which soil it is in? I solved this issue by completely repotting the tree and putting it in a soil that contained way less humus. If you choose to repot, you will be able to see how the current soil looks and if its too wet inside. Also I would not put any moss on top of the soil until your tree is healthy again, since this seems to be an issue with too much water.

Hope that helps!

Why did you take it inside? That was not a good idea, it is so mild at the moment that it will start growing as some of mine are thinking about. I doubt it is overwatering, or underwatering either. The soil looks poor. Get it back outside, and put it where it will be protected from rain not frost. Under a table or bench, not inside anywhere. I suggest that you re pot late spring into Kanuma soil. I would not worry too much about the leaves it is the result of taking it inside, I would remove any that are dead, and then leave it alone just check that it does not dry out completely.

As I understand it the leafs went bad outdoors and the tree was only indoors for the purpuse of taking the photo. I guess less than an hour?

Anyway the dry leafs drying cannot be the result of moving indoors.

Re potting when the plant is stressed is absolutely the wrong thing to do. If the plant is too wet (not overwatered) then the correct thing to do is dry it out by putting it where it does not get any rain on it. Most plants do not get overwatered they may get too wet, that is not the same. In the winter the plants will be wet, My Azaleas are wet all winter and are fine. They lose leaves but that is normal for an evergreen plant.

Thank you everyone for your replies.

Unfortunately I do not know what soil was used. It is the same soil from when I purchased it from a shop in June 2022.

Regarding the indoor bit, that was for a matter of minutes, just to get a better photo where the colours of the leaves could be seen better rather than the light from the outdoor pics I took. Those photos didn't really show how bad some of the leaves looked.

Ive put it in my greenhouse for now. It'll get at least 2-3 hours of sunlight.

If it needs more than that, I can move it outside the greenhouse but the only good spot would mean it'll get afternoon sun (3-4 hours).

This time last year I had it in the greenhouse and it looked lovely and fresh as it did start of the year.

Azalea is a shade loving tree and do not demand that much sun. Even less in winter. Moving it around to get more sun may not be the best for it. I would keep it in almost full shade until recovered.

There are decidious azaleas and evergreen azaleas. In mild winters in mild areas even the decidious ones may keep their leafs in winter. Could it be that you have a decidious one and the winter has been slightly colder than previous ones?

Other bonsai i have, I received an information sheet describing how old it is, the type, when it was last re-potted etc.

This one, unfortunately I didn't buy from the same place and all I have written down is its a Chinese Azalea.

I do find it confusing when reading information online as they tend to differ from what I see, but from what I understand this is an evergreen.

Hopefully it'll be fine. Fingers crossed

Lastest photo taken this morning.

Looking more and more brown. It has been in greenhouse since this post started.

Any change of opinion?

As long as it is not very dry I think it should be ok. I would remove the completely dead leaves and I would remove the moss and weeds from the surface. Otherwise I would not be worried about it. As you are close to both Lee Verorverts and herons I might consider taking it there for advice or your local club.