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Samantha wrote:

Lanthanide wrote: Are you suggesting to prune off everything else except that one branch?

yes leave only that little branch

Please... don't.

it's your tree

I think that radical pruning like that - taking 95% of all leaves and branches off it, coming into winter, could kill it?

Anyway, it seems like my next move should be to take off the 3 'suckers' that are growing up from the base of the trunk, just leaving the main trunk. But I don't know what to do next with the main trunk itself. Should I re-pot the plant so it's in a more up-right style? At the moment the main trunk is growing at about a 42 degree angle.

Also for potting mix I was thinking 50% coarse pumice, 20% clay kitty litter and 30% of the loamy stuff that came in the pot.

I came across this video on youtube which was very helpful, although this is a rhododendron rather than an azalea, they are both in the same species:

I chopped off the suckers from the base of the trunk and when tilting the plant so the trunk is even more angled, there's a clear ) shape from the 2nd largest branch (after the trunk) that should work nicely for upright informal. I've highlighted it in green in the image - I think this may actually be the same one that leatherback identified earlier in the thread. I'd estimate that about 3/4 of all of the foliage is gone from when I bought it. It could probably be pruned even further back right now, but since we're coming into winter, and this is a flowering plant, I'd like to leave more foliage on so I can actually get some flowers in spring.



It seems like my 'pot' is just way too shallow, though. It's only 5cm deep measuring from the outside, so the interior is only about 4.5 cm deep, which just isn't enough. Hence why there's a whole lot of soil mounded up around the base of the tree, to try and keep the roots covered. The rest of the potting mix in the pot is 1/4 soil, 1/4 builders sand, 1/4 kitty litter and 1/4 coarse pumice, following as close as I can to the recipe from that youtube video. I think I will need to re-pot this fairly soon, and when I do I think I'll reduce the sand content a little and replace with soil. I probably won't prune the roots any further since they're quite a dense mat of fine roots already, with very few thick ones in there.

Thanks very much for everyone's help in this thread.

What did you do this for?

I am just going to help you wish for a warm winter, or you get to buy a new plant.
What weather can you expect in winter?

Lanthanide wrote: I think that radical pruning like that - taking 95% of all leaves and branches off it, coming into winter, could kill it?

I should have looked, at your profile. How bad are winters down there? Hopefully this one's mild.

leatherback wrote: What did you do this for?

In this case I've suddenly become interested in bonsai, I like rhododendrons and I saw what I thought was a good subject on clearance at a local nursery.

I fully acknowledge that it isn't the best time of year to be doing this; but I'm interested in bonsai now, not 6 months ago.

I am just going to help you wish for a warm winter, or you get to buy a new plant.
What weather can you expect in winter?

My city is USDA zone 9a (although I think most years it is probably more like 9b). We normally get ~60 frost days per year, ground temperature never drops below about 9-10 C though - it never freezes. So far we've had one of the warmest years on record and the next couple of months are projected to be warmer than usual.

I'm going to be keeping this plant on a double-glazed east-facing windowsill over winter, in a room that is heated in the evenings and weekends - lowest temperature should be about 10-11 C overnight. So temperatures shouldn't be a problem; it's more whether the plant has enough foliage left (since the leaves are tiny) to keep itself alive and heal from the pruning injuries.

During the re-potting, I found that the soil (peat?) was completely waterlogged. I squeezed it in my hands and got a lot of water out of each handful. Rhododendrons don't like soggy roots and I think the plant was suffering from that.

did you mean -10c? If you pack it in mulch on the ground, it should be no problem. Well, if it never gets above -10c for three months or so, pack it in mulch on the ground, and cross your fingers.

9 to 10 degrees centigrade.

so warm, like paradise, t shirt weather.

i jest, no unless it gets down bellow-5c, we don't worry up here, where it gets cold.