My Summer Tips for growing Satsuki Azalea Bonsai | Post Flowering Advice

[@oachkatzlsmum]

An other plant I do not have 😄 Though they are really beautiful and seem to make lovley bonsai, I decided to focus on the trees and species I already have. 😊 If somewhere, sometime one of these azaleas crosses my way, who knows? Anyway 😘 Enjoyed the video, maybe in advance. Not forget to mention, that your azaleas indeed are gorgeous, Xavier. Thanks for sharing. 🙏 Cheers 🙋‍♀️ Martina

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Thanks Martina - do you get dwarf azalea easily? I love how they flower so early in spring.

[@jjz3192]

July 4th is when Americans gained independence from the British. Very big holiday for the US. I wasn't sure whether you were joking or not but it was funny coming from you :P Nice azalea though!

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

That was definitely in my mind - thanks for watching :)

[@FrostBiteBonsai]

OOoooooOOOOooooOOO!!! Azaleas!!! I am so falling in love with mine!! No idea what kind they are, literally bought them for the flowers. I learned a ton here!! Thanks again Xavier! Awesome!!

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Thanks marysol. I have just done a further pruning based on all of the new shoots starting to show much lower down the branches :)

[@jjj7665]

I would be very pleased to have that tree in my collection. I think it is beautiful.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

It is a gorgeous tree and the flowers were incredible that year

[@KennetDeBondt]

Interesting: well done! Grts Kennet

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Thanks Kennet - it was a fantastic year for flowers :)

[@marymathew8]

I live in India and I just got a smallAzalea plant.Your plants look beautiful even after the rather brutal😢 pruning.I hope I can try to do a fairly presentable job.Thankyou for all the tips.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I am sure it will work out wonderfully so long it is healthy to begin with. prune hard and get great results :)

[@kevinwilkes5969]

Informative video xav. Enjoyed.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Cheers Kevin - I am having more fun being a bit funky and retro with the thumbnails :)

[@mick681]

My satsuki azalea is still flowering now 6Th July. I applied Epsom Salts when the leaves were looking a bit grim and they came back a treat. Apparently Epsom salts help the tree take up nutrients more readily. A great explanation of pruning Xavier.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Thanks for the Epsom Salt reminder. I couldn't recall what I had applied 3 years ago but knew it had something to do with a bath :)

[@williambarratt1027]

Great vid Xav.keep up the good work.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Thanks for that Will - I filmed my first ever cascade styling yesterday. So pleased because it started with one of my oriignal 5 year old chinese elm cuttings :)

[@Wise-Man-Say]

Im really liking azaleas since ive seen them flowering this year. only thing is they only last about a day or 2 before dying. rhododendrons also another one. as someone else mentioned, cut them right back for bet design and thickness.

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

You should get about three weeks of flowering. Beautiful but like cherry blossom they are so short lived.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

The one in the video held its flowers for 3 weeks and I did actually remove about a dozen unopened flowers too. I could definitely prune back harder but I quite like the unique style of a couple of them - even if they are a little leggy :)

[@Wise-Man-Say]

@@XaviersBonsaiRetreat maybe next year I'll get longer lasting, they suffered at winter and didn't get light when it began early enough. I like your styles and judgements! Inspiring always

[@TOMSAI]

Very nice Azalee! Thx for showing 👍😍

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I like yours a lot more - much bigger trunk :)

[@marosbonsai]

Nice video Xavier, flowering tress are amazing and brings a lot of joy. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

They are great when they flower and frustrating when they don't. My azalea went 3 years without flowers so it is nice to see some blooms on one or two of them :)

[@heidizwaenepoel7355]

After watching your video, I went out to check mine. Did the same as you, took 2 cuttings as well. Thanks 🙏

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Hope all goes well with the cuttings and would love to see the results. God Bless

[@treeaddict]

Great timing, i just ordered 2 satsukis! love the in depth training/trimming techniques video.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I hope you can put some of the information to good use. Cheers Mark

[@Bonsaicrazy]

Great video Xavier. Is now true time to cut back to a stump and have no leaves ?

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Definitely - I could have gone a lot harder on mine to be honest...but I like the quirkiness of some of them.

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

You won’t believe what video I have 80% complete and ready to go in a day or so… 😂 At least this gives me the opportunity to steal all your best ideas 😂

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I've no idea...what video could it possibly be :)

[@TheBonsaiGarden]

@@XaviersBonsaiRetreatt’s funny how these synchronicities happen across the KZbin bonsai channels mainly because we are all working on particular species at the same time of year. But for what it’s worth, your video is much more informative than mine, though mine has more fish and cats😁

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

@@TheBonsaiGarden I bet the fish and cats win it though :)

[@MadBruvWD]

July 4th? Isn’t that the day England decided to keep India instead? 😂😂 great video mate, Satsukis are beautiful but can be a handful if grumpy lol. I lost my little one this year for no apparent reason, the flower tower though keeps on giving. It’s her year off flowering next year, but 2025 she will look gorgeous again.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

They are definitely grumpy and sulk a lot :)

[@nerinat8371]

Great video Xavier, l’m on the search for a Satsuki but hard to find

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I was lucky that I managed to pick a few up back in 2017 - though they aren't the best quality. My cuttings are devleoping nicely...but slowly.

[@DeciduousSnurb]

Xavier, why did you decide to repot the azalea at 23:00 instead of late winter/early spring? Do you usually repot your azaleas in summer after peak flowering?

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Yes - summer is my preference. I know this is based on a japanese climate practice, which we do not have in the UK, but I have generally found they respond well to this time. I have also done spring and that too has been ok...although it did muck up the flowering cycle.

[@raymondbirds2392]

Whens the best time of the year to propagate cuttings, or can they be done anytime of the year

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I took mine when I did the hard prunes. Some in early spring and some just a week or so ago. Both sets took last year. In truth, I take cutting whenever i prune stuff - quantity rather than quality sometimes works best :)

[@raymondbirds2392]

@@XaviersBonsaiRetreat thanks for replying

[@Chris-oq6kn]

Nice video. My azalea from japan is on its way out bec of the winters here in ny. It just couldnt take them even in the shed. About that wire wheel i was looking to buy one from corin but they look like square spools inside that wrap around the wire. Prob is where i get wire from they dont look like they will fit around in the middle. I see he does sell a round inner piece where the wire wraps around i would hate to take apart wire and re wrap it on the spool. I did watch ur video where u took it apart im afraid bec its square inside it wouldnt help me. I may have to go with the pricier wire caddy. How bad is it to wire a coil around the spool bec most of my spools of wire are least 1kg. Would love to get a caddy like that

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I felt really stupid when I realised you could just unscrew the facing panel instead of spending 15 minutes rewiring the loop :)

[@gerardoforesthillsbonsai]

Very cool Azaleas, my only one died last winter 😳

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

What a shame - I do find they can be a bit sulky some years. I lost 2 last year because of the heat and bad repots by me!

[@sueb1317]

From my experience with ground-grown Azaleas, flower buds abort when the tree is not strong enough to sustain them. In my case, a heat wave in June and July resulted in the roots getting too hot and dry. This was followed by poor fertilizer uptake.

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I think you are spot on with that. I am definetly keeping them in the shad a lot more now and will be looking at a more bespoke fertiliser routine. Thanks for watching

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

Morning Bruce - thanks for your support :)

[@AlexBraunton]

July 4th is some sort of Firework festival I think

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I made my first proper cascade today - well happy :)

[@percyacutt3110]

Cut back to bare wood , the tree will thank you currently way to leggy

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

I agree totally but it is my favourite and I am happy to go a lot harder on the other ones :)