Transplanting Azaleas

[doctorragamuffin]

Okay ya'll --

I've got two absolutely BEAUTIFUL azaleas on the front side of my house, north side, shaded most of the day, overall flourishing very well. HOWEVER, they are just plain too big for the spot that they were planted in (at the foot of a porch wall below a railing -- they are now OVER the railing and can begin to encroach up onto the front porch itself). I've resigned myself that 1) we want to keep them, 2) I don't want them where they are, because they're too big, and 3) I don't want to prune them every year -- they look like crap when you try and restrict them down, you know?

Going to probably transplant them this fall. Wondering -- if you get this much of a jump on them, isn't that better? Can't you do like initial prep work now, i.e., cut your initial holes around them, pre-creating the rootball and that kind of thing? Not going to kill them, right? They usually thrive more in shade/cool, right? Acidic soil, that kind of thing. . .anyone out there transplanted them before?


TIA

Ragamuffin

[Newt]

Hi Doc,

Here's how to transplant them. I've only done small ones.
http://www.azaleas.org/faq.html#tra

Lots more info on them here as well.
http://www.azaleas.org/faq.html

Sounds like you are doing alot of good work on your garden.
Newt

[doctorragamuffin]

Yeah, Newt, I'm enjoying what I'm learning. Lots of mistakes, but lots of things learned as well. Regarding the azalea -- I'm pruning it back rather aggressively, for a couple of reasons, to 1) reduce its size at any rate, because it is just plain old too big, and 2) to try and make it more manageable in the fall. I'm wondering if I'm doing the wrong thing. . .if you cut it back, I would imagine it stresses the plant??

When I go to move this thing -- it has run rather wild and of course is pretty spindly and spread out. . .what do I do with all these branches? Tie them up??


Ideas??

Ragamuffin

[Newt]

Doc, I'm so glad you are learning so much, even if it's by 'fire'! If the shrubs are too large you could wrap them with old sheets and then use twine or rope to secure it. That way you have less chance of injuring the bark. Here's a site about transplanting shrubs.
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/pla...ees/f1147w.htm

I know, I've got a link for just about everything!

Newt

[doctorragamuffin]

Newt (and anyone else who will listen),

I've looked further at these azaleas -- I'm becoming rather sad, because it just appears as if I might not be able to transplant them. The overall "run" of the base of the plant is something like 3 - 4 feet worth of root ball diameter! It looks like this thing has spread out and then "re-rooted" out further away from the plant, if that makes any sense. I am honestly not too fired up about working and working and working on this thing, only to have to dig up this massive root ball, bust my back doing it, and then maybe have it die if it shocks it too much. It makes me kind of mad, because the people that put this thing out before obviously just didn't care enough about it to gauge how big it would get relative to where they were putting it.

Sympathies? Ideas?

Doc Ragamuffin

[Newt]

Hi Doc,

I'm so sorry I haven't been able to respond to you before this but I've been in the hospital for 3 weeks and was too weak to sit at the computer until now. I did manage to download my e-mails a couple of times, but there were so many that I just gasped and went back to bed. Recovery has been very slow.

Back to your azalea delemma. Think about root pruning them so the root mass will be smaller. One good thing about azaleas is they have shallow root systems, so they aren't going to be very deep, just spread out. I don't have the strength to do the research to find you a site, but here's the search you can look through.

http://www.google.com/search?biw=106...=Google+Search

What 'cha think?
Newt

Hi Newt,

hope you're better.

About the azaleas: if the branches root themselves when they touch the ground
- my gardenias do that -, you should be able to cut off those branches and dig those
roots up and replant elsewhere. It will take a while until they turn into a roundish bush,
but you can start with those and leave the main plant until later, or even decide that
the offshoots are enough and not transplant the main plant at all and try to get rid of
it altogether (I don't know how hard it is to kill azaleas where you are, or if you are
inclined to do such a dirty deed - I know I always have problems doing such things.)

Aloha,

Maren

[doctorragamuffin]

What I'm inclined to do -- is to cut these things way back -- make them essentially smaller. 1) They're too big to move otherwise, 2) wouldn't it put...LESS stress on it when I DO move them?

Comments please. . .

Newt, don't get sick again. I have no idea what I'm doing otherwise.