Satsuki Azalea Bonsai Trees For Sale

Satsuki Azalea are grown as bonsai trees due to the superb show of flowers that they produce in late spring and early summer. When you add in small leave, tight growth and excellent back-budding, its easy to see why they are so popular. Have a nosey below at the Satsuki Azalea bonsai trees for sale from All Things Bonsai.

What is a Satsuki Azalea? The term Satsuki is often heard in relation to Azalea bonsai, yet not always understood. The term Satsuki is Japanese. It relates to the time of year that the Azalea flowers. It is part of the Japanese lunar calendar. From that, we can say that Satsuki isn’t a species, variety or cultivar. It is more of a descriptor, covering varieties of Azalea which flower at a particular time of year.

How to grow Azalea bonsai trees

Location

Satsuki Azalea bonsai need to live outdoors. They grow well in semi-shaded spot and don’t like very sunny locations. Regarding winter, the jury is still out. Some people always protect them under glass in winter, while others leave them out, whatever the weather. What we’ve found is that although cold, frosty weather does not harm them, it does discolour any foliage that is present on the tree when the bad weather comes. This means that they look bad over the duration of the winter and into the following spring. Ones kept under glass keep look nicer.

They cannot be kept indoors for very long without dying.

Watering

Azalea are ericaceous plants, they prefer acidic soil. Tap water can be quite alkaline, especially in hard water areas. It is therefore considered to be better to give them rainwater if possible.

Pruning and Styling

Azalea flower on the tips of the growth. If you prune certain times of year, you’ll prune off the shoots and you won’t get any flowers. What we tend to do is prune back quite hard after flowering has finished in summer and then only prune back very long shoots at other times of year.

We don’t neccessarily care if our Azalea bonsai trees flower every year. We are often more concerned with developing them or keeping the growth tight. In fact, it is a good idea not to allow them to flower every year. Stopping them from flowering increases the health of the trees, as they put more effort into foliage.

Azalea can be wired. Newer growth is very pliable. Older wood can be very brittle.

Pests and Problems

Spider Mites can be a problem in hot, dry weather. Vine Weevils love to eat the delicate roots, so if you have a problem with them in your area when you will need to keep an eye on this.

Repotting

Azalea bonsai are usually repotted in spring, along with many other bonsai. If you repot in spring, many growers do not let them flower that year—they cut the flowers off.

They can also be repotted in summer, after flowering. Its likely that this works best when combined with hard pruning after flowering.

When we repot Azalea, we use Kanuma, an ericaceous granular bonsai soil from Japan.

 

Further Information

Thanks for having a look our current Juniper bonsai trees for sale.

For further bonsai information, have a look at the bonsai tree care pages of our website. We also working to produce other bonsai tree species guides here.

Please also have a look at our Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/c/AllThingsBonsaiSheffield