Summer azalea maintenance helps to ensure a colorful spring
BY DANIEL E. MULLINS Extension Horticulture Agent Santa Rosa County

This is the most demanding time of year for our most popular landscape shrub species. Azaleas have made their spring flush and new branch growth has slowed or ceased. Plants will soon initiate flower buds which will continue to develop through late summer and fall.

The amount and quality of azalea flowering during spring is therefore largely dependent upon the health of plants during the previous summer. Plants grown under optimum light, nutrient and moisture conditions during this critical period will flower their best next spring. On the other hand, plants undergoing stress during the remainder of the summer can be expected to flower poorly.

Azaleas are plants with peculiar growing requirements. Once these basic requirements are understood, they are easy to grow under Gulf Coast conditions.

Light: Partial shade or filtered light is ideal for azaleas. Good light conditions include shifting high shade from pines, as under story plants and areas that receive only morning sun.

Azaleas will not do well in areas that receive direct sunlight all day or when exposed to hot southern or western locations. Though they might live, they generally go into a "survival mode" rather than growing or flowering normally. Plants grown where there is too much heat and light are usually stunted, poorly foliated and covered with scaly lichens.

Soil Moisture: Being in the heath family, the root system of azaleas is somewhat unique. It is very shallow and fibrous, requiring both high oxygen levels and consistently moist, but not wet soil.

Periodic irrigation and the use of coarse organic mulches beneath plants help to meet these requirements. A2 to 3 inch layer of pine needles or bark beneath plants retains moisture and allows roots to grow near the soil surface where oxygen is more abundant.

Fertilization: Choose an "Azalea - Camellia" special type rather than a standard garden fertilizer. This specialty fertilizer contains no nitrate nitrogen, which is poisonous to the roots of azaleas.

Two fertilizer applications per year is usually sufficient. One is applied during the spring and a second in mid-summer. Follow label directions carefully and avoid placing fertilizer on plant stems or leaves. Water immediately to activate the product and to prevent plant burn.

Pruning: Limit pruning at this time of year. Heavy general pruning done after early June results in reduced flowering the following spring. Excessively vigorous unsightly shoots, often called "water sprouts" can be removed any time that they occur.

Note: Excessively deep planting continues to be the number 1 cause of azalea stunting and death in the landscape. Set new plants in the soil no deeper than the top of the root ball when transplanting.

Question of the Week: Ants have taken over my compost pile. Could it be something that I added?

Answer: Try to remember everything that has been added to the pile. Any material that contains fat, grease or high protein attracts ants.