(Roy) wrote:

I have a large amount of Azaleas, and it gets old quick cutting and
pruning them one branch at a time by hand. What would be wrong with
using a gas powered hedge type trimmer to clip em all back a bit, and
even them up.

First, now is not the time to prune them in the Northern Hemisphere.
They should be pruned in the spring after blooming. Ones pruned now
will loose the buds for next spring's flowers hence no flowers next
spring.

Second, do you want an azalea hedge or azalea plants. The pruner won't
do too much damage to the health of the plant, but will make them look
like ticky tacky hedges. Also, they will be more disease prone since
they won't have good air ventilation. If pedal blight (the flowers
turning brown before the flower wilts) is a problem in your area, don't
hedge prune, but shears prune to open up the inside of the plant for
air circulation. Also, pick up dead flowers so they don't infect new
blowers.

If you just want to take a little extra growth off the top of plants
that are getting leggy, a quick clipping of the tip tops in the spring
after blooming with the hedge trimmer could be used if you must.

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