In article , "James"
wrote:

In the Spring of each year, I put down a weed and feed product. I have
many Azalea beds. Some years they bloom well, others they don't. I try to
fertilize them separately with a product formulated for them.

It has occurred to me that when I fertilize my lawn with weed and feed, I go
up adjacent to my azalea beds. These are very old azaleas (25 years), so I
guess their roots extend out quite a bit. I wonder if the weed and feed
(Atrazine) is going to the outside roots of the azaleas, and stunting them
some ? I don't think any of the weed and feed gets closer than 3 feet from
the main trunk of the bushes, but if the feeders come out more than 3 feet
then in a way I may be giving them some weed and feed which is not my
intention.

Any comments, or thoughts ??


--James--


Azalea roots are surprisingly restricted in area, but regular watering
could well cause inappropriate fertilizers to migrate into that root zone.

Why a shrub doesn't bloom well one year but superbly the year before &
after is sometimes obvious, but other times a mystery that will never be
entirely resolved.

Others who love rhodies & azaleas may disagree with me, but I believe
fertilizing these shrubs annually is too much. Sudden doses, large doses,
rich doses, or too many doses of fertilizer is more of a stress factor
than an aid. Less is more where rhodies & azaleas are concerned. They get
more benefit from a thin mulching with composted manure or even just
leaves left to go to leafmold. Rich or too regular fertilizing induces
leggy branch growth & lots of leaves, if not actual decline of the shrub's
health, but isn't apt to improve bloom.

But other factors also effect bloom, including what the buds experienced
through the winter, & what stresses the shrub experienced the whole
growing period of the previous year, or how & when a shrub was pruned or
deadheaded, or the watering schedule & rainfall it experienced while
developing buds. Some of the shrubs' experiences are not controlable by a
mortal gardener.

Timing of the rare/occasional/slight fertilizing or compost topcoating
MIGHT also be important -- given to shrubs one by one shortly after each
stops blooming, rather than an entire collection all at once without
regard for their bloom time, or at a time too close to autumn to be
healthful.

-paghat the ratgirl
--
Get your Paghat the Ratgirl T-Shirt he
http://www.paghat.com/giftshop.html
"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden
people maintaining a free civil government." -Thomas Jefferson