Jo Trojer wrote:
Hi All,

This is my first post on this list, I am Jo and live in
Innsbruck (Austria) and I was wondering if you could give me
advice on Azalea's etc. I have one from a Nursery (not
bonsai yet) and I want to re-pot it in a bonsai container
and start working on it. Late summer is the right time, right?

I also have a few citrus trees and was wondering if I can

use the special Azalea soil that I get from the nursery for
the citrus trees?? The reason I was wondering about this is
because both like acidic soil...

Is the Rhododendron soil I can buy at the nursery any
good
for bonsai Azaleas or should I take other soils or maybe mix
it with a clay-granulate to improve drainage?

Thanks for any help.

Hey, Jo. Glad to see you made it to the ORIGINAL home of
the IBC. ;-)

Azaleas can be potted at the same time of year as most
temperate zone plants -- spring. You can either repot in
early spring, after removing all or most of the flower buds,
or wait until after the bloom is over and you have picked
off ALL of the flower remnants to prevent seed formation.

I think summer would be disasterous, except in an amergency
situation.

The azalea soil will be fine ADDED to bonsai soil, perhaps
50-50. Azaleas like acid soil. Normal bonsai soil is
neutral to slightly acidic, and the azalea soil -- pine bark
and peat/sphagnum -- is highly acidid. Azalea soil by
itself probably wouldn't drain well enough.

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - Nature
encourages no looseness, pardons no errors. Ralph Waldo Emerson

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