Polar wrote:
After I bought an azalea at Nursery "A", I passed by Nursery
"B" run by Japanese. Saw a lot of azaleas sitting out. Asked the
young man about them. He said their azaleas are grown outdoors, and
not "forced", like the one I just bought. Therefore their blooming
cycle is more natural. Whereas the greenhouse-grown ones are full of
blooms when they arrive at the nursery,but then they abruptly lose hem
all and it's quite a while till they bloom again.
Most commercial azalea places now grow their plants until they bloom in
greenhouses. This does two things. It gets them to marketable size
sooner and it gets to market blooming before normal field grown plants
of the same variety bloom. They use extended light cycles and heat to
force them to bloom early.
Is this bad? Well not really but it does bring up three questions.
1) You can't really be sure you are getting a hardy variety. If it is
locally field grown, you know it is hardy in your area.
2) Second, blooming in a green house does break the natural cycle. It
may have a tendency to cause sporting in the fall which would harm the
flowering in the next spring.
3) Third, these plants are not hardy yet. They harden off when grown
outside. They will be more difficult to grow the first year. Your
losses will be higher. Stresses such as drought, heat and cold will more
difficult until they develop hardiness. If they are a hardy variety,
this will develop during the first season grown outdoors.
The Rhododendron Society forces azalea and rhododendron plants for
display in the Philadelphia Flower Show. Then after the show we auction
these plants off to the members. We always use varieties that are hardy
so they will do well outside. However, as you mention, they are messed
up. Usually the following year they start blooming at the right time
and the second year they seem to be fully recovered. Our members are
always anxious to get them and have little trouble with them.
--
Visit my Rhododendron and Azalea web pages at:
http://www.users.fast.net/~shenning/rhody.html
Also visit the Rhododendron and Azalea Bookstore at:
http://members.aol.com/rhodyman/rhodybooks.html
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA
http://www.users.fast.net/~shenning