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.

What do people think of this explanation?

TIA


--
Polar

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.

What do people think of this explanation?


It is a perfectly reasonable explanantion - "florist's azaleas" are forced
into bloom through the manipulation of chemicals. They are also very
highly hybridized for bloom size and color. They are sold as temporary
blooming houseplants and in many cases, will not transition successfully
to outdoor planting. If they do transition, it may take a number of years,
if ever, for them to bloom. Much better to get those bred for outdoor
conditions and hardiness - they will fare much better in the long run.

pam - gardengal

absolutely. forcing really screws the plant over and some of them never recover from
being forced. those grown outdoors havent been forced and are going to transplant
with little setback. in general pull the plant outta the pot. forced ones are packed
with roots in peat moss which is light and cheap to ship, but that peat moss is going
to dry out and/or be impossible to remove enough peat moss to loosen up the roots so
they grow out into the soil, those not forced are in real dirt. Ingrid

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.

What do people think of this explanation?

TIA



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List Manager: Puregold Goldfish List
http://puregold.aquaria.net/
www.drsolo.com
Solve the problem, dont waste energy finding who's to blame
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, I receive no money, gifts, discounts or other
compensation for all the damn work I do, nor for any of the
endorsements or recommendations I make.

In article ,
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.

What do people think of this explanation?


I've visited several growers here in the northwest & only ever seen them
field-grown, which appears to be the fundamental method. It'd take a
multi-billionaire to build enough greenhouses for so many shrubs.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/

On Fri, 28 Mar 2003 22:24:54 -0800, 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.

What do people think of this explanation?

Thanks to all for validating nursery guy's explanation.

I'll cut the plant a little slack, since I did transplant it in a very
good home-made mixture, but if it doesn't produce next season, out,
out, out.


--
Polar

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