Saving my Satsuki Azalea

by Adrienne
(Lebanon, TN)

My daughters gave me this plant for Mother's Day and they paid quite a bit for it - sent from FTD online florists. I confess I have kept it in the house quite a bit, since I want to SEE it, plus it has been beastly hot here the past few weeks. We went away for 5 days, but I think my friend watered it for me. Somehow, between over and underwatering, being kept indoors, and just general lack of knowledge, most of the leaves have fallen off. I have another friend who does bonsai and she gave me some fertilizer/disease/insecticide by Bayer with instructions for use, so I just gave the plant a "dose" of that. I gently pulled off most of the dead leaves and have put the plant on the patio, where it is in the shade until the sun gets pretty low in the sky (but it is still HOT out there). My friend advised that I not cut anything off just yet, but see how it does over the next few weeks.

Is there any hope?

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Hi Adrienne!

Yes, there is hope!

For starters, Azaleas commonly drop their leaves, but this usually occurs in Autumn. Obviously you have a little problem.

Your Azalea is obviously stressed and by the sounds of it, has been underwatered. I can see yellowing on the leaves which generally indicates drought.

I would suggest not feeding it. Generally Azaleas will react to feeding in Spring for growth, but not when sick. Trees do not like being fed if they are sick, generally.

Don't repot either, this will traumatise it further. The best thing you can do is to control the sunlight it gets, only allow a couple of hours a day in partial shade. It will need sunlight to properly photosynthesise, but excess amounts will further stress it. Maintain a frequent watering schedule (twice a day for now) and don't water the leaves.

If your tree is not too far gone it should survive.

Good luck with it!

thanks for stopping by!

Lee (admin)