Fertilizing azaleas

[Mark Simon]

I have a house near Mt Vernon TX - we have about 40 azaleas planted in our landscape. Last year I converted my wife to the "organic" program - she is now skeptical because they have never looked worse in the 10 years they have been planted.

I need help - or the 4 pound container of Osmocote for Azaleas/Camelias and Rhodedendrons is in my future.

Last spring I put about 2 inches of compost around the base of the plants - this was covered with another 2-4 inches of pine needles - our typcial mulch in that area.

after blooms died - I foliar sprayed with Garret Juice and Medina HastaGro alternatively every 3-4 weeks - in the interim the plants are watered with drip irrigation.

I need some advice on how to feed these plants to keep them growing vigorously.

Help

[lou_midlothian_tx]

Mark Simon wrote: I have a house near Mt Vernon TX - we have about 40 azaleas planted in our landscape. Last year I converted my wife to the "organic" program - she is now skeptical because they have never looked worse in the 10 years they have been planted.

I need help - or the 4 pound container of Osmocote for Azaleas/Camelias and Rhodedendrons is in my future.

Last spring I put about 2 inches of compost around the base of the plants - this was covered with another 2-4 inches of pine needles - our typcial mulch in that area.

after blooms died - I foliar sprayed with Garret Juice and Medina HastaGro alternatively every 3-4 weeks - in the interim the plants are watered with drip irrigation.

I need some advice on how to feed these plants to keep them growing vigorously.


I hope you've tried alfalfa tea and alfafla pellets! A lot of organic rose growers use those on roses and apparently they work great. I've used on mine but I don't know if it helped or not. I didn't have anything to compare to.
Help

[trailrunner]

http://www.azaleas.org/faq.html

This web site helped me a lot. I am just speculating that perhaps the compost you used was not acidic enough? Because you are not using the chemical concoction it may need acidic compost. Just a guess.

[gsblake]

Mark, you say they've "never looked worse" ... can you describe the symptoms you're seeing or share some pictures? That'd make it much easier to determine what could be wrong. Otherwise we're just guessing.

My guesses ... if you've had anywhere near as much rain in Mt. Vernon as we've had in Dallas that could be a culprit (the leeching away of essential elements). If they've been there for 10 years your acid-soil beds may be breaking down and in need of some rebuilding.