Repotting pot bound azaleas

born2shop215 · June 2021

Hi all. I need some advice. I purchased an azalea at Christmas from Waitrose - gorgeous, in full bloom. It flowered beautifully and I’ve kept it well watered, but it’s always needed loads of water and when I examined it closely, I realised why - it appears to be not one plant in the pot, but FIVE. I can see this would be a cheaper way of making an impressive looking houseplant for the Christmas marketplace than growing one to full size! My question is, could I successfully repot the five plants individually? Will azaleas take that sort of punishment to their roots? Or would I end up losing the lot? TIA.

Fairygirl · June 2021

You can carefully separate the plants, repot them in appropriate sized pots, and grow them on to plant out, but if you thoroughly soak the pot first, that will make it easier. The easiest way to do that is to immerse the whole pot in another container and wait until no air bubbles appear. That means it will be well hydrated.
How well they thrive after that is dependent on their aftercare. Keep them somewhere shady, don't let them get dried out during summer, and repot when the roots fill the pots they're in. Ideally, an ericaceous compost if you have it, but almost anything will be fine for a few months. It'll be a while before they're big enough to plant out in the ground though. If your soil is alkaline, they won't enjoy that, so you may need to keep them potted, and use a loam based ericaceous medium for them, not just compost.
It's always a problem when plants are sold for a particular market, especially something that's a hardy outdoor shrub.

Repotting pot bound azaleas

Posts