Azalea leaves turning black at the tips and yellow leaves with no growth? Here's one trick to solve it

This is day 917 of Lan Yao's daily original articles

Excerpt from the "30 Days from Zero Basics to Becoming a Flower Growing Expert" series

Yesterday Lan Yao shared two basic precautions about repotting, but different flowers often have different situations, so naturally there are more finer points to repotting.

Those of you who have bought azaleas, give a shout out so Lan Yao can see. I believe most of you have run into this problem.

After buying an azalea and repotting it, nothing seems wrong at first, and it still blooms. But after the flowers finish, things gradually go wrong. The leaves start turning yellow and drying out from the tips, then they start dropping. Some buds wither before they even open. At first it is just the leaf tips drying out and falling off, but as it progresses, some branches dry up too, and the leaves drop off almost completely, leaving only a few leaves at the tips of the branches, still somewhat chlorotic and yellowing. Flower lovers who have run into this situation, raise your hands!

So why does this happen?Many flower lovers think it is because their potting soil is bad and has become alkaline. Of course that reason cannot be ruled out, but for an azalea bought just a few months ago, this is not the main cause. Think about it: why did this not happen when you bought it? It bloomed nicely too, so why did problems appear right after the flowers finished?

Actually, this is a problem of excessive nutrient depletion.Why does excessive nutrient depletion occur?To get to the bottom of this, first take your azalea out of its pot and look. You will find that the azalea has not grown any new roots at all. It is still the same root ball from when you bought it, and no new growth has occurred in the newly added soil.

To put it plainly, although we moved the azalea into a bigger pot, the azalea's root system did not grow. With no new root growth, it is no different from not repotting at all. The original root ball is so small and its nutrients are limited. After being heavily depleted by blooming, its nutrients can be said to be almost used up. Add to that the few months of care in our hands, with repeated watering, and the fertility and acidity of the root ball have been pretty much washed away. That is why the azalea shows yellow leaves and leaf drop.

You might say, I added base fertilizer when I repotted! But with no new root growth, the fertilizer in the new soil does nothing for the azalea.So how do we avoid this situation?To keep azaleas from developing this problem, we need to take preventive measures beforehand and do a good job of prevention when repotting.

For azaleas you buy, the growing medium is often peat or coconut coir, and the roots outside the root ball are often already dead fibrous roots. When repotting, we should remove the soil on the outer edge of the original root ball along with those dead fibrous roots.

Prune the root system until the live, healthy roots are exposed, and then plant it.This way, new roots will quickly grow into the newly added soil. You might worry: won't this damage the roots and cause the azalea's buds to drop? Or even kill the azalea?

We usually buy azaleas in late autumn or early spring, or even in winter. During these periods, the temperature is relatively low, and the plant's transpiration is relatively slow. Even if the roots are somewhat damaged, the impact on the plant is not especially great. This is also why most of our potted plants are repotted in autumn and early spring. So there is no need to worry at all that root pruning will cause the azalea to die. On the contrary, if you plant it directly without pruning the roots, no new roots will grow, and it will be very hard for you to keep it alive. In the end it can only wither.

The azalea counts as a relatively special kind of potted plant, so Lan Yao is covering it separately. Most potted plants do not need this operation, but you still have to judge by situation and treat them differently. Tomorrow I will continue sharing several common situations and solutions for repotting ordinary potted plants.

Lan Yao's past essential articles, recommended for you to study

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