Is it too late to prune my azaleas?
Question:I'm outside of Philadelphia (is that Zone 6?). Tomorrow (July 4th) will be the first opportunity that I'll have to cut them back, but I'm afraid that it's too late in the season. What do you think?
Answers:
When pruning Azaleas, the sooner the better. I prefer to do it right after it flowers, but the Azalea Society of America says it's even better to prune in the early spring before the plant puts out new growth. That gives the plant time to fill out and the new growth to mature before winter. I don't like that you cut off all the blooms for that year. Azaleas bloom on the previous years growth.
Most Azaleas start growing the next years flower buds soon after they flower. If you prune after mid-summer, you take the chance of cutting off next years flower buds. Also, pruning later in the summer runs the risk of winter kill on new tender growth in cold climates.
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no,if they have bloomed allready,then go ahead and trim them back,if not,wait untill after they bloom,also get some azalea food,its an acid and feed that to it every two weeks,next time it blooms,it will bloom bigger and brighter.
Pruning can be done just about anytime to any plant as long as it not done extremely and you keep the plant well watered and fed.
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