What would YOU do if you took your new azaleas out of the pot and discovered a mess like the ones I bought last week at Home Depot? I tried slicing through the mass to loosen the roots, but didn’t get far. Do my two ‘Girard’s Renee Michelle’ azaleas have a chance at survival?
No shortage of advice
For answers, I posted this photo to the DC Gardeners Facebook group, where I was happy to learn that “Home Depot will refund anything, even plants that are brown because the customer never got around to planting them.” Who knew?
I asked the group where I could buy plants that aren’t totally root-bound and discovered lots of fans of various garden centers in the area, as well as predictions that these badly grown plants could be found in any retail establishment. (This was confirmed by a very knowledgeable garden center expert I’d known for decades, who told me the growers are saving money by reducing or eliminating the actual growing medium in the pots, using instead fillers that simply cause the roots to dry out. Also good to know, though discouraging to hear.)
For the azaleas I’d already bought, the group told me to use “root washing or just slicing, shaking and spreading the roots apart carefully.” The standard advice.
I also asked the Garden Professors Blog Facebook group where several commenters told me to do what I’d already tried doing: some version of “Tickle out all the roots.” But believe me, this concrete-like mass was NOT to be tickled with.
Or “Don’t tug or yank just literally tickle and you will slowly feel all that particular matter falling away. I use a big wheelbarrow. I sit down next to it and then I just spend at least an hour doing that.” Did you catch that – an hour of “tickling” per shrub?
Honestly, I think this response from a group admin nailed it: “Personally I’d prepare this one by taking it back to the garden center and either getting a replacement or get my money back.”
But others, including admins, directed me to the root-washing and -pruning that I’d seen promoted so many times in the group. Now they’re telling me it applies to this azalea of mine? I guess it’s time for me to step up and give it a try.
The one video posted to the group unfortunately showed nothing but the backs of people watching someone perform a very brutal-looking root-pruning, so I just googled “root pruning” and found some goodies:
- Jeff Gillman on “A better fix for root-bound plants,” which included the new-to-me technique of “box-cutting.”
- And some good information about planting pot-bound plants from U. Florida.
Dave Marciniak demonstrates root-washing and -pruning.
I learn best by watching, so my favorite discovery was this video by Dave Marciniak, owner of Revolutionary Gardens in Northern Va. He also lists some resources, where I found this slide show by Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott, which he calls a “bare-root primer.” The slides below particularly inspired me – and then discouraged me, since there was NO way I could accomplish “media removal” with my new azaleas.
Watch me try, and not get very far
To watch click here or anywhere in the image.
Above, an azalea soaking in water for hours; the sliced-off bottom of a root ball; the resulting root ball after about 25 minutes of hacking away at it.
What about the azaleas I planted in 2023?
Next, I turned to the two azaleas of the same type that I’d planted in 2023, now that I’m willing to admit that they look like crap. Above, note the difference between the brand-new ‘Girard’s Renee Michelle’ on the left and the one I planted two years ago that hadn’t grown at all and has sparse, sickly-looking foliage. I bought it at a large and reputable (I guess) garden center.
So I dug them up (too easily) and discovered the same damn problem, plus evidence of something predicted by a Garden Professor commenter: “Also you should expect that it’s been potted up at least once. When you remove the outside matted mess you’ll find what’s basically another interior layer from maybe a 6” pot where it was rootbound previously before being potted up.” Another commenter agreed: “Great point! Lately I found plastic foamy liners that were never removed but just potted up. It’s like digging for treasure in the center of the rootballs.”
I removed one two-inch thick layer of roots, which revealed another layer, then the innermost layer, which was concrete-like.
Shrubs grown and potted-up correctly – my new ‘Wine and Roses’ weigelas
After hours of hard labor trying to correct four badly grown azaleas, I decided to give up and give myself permission to give them away and try something entirely new in this spot – a spring flowering shrub that did very well in my former garden, where I grew an assortment of large flowering shrubs that grew quickly and naturally had good form – especially weigela. For my current townhouse garden I chose the medium-size ‘Wine and Roses’ with it distinctive dark foliage that would contrast nicely with all the azaleas in my neighbor’s half of our adjoining border.
At the nursery (NOT the one that sold me the bad azaleas two years ago) a staffer was happy to pop them out of their pots so I could see the roots – and they were perfect!
See, it took less than a minute to prepare them for planting.
To watch, click here or anywhere in the image above. At planting I spread the longer roots out, away from the center.
Above left, the finished rootball ready for planting. The “growing media” fell away with a bit of “tickling,” just like everyone predicted because they’d been grown and potted up correctly.
Here they are newly planted, ready to bloom soon and contrasting nicely with a ‘Lucky Devil’ ninebark. In the foreground is some groundcover comfrey, already blooming and covered with bees.
Fortunately my next-door neighbors had room for my new azaleas, so I’ll be able to enjoy them from my garden and report on their survival, or their demise.
Videos by the author, using my favorite tripod.
I tried root-washing and root-pruning my horribly root-bound azaleas originally appeared on GardenRant on April 20, 2025.
The post I tried root-washing and root-pruning my horribly root-bound azaleas appeared first on GardenRant.
Source: gardenrant.com – All rights belong to the original publisher.
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