Hi everyone. How to root azalea and when is the best time? I have some very old ones and want to start some new ones before mine all die. Alda(cillay)

I propagate azalea in a soil made up of one part sand, and one part peat. I wet soil and use a pencil to drill a hole for the terminal twig I use. Remove all but the terminal leaves-buds. Dust the stem with rooting hormone and put in their soil.

Your pot should be tightly tented and set out of direct sunlight.

FWIW I use two large peanut butter jars. I cut the tops down to a ring, and glue the two together. making a siamese twin shaped terrarium. Drill holes in the bottoms of both jars to admit and exit of water.

This will hold 12-15 twigs, which is as many as I wanna get done at one time.

Thank you, Tom I will try that. Cillay (Alda)

I have rooted many azaleas. Some of my mother plants are almost 40 years old and were rooted from plants my mom had. We found the best way for us was to choose a branch at the bottom that is flexible. About halfway up the branch scratch the bark off and weigh it down on the soil with a brick or some other heavy object. After 2-3 months lift the brick and carefully try to lift the branch. Just barely give it a tug because you don't want to pull it up. We leave ours like that for almost a year. Use your judgment to decide if it has grown adequate roots. When you think it has lots of good roots cut the branch where it grows out of the mother plant. At that point i put the rooted cutting in a pot and grow it on until it has new growth. i found using this method gave me well rooted plants that did not fail when planted out.

Can I assume that these methods will also work for rhododendrons? I have 2 hardy rhodos -- or maybe I should say "had," I think one is pretty much done for after the 2 very harsh winters that we had (2013-14 and 2014-15), and I'd really like to get more started if I can. Actually, even if they both pull through I'd still like to start more!