Reposting this in the right thread .

Anyways what I wanted to ask if anyone know’s about rhododendrons, I have a large white that’s gone leggy and I want to know if I can prune back into the woody part…
Will check back laters , I got lot’s of cooking to do :)
BBL

sorry HP, I don’t know anything about rhododendrons.

Hi HP,

I’ve never grown Rhododendrons before but I know the Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens have and I reckon I may have seen the odd one or two that had been pruned.

However, I always approach a plant that I have never pruned before in this manner; you should take a good look into the centre of the plant and see if the plant is naturally showing signs of new growth down in the woody parts. This is often a good indicator of a point where you can prune to. Take notice of any damaged branches and see if there is new shoots below the damage.

Leggy plants are going to one thing only, get leggier and then perhaps break under strain. Chances are, you are going to think that this plant has had its time. So with this attitude, it makes experimenting with pruning that much easier. Say to the plant “Hey Rhody, you keep on getting leggier, I’m going to compost ya… but I’ll give you a chance. You accept a haircut and then you show signs of regrowth, and I’ll let ya stay in da ground for a little bit longer!”

There’s good odds that the plant will give the haircut option a go.

Morning HP. I am doing what PM said with a couple of my azalias ATM. One I have cut to a low growing new shoot. (only one branch) I am trying to decide whether to cut the other branches back and ‘hope’ I figure I will make cuttings with the prunings so that I don’t lose the plant altogether.

Maybe take a few branches off and leave the rest till next season depending on how the shrub progresses from there.

On the strength of that I might just take my own advice. LOL.

lol PM ! you are so entertaining !

I had a good look at it, googled the problem, read volumns on it , asked at the nursery and found ‘nodes’ where it could be cut and went ahead with the haircut. Got 10 cuttings of it potted up . Learned how to ‘bud pinch’ to increase bushiness too.
It’s got the biggest white flowers (‘Wedding Gown’ rhody) a meter tall and I don’t want to lose it if it can be helped. I noticed it has growth as the base so I reckon if needed , I could cut it to ground level and it would re grow, but I,m not that game yet.
It’s in a big pot with 12 other potted rhodys under the patio shade cloth part at the rear.

Another purple flowering one is in the ground under the house eaves but got cooked by hot wind’s, burnt leaf all over it ..so that’s comming out today and being potted up, trimmed and cuttings taken first in case I lose it.

Gunna be a show when they flower :D

Hiya Pomolo :) The azaleas are way easier to propogate from cutting’s than rhodys, although they are the same family. Azaleas have growing nodes all all along their branches, you could cut them just about anywhere and you will get new growth, whereas rhodys have less of those nodes.

Funny thing is I can grow beaut rhodys and lose azaleas at the same time, but I did read azaleas are more disease prone, rhodys hardier.
I,m going to better look after the couple azaleas I have left and hopefully get a good spring flowering happening :)

I choped mine all back last year and they were better than ever this year—

Grasshopper said:

I choped mine all back last year and they were better than ever this year—

That was Azalias

but I did read azaleas are more disease prone, rhodys hardier.
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Tell me about it! I was ready to get rid of my Azaleas and MrP(the one who knows little about gardening) decided that he wanted to keep them. He has taken cuttings of each one and bugger me if they aren’t thriving. So it’s back to the treatment for petal blight and lace bug again. Year in and year out. As bad as roses if you ask me. I do love them when they are in flower and you get this shrub without any room for the leaves to show, just flowers.