Tips For Growing Rhododendron

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

5 tips for growing rhododendron for lush and long flowering

Rhododendron is the most beautiful representative of the heather family. This evergreen shrub will become a real garden decoration. You can achieve lush flowering of a plant by observing the rules for its cultivation.

Choose the right neighborhood

Rhododendron grows poorly in areas of the garden exposed to sunlight. He loves partial shade. In order for an ornamental shrub to please with lush flowering, you should choose the right "neighbors" for it.

Garden culture grows well and blooms in the shade of tree crowns. When choosing a place for planting a shrub, its height should be taken into account. For undersized varieties of ornamental culture, too tall and spreading trees are not suitable as "neighbors". They create too much shadow.

Ephedra (spruce, pine, thuja, larch) is the best neighbor for rhododendron. It will not only shade this beautiful plant, but will also provide the necessary soil acidity index, ranging from 4.5 to 5.5 pN. An ornamental shrub thrives only on acidic soils. The coniferous litter covering the ground under the pine or spruce makes it more acidic.

Fern and host are suitable as "neighbors" for rhododendron. These crops are also shade-loving, like ornamental shrubs.

Experienced gardeners do not recommend growing it in the vicinity of linden, birch, elm, maple, alder. These trees, like the rhododendron, have a superficial root system. They deplete the topsoil, depriving the shrub of the nutrients it needs to grow and bloom. Growing close to birch or linden, it will be oppressed.

It is undesirable to place an ornamental plant next to the planting of roses. These crops have different requirements for the soil on which they grow.

Loosen the soil periodically

In order for the rhododendron to please with lush flowering, it is necessary to regularly loosen the soil under it. The root system of this decorative culture tends to lie in the upper soil layer. Its thin root processes are woven into a dense ball. Their air supply is difficult. For this reason, it is necessary to provide oxygen access to the roots, regularly loosening the soil.

Loosening is a procedure that allows you to make the soil more air and moisture permeable, improve its structure, and make it lighter. It cannot be neglected also for the reason that the roots of the rhododendron are devoid of root hairs. The delivery of nutrients from the soil is carried out by the mycelium of mycorrhiza.

Experienced gardeners do not recommend loosening the soil deep under the rhododendron. It should be limited to surface loosening so as not to damage the thin roots of the plant, which are located close to the soil surface.

Water properly

For abundant flowering, rhododendron must be properly watered. Lack or excess of moisture threatens the plant with yellowing and foliage falling.

Watering the ornamental shrub should be settled and not cold water. Consumption - 10-15 liters (1-1.5 buckets) per plant.

They take soft water for irrigation of rhododendron. It is desirable to acidify it a little.

An ornamental shrub loves to be moistened over the foliage. Spray the crop in hot weather. The procedure will help the plant to endure the summer heat more easily.

Don't forget about the haircut

An important condition for the exuberant flowering of rhododendron is the annual sanitary and decorative pruning of branches in the spring. The procedure will help not only to give the crown a beautiful shape, but also to prevent thickening of the bush.

During the spring "haircut" you will need:

• shorten the branches by 30-40 cm;
• remove every dried, broken, diseased shoot.

The procedure helps to strengthen the immunity of the garden culture. It is unacceptable to neglect it. Without pruning in spring, ornamental shrubs will lose their resistance to diseases. In this case, the risk of its defeat by fungal and viral diseases, as well as insect pests, increases.

Cutting branches is a traumatic manipulation for any plant. Pruning them just to maintain the decorative appearance of the shrub is too often undesirable. For rhododendron, this is a serious stress.

When making decorative and sanitary pruning, the gardener must adhere to several rules:

• the manipulation is carried out in March before the buds begin to swell on the branches;
• the shoot is pruned 1 cm above the growth point (we are talking about a small pinkish thickening on the branch);
• each cut must be treated with a garden varnish or an antiseptic solution to prevent infection.

Feed periodically

To achieve a long and lush flowering of rhododendron, you will need to regularly feed an ornamental shrub. The application of fertilizers will provide the plant with all the nutrients necessary for its growth and development.

During the season, the garden culture is fertilized three times.

In the springtime (tentatively - April), the soil under an adult shrub is watered with a solution of complex mineral fertilizer. Consumption - from 50 to 70 g of substance per 1 m². It is preferable to use commercially available balanced formulations characterized by prolonged action, such as “Kemira. Universal”and“Kemira. Potato.

To stimulate the growth of shoots in the first half of the growing season, it makes sense to feed the ornamental culture with ammonium sulfate. Consumption - 20-30 g per 1 m². Fertilizer is used as a solution.

Organic matter (manure, poultry droppings) is also used to feed the rhododendron. However, it will need to be pre-diluted with water in a ratio of 1:15 to 1:20.

After the shrub has faded, it also needs to be fed. A phosphorus-potassium composition is used. Consumption - 20-30 g per 1 adult plant.