Photo taken after thinning on July 15, 2017
On 15 July 2017, I took my “Kaho” Satsuki Azalea bonsai to Darren Wong of Soh-Ju-En, a family business specializing in Satsuki Azalea bonsai, to work on and perform summer maintenance. Darren wanted to thin out the pads which were very dense. We did not perform Mesuki, a technique for pruning to shape. The yearly growth should be trimmed; shoots grow in sets of five at the ends of branches and should be trimmed down to two. The rest of the shoots should be pruned to two sets of leaves. Prune secondary shoots in the middle of summer. However, in the case of my “Kaho” Darren chose to thin the leaves slightly. We removed dead leaves and tiny branches, mostly in the interior. The pads were very dense. Darren wanted it so when you put your hand under the pad you can see the hand clearly from above the pad. Some photographs were taken upon completion. Darren will send the photographs to his sensei Sushio Nakayama in Japan to show what progress has been made on the bonsai. Darren and sensei Sushio have selected a show pot for the “Kaho” which should arrive from Japan in time for the repotting season next year. For now the “Kaho” remains in a large training pot. I took some photographs of the “Kaho” in May of this year. The ability to show the bonsai next year depends on many factors.
Photo taken by George Haas May 2017 showing partial flowering.