#BonsaiNews: How to germinate Azalea seed

AZALEAS really do make for splendid bonsai and thanks to one of my new followers (@synekto) who needed advice on how to germinate some Azalea seeds, I will now be ordering some for myself.

Strangely, they are quite easy to germinate however, I don't have any in my care at present. From what I do know, Azalea's love moisture and warmth - not too much warmth.

First off, get yourself some sterile seed starting mix, peat moss and perlite - soak it (mix of the starter mix and perlite*) with water once you've placed some in starter trays/pots or whatever you are using to plant the seeds in, leave a quarter depth space open on the surface and, once the water has stopped running out from the drainage holes, sow the seeds and cover them with an inch of fine peat moss - if you can get Canadian peat moss that'd be best.

Some people have advised me that soaking the peat moss separately works better than mixing it into the seed starting mix and perlite - which is why I mentioned * above)

Try and get the peat moss as fine as possible.

Please keep in mind that your mixture must not be dripping wet when you sow the seeds.

The best time to sow the seeds are during winter - here comes the fun part, they still need light so, you can make use of a desk lamp with a white fluorescent bulb.

Cover the top part of the tray/starter pot with clear plastic - your seeds should germinate within, or slightly after a month.

Once they have grown two sets of leaves, they will be safe to transplant and you can even use the same exact mix in the new pots.

Mist the seedlings after they've been transplanted - be careful when transplanting them as they are fragile.

You can also make use of a liquid fertilizer after you've transplanted them, just to give them an extra boost - place them back under the light until winter has come to an end.

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