by > Sounds like good advise, Chris. It works, too, but I have a different
> problem that I would like all of y'all to address. I have a gorgious
> red and a gorgious white azalia growing side by side on the north east
> side of a shed.
> I wanted them to be free spirits so have done nothing to them but see
> that they have enough water. They are big beautiful and are covered with
> blooms every spring and hold bloom for nearly two months. We have a lot
> of trees and a lot of dried leaves have clung inside them and also
> filtered through to the base of the plants and are thick under the
> canopies. I've always thought that the leaves were a source of food both
> to the leaves and the roots. [?????]
> Year before last i noticed that the white plant had many deformed blooms
> among the thouands of normal ones. the deformed ones were really wierdly
> deformed And I mean *deformed*!! they looked like some spongy growth
> with no patterned shape, some quite large. I took one to the nursery and
> was told the best thing to do was to destroy the plant and get some new
> ones. Those are nearly 20 yrs old and I just can't give up on them. I
> took a bucket and deadheaded all the deformed ones and, of course,
> prayed. Last year I didn't notice any deformed, but after a beautiful
> blooming this year, I noticed still some white there and it was the
> deformed ones.
stems. Rake away all of the mulch, sprinkle some sulphur, and replace
with fresh, sterile mulch. I've never seen anyone actually CURE this
problem; but, I've seen bushes live with it for years as long as the
owner was diligent about control. Throw away the affected material and
mulch -- don't compost it. And, remember to treat your pruners with
bleach.
Chris Owens