Can I start new azalea from old before I move??? ASAP

Hi, I live in the NEPA and am going to put my house up for sale. There is a beaftuful azalea in front of my poarch that would be noticed if I took! It gets mostly white with some rasberry colored flowers. Then there are many the are white with stripes of the rasberry. I LOVE this plant and need to know how I can take a start a piece of it to bring to my new home. It will be fall soon and my home may sell during the winter so I need to do this now. If you need any other information please just ask. I can find a pciture too if you would like.
Thanks so much for your help! I hope you have good news for me.
Joanne

There's hope--you haven't sold yet. I read that it takes two years to layer-propagate an azalea, and it did. I propagated mine thirty+ years ago, and then we moved to England!

Have you thought of root-pruning it now and then ball-and-burlapping it for later moving? You could, I'm sure, have it done professionally. Let us know what happens.

You never said what type of Azalea you want to take cuttings from, some are easy, to do, other types are best done by the method Quiltjean mentioned and others by seed or grafting. Grafting is best done by professionals as it is an art form of propogation, seeds are quite easy IF you have the right conditions and time to wait, layering is the easiest and best way for amateurs as you just select a low growing stem, scrape a bit bark off and peg it into the soil.compost either into the ground or a pot sunk into the ground, If you have the very small leaved (sort of fleshy) then you can take cuttings from July till end of September, December in some areas, you take the un-flowered cuttings, set them in a pot with horticultural sand 2 parts, to horticultural peat, so if you really have no time to use the layering method, then what are you going to loose by giving it a go, you have to remember to check that where you move to has the acidic soil these plants need.
Lastly, you could get large pots and dig up your most favorite ones and tend them till you move and replace them with another shrub for filling in the space your Azaleas had, if asked at selling time, remember to inform the buyer you are taking all the plants you have in pots with you, who knows, the new owner of your home just might come along and dig them all up anyway, this has happened many times, different tastes for different plants, but just be honest and say they go with you. best of luck. WeeNel.

This is a picture if that helps you identifiy it and give me more info on how to try to start one.
Thanks.
Joanne

Can you explain the root pruning method you talked about. I have a friend who is going to let me transplant some special Rose of Sharon and a few others to her yard shortly so that if I do sell in winter I will not loose my treasures...Are you talking about a sort of splitting the root as in a Hosta? I have been here 5 years and this seems to be a very established plant, but if that is an option I will deffinatley try it. I did add a picture a few messages back if that helps at all.
Thank you so much,
Joanne

Dont know if the root pruning mentioned by Quiltjean is the same as the method used for lifting out the ground and potting, but the way I do this is to dig around the root area about 12 inches from the stem, you have to make a trench as you dig, this breaks through the roots, then fill the trench with nice acidic compost/leaf mould, then water this well, after a couple of months, the shrub has made new finer roots (water seeking roots) at this stage, you then dig out the hole plant being careful not to damage the new roots and then you pot the plant into a large container with like for like new compost etc, you must water and care for the shrub by watering and give it some shade as you have disturbed the whole root system, but when you are ready to move, your plants can be transported with care and will be fine for replanting the following spring/autumn, summer will be too hot for replanting depending where you are moving to, the important thing is to make sure you can offer it the same conditions it liked before you moved it as it will not like soil that is not acidic and in really hot sunshine, I know when I moved to my present home, the year before we moved, I prepared a good few of my expensive and favorite plants this way and they were fine, BUT, I did inform in writing to the realtor and viewers that all the plants in pots were not included in the sale as this made it legal to remove them. good luck. WeeNel.

Thanks for your suggestions but this doesn't sound promising since the bush is about 4 feet tall and wide. I was hopeing to start a cutting or that you meant if I cut down and got a piece of the root and potted that I could keep it going.
Sounds like it is just too hard to do.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Joanne

Hi Joanne, if the lifting is too big a job and you really want to try take a bit with you, then what are you going to loose by taking ordinary cuttings and trying to root them in a small pot. If the plant is finished flowering and there is new growth showing on the tips of the branches, then take some cuttings from this new growth. to do this, you look for nice healthy shoots, use a very sharp knife and select a side shoot about 8 inches long, make a good clean cut or better still, remove this shoot by tugging downwards to pull it away from the stem, this way you have a very small part of the bark from the original stem
(if you are going to take several cuttings from the same plant, have a Polly bag ready to pop the cuttings into to prevent them drying out) get your chopping board out and lay each cutting onto the board and very sharp knife/razor blade, remove part of the tiny bit of bark from the bottom of the cuttings, just enough to neaten up the bit of old stem bark, dip the cutting into rooting medium and pop each one onto a pot of sandy compost mix as said above, I like to place cuttings around the outer edge of the pots as this helps with drainage and seems to allow more air into the cuttings, either pop a small Polly bag over the pot leaving room for air and not sitting onto the cuttings (a small stick or cane will keep the plastic bag free from the cuttings) and care for them as you would any seedlings by making sure the soil dont dry out etc, after several weeks/months, they should be rooted if they are going to take at all, then grow on into individual pots when enough roots have formed. you may need to mist the cuttings from time to time but by checking them carefully you will know this anyway. good luck. WeeNel.

Oh, Thank you sooo much. That sounds like a plan. It would make me very happy to be able to take a bit of this with me and replant. Sounds like I may even wind up with more that just one to replant.
Thank you again!!!
Joanne