This year they started turning yellow and some of the limbs are dead. I feed them every 4 months during the growing season with proper food. I keep the soil acidified. Half of them look great the other half look sickly.

They have done great for 18 years. Any thoughts? Fungus? lack of iron?

What's your location?

Sorry, north of Dallas.

Mad props to you getting 18yrs out of them in NTX. Most people get a good 2-5yrs out them and then yank them because they look horrible from our high Ph soil. You're acidifying the soil as you mentioned. How are you doing that? And what fertilizer are you using?

I don't see any spots on the leaves that scream any type of blight or leaf spot. I would think Root Rot would have happened years ago from poor drainage. But some type of fungus is possible. But it looks like either a iron or magnesium deficiency to me. Depending on what your acidifying process is, I think your tap water is catching up with it and slowly canceling it out. If your acidifying process drops your soil Ph to say 6 and your tap water is 7 or 7+ your soil ph is slowing going to rise. I would get elemental sulfur and mix it in at a rate of 5lbs per 1000sq feet(divide the math for your area) three times a year. Mid/late April, July and early September. When you hand water add 1 teaspoon of citric acid per gallon and water normally. If you're not hand watering I would start and mix in the citric twice a month. If you water overhead and get the leaves wet with the citric mix rinse them off with the water hose right after. Apply a chelated iron product like Southern Ag foliar. Magnesium levels in NTX aren't typically very low and pretty available in our soils. But you could make a epsom salt drench to add Mg if needed. And spraying fungicides is always a good idea.

You really have done great getting 18yrs out of them and hope they recover. If you want to keep them and haven't applied anything to that bed this year, a cheap $20 soil test from Texas A&M would be a great idea. It will let you know your Ph and what's lacking and you can plan your attack from that.

I run pretty much the same program as above for my Hydrangeas and they do great.

Thanks Derek I put my coffee grounds and mix in the soil around them also every 45 days to a couple months of the growing season I mix 1 cup of vinegar and 2 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket and use that before I water. Is citric acid better?

I have Dr Earth Azalea fert this year. My wife got it from amazon. This started before I started this fert.

I think you are right about minerals. Mag and iron may be a prob. It would not be a prob to pull them and replant with new ones in peat moss but plants are EXPENSIVE right now. They look awful but amazingly the healthier looking branches are blooming well.

I have an aquarium and test the water. Yeah our tap water is well above 7.0.

Again, thanks, I will look into the soil test. I am happy they made it through the freezes we had over the last couple years.

That's actually perfect. The vinegar works well. Mag is tied up in very low Ph and Iron in high Ph, so you gotta try and find that happy medium of 6.5ish. Not easy for us NTX folks. I was asking about the fert to make sure you're using something more acidic than something straight Urea based. No issues with Dr Earth. It's meal based so getting a controlled or known release of N/P/K is difficult or tough to predict. You would probably be better off using something that is a blend of Ammonium Sulfate based, then the adders will be Murate of Potash, a few others and added micros. You can control your release and rate for the most part using a product like that. Iron and Mg are easily up taken foliar so you might look into doing by week apps of that.

I laugh at people in the check out isle with $100+ worth of Azeleas just knowing they are throwing money away and the wife is going to be pissed that they will look horrible in a couple years. You're process and dedication makes me happy. You're one of very few that reads up on it and doing it right.

Texas A&M soil test. Do the $19 test. It will tell you a lot. Prepay though the Aggie market place.

http://soiltesting.tamu.edu/files/soilwebform.pdf

https://tamu.estore.flywire.com/pro...dcopy-submittal-forms-with-samples-23351

thanks Derek, My yard is one of my hobbies so it is enjoyable. I have read a lot and probably should have been more proactive when this started. (I am from GA and SC where they grow perfectly without any help)

I will definitely get my soil tested. Also just set up a rain barrel to catch that free water. I will start watering with that from now on as long as the barrel is full. Should help with PH and soil microbiome.

These are the Azaleas currently at the University of Tulsa. They also have one of the top ground keepers in the Nation. So that helps.

DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mine bloomed great...the unaffected portions. Not that great but they looked awesome.

Still have not pulled the trigger on the sample yet. Need just to do it. Lazy.

I guess I have just been lucky, My azaleas were put out 1998, and doing great , I rarely do anything for them.
I am going to have them cut back and fertilized this year.

MO

Totally different soils in GA and SC. Black clay soils around DFW are not good for growing Azaelas. I suspect the roots on on the plants have reached the alkaline clay. Pine trees are another example of a plant that like acid soils. If you live in an area where pine trees grow naturally then azaleas will probably do well.