Evergreen azaleas do not require pruning. However, a yearly pruning can be performed to control the size of the plant and keep the plant tidy. How you will prune your azaleas will depend on the type, size and age of the plant. Timing is important too. If you prune your azaleas at the wrong time, you might remove all their buds! No buds, no blooms. So here's some general azalea pruning tips:
CAUTION: Encore Azaleas require a different method for pruning. Search "Encore"
Pruning Young Azaleas
Pruning of younger azaleas (typically 1 to 10 years of age) is best performed right after they stop blooming and the flowers have faded in Spring. Use hand pruners to cut back the few branches that might have outgrown the rest and are spoiling the shape of the plant. Make cuts an inch or so above the dense form of the plant. Also remove dead or broken branches.
Pruning Mature Azaleas
If your older, mature azaleas have become spindly or overgrown, rejuvination pruning may be necessary. The correct method for rejuvenation pruning is very straight forward. The plant in question should be pruned to 6" stumps or less. This is the only way to remove all of the old wood and provide the plant with one hundred percent juvenile wood loaded with leaf buds.
Azaleas are one of the many plants that respond beautifully to heavy rejuvenation pruning. The best time to perform rejuvination pruning is right before your plants would ordinarily flush out with new growth in the Spring. Do not fertilize the plant after rejuvination pruning. In a very few short weeks you will be utterly amazed at the new growth. After this procedure, it would be wise to keep your azalea full by pruning a portion of the branches to the ground, thereby forcing foliage to emerge lower on the plant.
