pruning rhododendron

magicbastarder

i assume (i.e. i hope) there's no special treatment required when pruning rhododendron?
the specific reason i'm asking is a neighbour was about to bin two plants in reasonably large pots (25l each at a guess) but we rescued them and a friend's mother is interested in them; she lives in enniskerry and would have soil far more suited to them than we do. i just need to prune them enough to get them into the car, so is it just a case of pruning in the same way you'd prune most other plants?
each plant (plus pot) is probably a little over four foot tall, with maybe a three foot spread.

mountainy man

Generally with rhodies they are rarely pruned but if really needed its done immediately after flowering so it can regrow and develop flowering buds for the following year.

But... in the house where I grew up we had several huge rhodies and had two of them either side of a path which needed chopping back every now and again, we would stool them back to about three feet, this we would do approx every five years and they would grow back as if nothing ever happened, only losing that first years flowering.

So, I would go for it, they are hard killed. I would keep them in their pots for the first while so the roots are not disturbed. Some feeding would help the recovery in april/may when it should start growth again. Ideal rhodie planting time is autumn, also don't plant them too deep, planting in a shallow mound is recommended.

I hope this helps
mm

magicbastarder

cheers, i didn't have to chop them nearly as much as i had suspected (the benefits of the boot in an octavia); they've been blown over in the wind so much in the last few weeks that any loose soil is not an issue any more so i was able to lie them down in the boot with the back seats down.