Grow Azalea from branch?

I have no experience of Azaleas but a woody branch will often take better if layered rather than by cutting a slip. A number of web sites say it works with azaleas. If you cannot bend it down to the earth or a pot try air layering.

Azaleas respond to layering very well.

I once rooted an azalea cutting. The potting medium was a mix of equal parts of peat moss and coarse sand, well moistend. I used a rooting powder.

For a mini-greenhouse, I took an empty liter soda bottle and cut off the top. I then pried off the hard plastic bottom. Turning the bottle upside-down, I put it over the pot.

The cutting did root, but it died when I tried moving it into a larger pot.

I started some clones from cuttings many years ago. I used some rooting hormone and stuck a few cuttings in soil.

The cuttings took, but the plant I have from that is growing very slowly. I had some deer attacks and frost die back but 8-10 years later the plant is less than 12 inches high and it looks pretty bare right now.

It has bloomed, almost every spring, but I think the plant is still struggling to get going. Could be a result of the way I propagated it, or just normal for young Azaleas, or just a result of where it's planted.

The other thing you can do with Azaleas is pin a branch to the ground. Come back in a year or 2 and it will be rooted. I've had a few branches root like that on their own.

Thanks to all for thoughtful advice. From the location of the plant, layering or pinning to ground would be difficult, so I am going to take a chance and just cut off the invading branch and try to root it. Wish me luck!

HB