Chinese quince, time to repot, too late to prune?

[dacoontz]

Hello again, questions on a Chinese quince I purchased last fall. Does this thing look like it’s pushing buds already? Mid January feels way to early here in Southern Oregon. It definitely needs the repot, no question there. Should I do it now and protect or wait if I can?

Also, I’m thinking it’s too late to prune. May have to wait until late Spring after the first push hardens off. Any thoughts on this as well?

Goal is to push back the legginess and decide on the best trunk line and whether or not the whole trunk can be developed or if height needs to be reduced.

Thanks all, this is my first season with Chinese quince.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

When mine gets going early (and it usually does) I try to keep it in shade and cool as long as I can to delay repotting until closer to normal repotting time. It’s always the first to start, but will tolerate some frosts even at this bud-break stage, and can be repotted later, even when the first true set of leaves are emerging. As pruning goes, you’re probably fine to prune now, but I prefer to prune earlier, just at leaf-drop.

Cool tree, BTW, wild and lots of potential.

 

[dacoontz]

Thanks for the reply Brian, much appreciated. I’ll try to hold off as long as possible. Should be cooling down here a bit over the next week or so.

 

[ChefB]

Anybody ever put them in the refrigerator to keep them dormant?

 

[AJL]

Nurseries here used to routinely store large numbers of trees and shrubs for use in Landscape planting projects in a cold store to keep them dormant eg if the job was delayed and to extend the planting season. It works well.

 

[JudyB]

Anybody ever put them in the refrigerator to keep them dormant?

Some people have tried this and had failures due to how arid the environment is in a fridge. If you were able to keep that from being a problem, it could work and has for some. You'd have to have a large fridge to do much more than a few small trees or one large one. I have successfully done this with cuttings, and early purchased bare root seedlings, keeping them moist.

 

[JudyB]

Hello again, questions on a Chinese quince I purchased last fall. Does this thing look like it’s pushing buds already? Mid January feels way to early here in Southern Oregon. It definitely needs the repot, no question there. Should I do it now and protect or wait if I can?

Also, I’m thinking it’s too late to prune. May have to wait until late Spring after the first push hardens off. Any thoughts on this as well?

Goal is to push back the legginess and decide on the best trunk line and whether or not the whole trunk can be developed or if height needs to be reduced.

Thanks all, this is my first season with Chinese quince.

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Yes I second @Brian Van Fleet cool tree! When I had one, it did always scare me as it was always early to want to pop. But it never had a problem being exposed to cold temps after it started to swell.

 

[dacoontz]

Thanks Judy, I’ll take a deep breath and hang in a little longer.

Here’s a blog post that I saw from Jonas Dupuich regarding older quince styling and pruning. His tree is so much more condensed. I think I may have a long time to go but hey, that’s Bonsai. Thinking I could actually air layer this into two trees at some point.

https://bonsaitonight.com/2020/12/04/big-branches-and-little-branches-on-chinese-quince/

 

[n8]

Yes, cool material. I have a few quince that are also budding out (we have similar climates), but mine are in nursery pots and I'm not finished building my trunks on them. One does need rootwork, and I'll wait another month, even as it pushes. Should be OK.

 

[dacoontz]

Yes, cool material. I have a few quince that are also budding out (we have similar climates), but mine are in nursery pots and I'm not finished building my trunks on them. One does need rootwork, and I'll wait another month, even as it pushes. Should be OK.

Thanks Nate, much appreciate the reply. Looks like we just finished a false spring up here and now we’re getting cold for a week or two. Glad I waited.

 

[AJL]

Some people have tried this and had failures due to how arid the environment is in a fridge. If you were able to keep that from being a problem, it could work and has for some. You'd have to have a large fridge to do much more than a few small trees or one large one. I have successfully done this with cuttings, and early purchased bare root seedlings, keeping them moist.

They should survive if you keep them wrapped in polythene to prevent them from drying out.

 

[JudyB]

They should survive if you keep them wrapped in polythene to prevent them from drying out.

easy to do with cuttings and bare root things, not so much with a tree. In larger situations, such as a cold room that has actual cooling units (like NC arboretum) they employ humidification as well. I use a humidifier in my cold greenhouse and consider it essential as I do have heating in there which dries out the air.