Flowering quince clump progression

[SeanS]

Thread for the progress of my Japanese flowering quince clump. Started from nursery material in November 2020. I’m unsure of the flower colour, it was marked as “pink or white” at the nursery. Also unsure of the cultivar, also just marked as “chaenomeles”

As purchased



After the initial cut back and styling



A few months later



I repotted 2 weeks ago. Buds are started to move and open so I gave it a styling yesterday.

Before work



After the work. I cut back most of the elongated shoots and applied some more wire in places

 

[Colorado]

Looks great. And it looks like a quince - not like a quince trying to be something else!

Looking forward to seeing this with flowers!

 

[SeanS]

Here are some root cuttings I took from this tree when I repotted on August 1st, 26 days ago

 

[badatusernames]

Thanks for posting, super helpful. I have one I'm putting back in a grow pot next year to do something similar, glad to see an example of it in progress, keep us updated!

 

[SeanS]

Thanks for posting, super helpful. I have one I'm putting back in a grow pot next year to do something similar, glad to see an example of it in progress, keep us updated!

I’ll be sure to post updates through the season, I’m really impressed with how it’s developed in 9 months. I’ve learnt a lot about developing deciduous since I started it so I’ll be a lot more proactive with it’s developed this season

 

[SeanS]

End of season update. Loads of flower buds have set so I’ll finally see this tree flower after having it for nearly 2 seasons.

Before



After



It’s been suggested that I remove the 2 straight main trunks due to how straight they are compared to the rest of the branching. What is everyone’s opinion? One thought I had was to remove them and switch the movement of the tree completely to the left.

 

[Colorado]

I really like what you’re doing with this quince.

Regarding the straight sections: yes I would cut them out now while still early in development. If it was a very old tree with lots of ramification above, I might think twice, but since you just recently cut it back hard I would just bite the bullet and remove them now.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Nice quince!

Concur. These aren’t in harmony with the rest of your design.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[giventofly]

Any update on this?

 

[SeanS]

Any update on this?

Here you go.
Recently partially defoliated, the response hasn’t been all that great. A few branches haven’t produced new growth yet, but I’m confident they still will so not too stressed.

 

[giventofly]

Looking very cool

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

A thought.

At Michael Hagedorn’s workshops a goodly amount of time is spent on Chojubai and quince in general. In these he stresses quince need a goody amount of space in their pot, in development short of refinement, to give a robust response.

Akin to azaleas this species likes to have space for their roots.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Likely somewhere about 1.5 x 2x +/- the overall width for latter development since this is more of a full size quince. Depth about the same or a tad more.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[SeanS]

Likely somewhere about 1.5 x 2x +/- the overall width for latter development since this is more of a full size quince. Depth about the same or a tad more.

Cheers
DSD sends

2x looks a tad big…
(Photo from last winter)

 

[Maiden69]

2x looks a tad big…
(Photo from last winter)

View attachment 579772

Yes, but remember that Michael strive (or at least from the trees I have seen from him) for a super wide and low quince with lots of trunks. So the extra width allows the roots to spread out and throw out suckers which will be developed as part of the design. I think that you may benefit from going 1.5x on the next repot and exposing about 1/4" of the roots you have in the pot now to start developing smaller trunks around the perimeter to enhance ramification. That's what I was planning on doing with mine had I not been careless when I moved into the apartment. Ended up killing all but one and that one is recuperating right now.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

2x looks a tad big…
(Photo from last winter)

View attachment 579772

(Thanks @Maiden69)

One might think it’s too much. But these are quinces. Like azaleas, uppotting is vital to achieve and maintain maximum growth. In the final stages of growing out, Michael actually has his chojubai growing out in Anderson flats in the final stages of development. This is counterintuitive to most bonsai practice. It works.

In any event the brief process for developing quinces is to foster growth until a critical mass is achieved, then maintain the inertia. This is the very most important part of the process.

Quinces respond well to strong feeding and lots of water.

Along the way one systematically prunes to create erratic growth patterns via clip and grow and occasional bits of wire 1-2x year.

This clip and grow pattern seems very odd to many folks. Done properly, each cut will enhance the overall design and create a fantastical, incredibly pleasing clump

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[SeanS]

Yes, but remember that Michael strive (or at least from the trees I have seen from him) for a super wide and low quince with lots of trunks. So the extra width allows the roots to spread out and throw out suckers which will be developed as part of the design. I think that you may benefit from going 1.5x on the next repot and exposing about 1/4" of the roots you have in the pot now to start developing smaller trunks around the perimeter to enhance ramification. That's what I was planning on doing with mine had I not been careless when I moved into the apartment. Ended up killing all but one and that one is recuperating right now.

What you’re suggesting is more along the lines of another flowering quince in my collection and isn’t the style of the one in this thread.
Non-chojubai quince are often grown in the style highlighted by my tree, and don’t generally have sucker trunks from the soil.

Here’s one of my other quinces in the low, wide, sucker built style

 

[SeanS]

Some examples similar to the quince in my thread

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I was referring to the really nice composition growing in this tread.

Honestly there is only one difference in growing technique between grow out @Maiden69 described and growing out the highlighted quince. One would simply cut back the suckers as these form in the highlighted design to drive all the energy into the existing tree. While continuing to cut back the hefty branches to foster taper and ramification.

That said, once fully ramified, plan on the quince eventually needing to be grown out further to accommodate the base growth…. That is unless one tried to hold it static for a long time, which the quince will eventually resent

Anyways, just a few thoughts, it is your tree and choice. Will continue to look forward to future updates.

Cheers
DSD sends