Peking cotoneaster?

[Eckhoffw]

Hello
I picked this up at Lowe’s yesterday basically because it was so damn cheap.
Peking Cotoneaster.
Any workability/potential with this variety?
Should I just plant it in the yard as shrub and enjoy it there?

Honest feedback always welcomed!
Thanks.

 

[AlainK]

Peking Cotoneaster

Never heard of "Peking cotoneaster" before, browszed and found out it's "Cotoneaster acutifolia"

Too drastic ?

 

[Shibui]

There is always potential but some trees have more immediate potential and with others it will take longer or final potential maybe not so high.
Cotoneaster is generally a good genus for bonsai. They are hardy, tough and forgiving so great material to practice on and develop skills.
It looks like Alain has picked up the strong, straight sections of the trunks which don't look good on bonsai. Best option here is remove as indicated in Alain's virt. Cotoneaster will usually bud well after pruning so you may even get more options to develop after the initial prune.
With these larger leaves and relatively longer internodes I suspect it will look better as a medium sized tree rather than shohin size.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Never heard of "Peking cotoneaster" before, browszed and found out it's "Cotoneaster acutifolia"

Too drastic ?

View attachment 262593

No I don’t think so!
Nicely done.
I was just trying to learn a bit about if I should
Spend some time working with it, or just plant it somewhere appropriate.
But I just may give it some attention.

 

[Eckhoffw]

Ver

There is always potential but some trees have more immediate potential and with others it will take longer or final potential maybe not so high.
Cotoneaster is generally a good genus for bonsai. They are hardy, tough and forgiving so great material to practice on and develop skills.
It looks like Alain has picked up the strong, straight sections of the trunks which don't look good on bonsai. Best option here is remove as indicated in Alain's virt. Cotoneaster will usually bud well after pruning so you may even get more options to develop after the initial prune.
With these larger leaves and relatively longer internodes I suspect it will look better as a medium sized tree rather than shohin size.
[/QUOTE
Very useful information.
Thank you.
As a fallow up question,
I believe This thing is severely pot bound.
I can’t push a chopstick in the soil at all.
Any advice for going into winter?
Plant in the ground?

 

[Eckhoffw]

Very great information. Very much appreciated!
As a follow-up question, any advice as to what to do approaching winter?

This plant seems to be severely pot bound. I cannot even push a chopstick into the soil.
In St. Paul Mn btw.

 

[AlainK]

I don't know this species, but in the genus Cotoneaster, the ones I have are very root sensitive if you repot in autumn.

For Cotoneaster horizontalis, franchetti, lacteus, salicifolius, ... , the ones that grow in gardens here, I repot them when the first leaves have hardened, that is in Late-May, mid-June.

With these larger leaves and relatively longer internodes I suspect it will look better as a medium sized tree rather than shohin size.

I agree with you.

From the photos, it looks more like the Cotoneaster lacteus family than Cotoneaster horizontalis family.

Notes :
- I suppose that like all the Cotoneasters I've had, healing a big scar is : ... very long. I don't know how to say that either in French or in another language, just the feeling it's hard dry wood where life doesn't want to be.

But you'll have to choose a trunk line, and the sooner the better, you can't keep these two "trunks", one which has the beginning of a movement, and one that goes straight up. Chop !

-- Sub-sthg : how to treat a scar ? Try to hide it or make dead wood an essential feature ?
-- Sub-sthg : even on "big" specimens, as far as I could see, big cuts are treated as dead wood,healing is reduced to the living part of the tree.

-AK-

 

[Eckhoffw]

I don't know this species, but in the genus Cotoneaster, the ones I have are very root sensitive if you repot in autumn.

For Cotoneaster horizontalis, franchetti, lacteus, salicifolius, ... , the ones that grow in gardens here, I repot them when the first leaves have hardened, that is in Late-May, mid-June.



I agree with you.

From the photos, it looks more like the Cotoneaster lacteus family than Cotoneaster horizontalis family.

Notes :
- I suppose that like all the Cotoneasters I've had, healing a big scar is : ... very long. I don't know how to say that either in French or in another language, just the feeling it's hard dry wood where life doesn't want to be.

But you'll have to choose a trunk line, and the sooner the better, you can't keep these two "trunks", one which has the beginning of a movement, and one that goes straight up. Chop !

-- Sub-sthg : how to treat a scar ? Try to hide it or make dead wood an essential feature ?
-- Sub-sthg : even on "big" specimens, as far as I could see, big cuts are treated as dead wood,healing is reduced to the living part of the tree.

-AK-

Thank you so much Alain for the info.
Yeah—the plant tag read: Cotoneaster lucidus
(Acutifolius)
I’ve read online that it’s also referred to as
A Peking (Hedge) Cotoneaster.
Anyways, thanks again!

 

[Eckhoffw]

I started hard pruning the shrubs in the yard. Like most, we’ve been hunkering down. Being pent up, I’ll take any excuse to be outside in a sunny day- even if it’s still only 35 degrees out.
antsy to say the least!
I cleaned the brush away from this guy today.
Decided to give it the hard chop.

I plan on developing taper on this guy while encouraging all new branching.
Here’s hoping.
thank you for your advice. Stay well!

 

[Eckhoffw]

Update.
Had to dig this out because of the damn hot tub that went in this winter.
Looks healthy as of now. Transplant didn’t seem to phase it.
Growing out the new leader.

 

[Flowerhouse]

I dug one of these little guys up from my yard this week, interested to see what it can do in a container. In my yard they are growing right up against the trunks of big willows, and stems that I know are 12+ years old are only as thick as my little finger. They are heavily grazed by deer in late summer. Across the street one is growing 7 feet above the ground in the crotch of a silver poplar. The fall color on these is so pretty!

 

[TN_Jim]

chop lower

 

[Tycoss]

I have two large stumps of these and a bunch of mame from laundry volunteers. They are much hardier than most other cotoneaster. Many say they are the only ones in the genus that are reliably hardy here. The leaves and internodes reduce well, so no worries about cutting low and making a smaller tree. I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

 

[Eckhoffw]

I have two large stumps of these and a bunch of mame from laundry volunteers. They are much hardier than most other cotoneaster. Many say they are the only ones in the genus that are reliably hardy here. The leaves and internodes reduce well, so no worries about cutting low and making a smaller tree. I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

Thanks for the input!
may let it run for awhile to get more vigor in it.
It didn’t do much last year, and then got dug up late last fall. It was shaded out a bit then but now get lots of sun.
Plan on a low chop in a month or so. Does that seem like a proper time?
Thanks.

 

[Tycoss]

Thanks for the input!
may let it run for awhile to get more vigor in it.
It didn’t do much last year, and then got dug up late last fall. It was shaded out a bit then but now get lots of sun.
Plan on a low chop in a month or so. Does that seem like a proper time?
Thanks.

I think you can probably chop whenever the spring growth has "hardened off". My two largest ones had all foliage cut in early June and didn't seem to mind at all.

 

[Eckhoffw]

I think you can probably chop whenever the spring growth has "hardened off". My two largest ones had all foliage cut in early June and didn't seem to mind at all.

Awesome. Thank you. Chop spot recommendations?
Thought around here.

 

[Tycoss]

There is some taper there, so it could make for a good start.

 

[Tycoss]

As promised, here are my larger stumps dug last spring. All the new shoots have developed since then. I plan on reducing further in a month or so. The first one is 19" to the chop with a 4" base. The second is the same height, but a bit narrower above the roots. Some carving may be in order to deal with inverse taper:

 

[Tycoss]

Here are the little guys in various styles. They were actually very fun to work with. I think the leaves are small and dense enough and should reduce further when they get to refinement. Heights from 3" to about 5".

 

[sorce]

Peking made it sound small!

I grabbed some of these as seedlings from the park and planted them at my old place. They got fat right quick in a terrible spot to grow in.

May have to go fetch some more!

Sorce