Yashu’s Chaenomeles speciosa, Scarlet Storm

[yashu]

Well… I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to throw $25 at another plant. Seems quite healthy, lots of buds. They had about a dozen out, one with a single trunk but most with two or more. The single trunk had a long straight section so that was an easy pass and I ended up with nearly the only plant that did not have crossing trunks. This one is a five trunked clump with all trunks radiating out and some decent bones to work with.

This is my first quince so tips and tricks are welcome. I have a couple questions right off the bat;

I have uncovered the point where all the trunks come from by removing the top inch or so of soil and in the process have uncovered a fair amount of fine roots and some suckers looking to make their way to the surface. My question is basically how aggressive can I be with the roots of this species? The buds are plump but no open flowers yet and there are some smaller leaves open. I’d like to get this into a pot and out of the nursery soil and let it run this season. Can/should these be bare rooted like my maples and azaleas or do I need to leave some old soil behind like on many conifers?

Next questions all have to do with refinement strategies. What is the best way to promote bifurcation? How well do these plants heal wounds? Is there die back at cut sites, i.e. do I need to leave stubs when removing bigger branches? Are these apically or basally dominant? Do branches sprout from bud or leaf sites or both?

I do know that these flower from old wood and that the flowers are often removed before fruit develop so as to not sap energy from the tree needed for growth and development (though I don’t know if my specific species fruits readily). I’ve read up on the dwarf varieties a bit but that about sums up my Chaenomeles knowledge.

Here are some shots of the plant as pulled from the nursery can:

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

I have a number of quince, but the very best person I know on quince handling and styling is Michael Hagedorn. He’s been engaged in a Chojobai grow and style experiment with many plants running for over ten years.

Here’s the link to his blog. See if you can scroll through it and check out his posts on quince.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[yashu]

One more question… how worried should I be about root nematodes? Are there any precautions?

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Here's the limit of what I know.

If the quince has root nematodes already there is nothing one can do, but cut these off, and sterilize the cuts when you see them and use either chemicals like zerotol or beneficial nematodes.

When you do a repot check for root knots. (One type of bad nematode. ) If you have these... think about keeping the plant.

As far as keeping quince roots from getting nematodes, its a matter of using clean media for sure... also reports of using the correct size... dunno about that. If your area doesn't have these nematodes, likely you'll be ok.

cheers
DSD sends

 

[yashu]

Thanks @Deep Sea Diver

Not much info for this plant in my area specifically but there’s a bunch to read and watch just in general. There were some informative posts on the Crataegus blog but not much going into specifics. There is a lot more on the dwarf (chojubai) varieties but most of the information on C. speciosa concerns specimens planted in the landscape or gardens. I’ll continue my journey down the rabbit hole but I also don’t mind some semi-educated experimentation as I don’t have a huge amount invested in this plant… that said I do like it and hope it thrives so I’ll make every attempt not to kill it

 

[yashu]

This tree now has a home. It’s overpotted as I didn’t want to remove to much root all at once and I left some old soil in there. Mostly I wasn’t very sure about how to go about transferring quince from nursery can conditions to a bonsai container.

Anyway, I’ve been sitting on this pot for a while and I think it should set off the flowers nicely.




You may not be able to tell from this angle but there are 5 trunks in this clump. I am very seriously considering removing the front trunk that crosses the base and the rear trunk as it lacks interest… next season.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Good job! It should do well for you.

The way I saw Michael H handle these critters is to let the plants stabilize, grow out, chop back to two nodes to get 3D gnarly ancient look…. then repeat A couple three times a year, health and weather dependent. He’s got a video/blog out of this technique somewhere.

For future planning… quince, like azaleas, are basally dominant…

Last year in October we pruned the most part of 30 of the stock at Michael H’s workshop. This Feb we were back pruning again. We’ve got about 30 Chojubai cuttings from the last foray that were struck in February… looks like most took.



Oh yes, when I was in the shed I noticed this beat up Quince as another example for you… It shows that healthy Quince can take a hard chop. This is a Double Take Pink both a rabbit and DSD chopped back in the ground a couple years in a row. This winter it was potted up to keep it safe!



Looking forward to seeing how this plant progresses!

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[yashu]

I guess I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for an actual chojubai now after getting my feet wet with this quince… or…. Maybe we’ll see how this goes and look next spring

 

[scolibonsai]

Nice looking purchase! However, as a Chaenomeles speciosa it actually isn't a 'chojubai'. In Japanese it is referred to as 'Boke'. Chojubai are Chaenomeles japonica and have smaller leaves and flowers and grow much slower than Boke. That being said Boke also make very nice bonsai (as I recall there is at least one at Kunio Kobayashi's garden in Tokyo) and as they grow much quicker than chojubai it won't take a lifetime to develop a nice looking clump-style plant. Cuttings start pretty easily and you can cut them back very hard and they'll recover quickly. Enjoy!

 

[yashu]

Nice looking purchase! However, as a Chaenomeles speciosa it actually isn't a 'chojubai'. In Japanese it is referred to as 'Boke'. Chojubai are Chaenomeles japonica and have smaller leaves and flowers and grow much slower than Boke. That being said Boke also make very nice bonsai (as I recall there is at least one at Kunio Kobayashi's garden in Tokyo) and as they grow much quicker than chojubai it won't take a lifetime to develop a nice looking clump-style plant. Cuttings start pretty easily and you can cut them back very hard and they'll recover quickly. Enjoy!

Right, as noted above I’m hoping to acquire an actual chojubai next spring

 

[Bombylius]

This tree now has a home. It’s overpotted as I didn’t want to remove to much root all at once and I left some old soil in there. Mostly I wasn’t very sure about how to go about transferring quince from nursery can conditions to a bonsai container.

Anyway, I’ve been sitting on this pot for a while and I think it should set off the flowers nicely.

View attachment 480391
View attachment 480390

You may not be able to tell from this angle but there are 5 trunks in this clump. I am very seriously considering removing the front trunk that crosses the base and the rear trunk as it lacks interest… next season.

I think this pot is going to make a stunning combination with the buds. Please post more pics of developments. Only just started looking at the potential of quinces myself, having been hacking them back as scraggly hedges for years.