Chaenomeles ( QUINCE FLOWERING)

Hi everibody,

I woul like to present a chaenomeles yamadory.

potted by the ground last autumn. The soil in the pot is a mixture of pumice (about 80%) and peat (20%).

Do you have any suggestion about how to cultivate this plant? exposition, when and how tu prune the shoot? it is better to wait until they become wood to have a good flowering in next year?

and, last, do you have an idea about the future possible style? I've but I would like to have a confrontation with your ideas.

Thank a lot in advance and I'm sorry for my elementary english language.





PS: If you want see more photos, please, ask me

Is it so bad?

We can't really tell with pictures taken from up OVER the tree. After all, humans so seldom view trees from that perspective. Maybe an eye level view with a little exposition as you your hopes for the tree.

Of course, You're right Jim, I'm sorry.

Two new photos of the plant, front and back, or the contrary is'nt yet decided the front, and a simple sketch of my idea for the future:







As you can see from the direction of the stumps of branches I planted the subject tilted about 60 degrees from the vertical original position.
Regards

Much better. Good idea about the future direction of the tree.

As for its immediate future, just let it grow. Don't even THINK about planning for flowers for a couple of years. If it flowers, that's a bonus, but for now, you want to let it grow bushy so you can start to prune, and wire it into your drawing plan. These seem to like water, so keep the soil moist but not Wet. Fertilize (any houseplant fertilizer is fine) every two weeks at the strength set on the package.

You can pinch the ends of the new sprouts but hold back on any serious pruning until fall.

thank you Jim

Cultivation tips:

Wire young growth for movement early otherwise you get a rather 'stiff' looking branch structure
Grow in a substrate that holds a fair degree of moisture - especially if you intend it to fruit. Fertilise liberally every 10 - 14 days. I use moler clay with 10% by volume of pine bark chips.
To promote back budding partially defoliate after the leaves harden and take off 50% of the larger leaves. The smaller, circular ones are better in terms of scale and throw little shade on internal buds.
You can cut back hard to bare branches and it will back bud well - especially if you 'pump up' the area to be chopped by allowing long runners into early summer.
Wounds heal slowly so try and chop in an unobtrusive place. Like Azaleas they have a shallow callus so you don't need to make too deep a concave cut.
Thin out flower clusters after they go over - I usually just allow 1 'novelty' fruit to stay every other year. Fruiting draws a lot of energy from the tree. If I were you I would cut off the flower buds for 2 years (if you can forego the blooms) and let the tree focus 100% of its energy on throwing enough shoots so you can build a good branch structure. Here's my tree ....

Thanks a lot Marie for your suggestions.
I'll post early a new photo of the plant, so you can see how it looks now.

I like a lot your quince.

regards

Some pictures of the chanomeles like it looks now.

I should to cut the buds and remove the large leaves; is it correct Marie? at wich height cut up the buds? is it correct to cut at the final height planned for the future bonsai.



thank in advance for yours suggestion.

I'd cut/pinch the shoots back to just a few pairs of leaves. This will help promote side branches.

Fertilize.

At some time, I would imagine you'll begin seeing new shoots appearing from the soil surface. It's a good indication the shrub is beginning to insure more growth for strength. Remove them immediately to be able to keep the single trunk form going and new growth where you want it.

With ALL my quince I feed organic low numbered fertilizer held in bulk tea bags so that they get fed daily with each watering.

I think the majority of all mine are kabudachi or clump style. I get more blooms over all and find it a challenge to keep the design as opposed to the more conventional single trunk.

My favorite is the chojubai variety, especially the red, with it's smaller leaves and flowers.The white and new orange variety tend to have bigger leaves and flowers and have more of a coarse look next to the refined red.

I also have some chinese quince, which I enjoy as well.

I'm a stickler about removing flowers as they fade, so that the quince does not put a lot of effort into ripening their fruit/seeds. I might let one form depending on how well the tree is doing. It's a similar mentality for rhodie and azealea bonsai,where owners who dead head their bonsai as flowers fail. that way the strength goes into more growth which encourages more blooms.

good luck with your quince

Yes Dick, I removed some shoots started from the roots to leave the plant energy to the growth of the branches and I use organic fertilizer to be mixed into the soil.
So the actually goal is to stimulate the emergence of new shoots on the areas useful to the final drawing, I'll do what Jim suggested, to cut the shoots to some pair of leaves.

regards

I pinched the shoots, maybe they are too longs again, but now thw questions is: could be better to cut off the larger leaves? Is it the moment to do a partial defoliation?



have a nice WE