Quince Purchase, worth the chance?

Hi all,

I saw this sad looking quince today at a local nursery for $6. It was marked 75% off because it appears to have been ravaged by some kind of disease, what looked to me like a mildew problem. There are many dead branches but still some healthy leaves as well. What remaining green there is is far from the trunk. If it has a chance of recovery I think it could make a nice little shohin or cascade, but I have not worked with this species before nor do I have experience nursing such a sick tree back to health. Is it worth it to take the chance on it?

Please note that I do not have the capability of planting in the ground as I do not have a yard.

There is a saying, Bonsai is not a rescue operation. The specimen does not really look worth the trouble. Practice on healthy material.
Iris

Thank you Iris, I was more enamored with the price than the tree

What can you lose for 6 bucks though? You will probably want to chop it anyway.

Main thing is: Identify what is going on with the plant. Are the roots still healthy; Are there bugs in the soil. Indded: Is it heavily infested with milldew (Or perhaps aphids?).

I for one would have taken it. With a bit of tlc it should be able to bounce back. If so, you have a nice starter plant to work with for little money. But then again.. I do not own anything remotely near show-bonsai

The Japanese flowering quince does not look that unhealthy to me.

I would have purchased it for a bit more, as the shape has excellent potential.

If it were mine, I would immediately drastic prune it, get it out of the nursery soil and into a bonsai soil mix, with perhaps a bit of pro-mix or other sphagnum peat additive. Keep it in an area with half sun, not full sun for the remaining of the growing season. That's what I would do...

In the Upstate New York area new growth can still be expected now in mid-July.

Good luck!

Bill

PS: Where in New York do you live?

I would have purchased it too. The roots look like they have potential and that thick single trunk (for Quince) offers many possibilities. My experience with J. Quince is that they are tough plants and can take a lot of pruning and root "work". Any idea of the blossom color? After your repotting and pruning, it may even put out a few blooms for you this year ... nice find!

Ah you all may have talked me in to going back there to see if it is still around.

Bill, I live in Brockport not too far from your nursery.

If I were to purchase this and prune it can I afford to remove all the green?

yes

You may be able to trim all the green off. However, if this tree is recovering from a bit hit earlier this year (heat, aphid, ...) it may be better to just leave it till late winter and trim for the next growing season.

I was just searching for old threads on flowering quince and came across this...think I wound up purchasing the plant being discussed! A couple of photos below...looks like the same plant and looks like the place I bought it (Countrymax in Brockport). The plant lost some branches after whatever ailment hit it last year, but it seems to be coming back pretty well. Repotted recently and the roots looked very good. This may eventually go in the ground but in any case...for under $4, it was a pretty good deal!

If I were you,,i would have bought it.. like said the trunk would give you some options.. i bought one like it last year.. i trimed it back potted it and it still made some flowers !! this year it budded out we had another hard freeze and i lost all the buds...i rubbed them off and now it is budding again ! they must be pretty tough..if it is still there buy it... take care john

prestontolbert wrote:What can you lose for 6 bucks though? You will probably want to chop it anyway.

And if it is a disease? You can lose a lot. Not all plant diseases are species specific.

NEVER bring a suspected diseased tree home.

This particular plant wasn't (and isn't) diseased. It sat in a hot garden center all summer (basically a parking lot, asphalt surface), was probably neglected, under-watered, etc.

I do agree in principle, though, about not bringing a plant into the collection if it is obviously diseased...

I'm only a newbie to all this but I'd say go for it!  I got an Azalea stupidly cheap a few weeks ago because it looked half dead, got it home and watered it and its now literally covered in fresh leaves, flowering heavily and looks great!

coh wrote:I was just searching for old threads on flowering quince and came across this...think I wound up purchasing the plant being discussed!... ...

I was just doing the same  
The reason is I have bought a Chaenomeles yesterday and I need info about it since I have no experience with this species. It is a nursery plant into a 8-9lt pot but I don't know the exact variety, however it has bright coral red flowers and one or two of them have one of their petals a cream/beige colour.
I need to repot it into a training pot and I wonder if I can do it right away (spring time coming in my country - 9a zone). Well, these are my questions :
- Does it matter that the plant is in full bloom? No leaves emerging yet.
- How much root work shall I do safely?
- From my readings I would say that it can take hard pruning, am I correct?

Thank you very much in advance for your help.

I have pulled shoots from a municiple lawm late last spring, last year: in the past there used to be hedging of quince. The roots were not removed completely, so every year they sprout, are trimmed with every lawm mower cycle etc.

Only got a few cm of "root", about 2cm thick, no side roots. Chucked them in the ground. Left them between some plants. They are now popping flowerbuds all over.

In short: I think they can handle A LOT of abuse

Thank you very much for your response, Leatherback.
However the timing query remains...
Let's hope someone experienced will chime in