AusBonsai

Hi all.
This is one of those 'what to do' posts I'm afraid. I have been watching so many great bonsai specimens that are doing the rounds from you all and am in awe of how you are all doing it. My questions are from a novice point and they are sorely in need of answering for me to move on with my baby trees.

i have a 2 japanese quince which are growing and have been neglected for about 5 years in the same pots i got them in. They are both very woody and, i am assuming, will break if i do anything to them however i could be wrong. So what suggestions do you have for me. The pics are below.
I also have 2 prunus mume in the same condition. Do they backed? i am loathe too just hack them both but if they do bud i am willing. I guess the next question is whether i am too late to do anything to them. The quince have just flowered so i know where the leaf and flower buds are split so can avoid any damage to them. The Mume have never flowered and are about 5 years old as well.

Your suggestions are always extremely helpful and i am getting to know things a bit better each time i have been answered.

Thanks P

IMHO pruning is a much more useful than wiring and bending. Wire will give bends but can't give us valuable taper. Pruning can do both at the same time.
Any tree can be pruned back to any live branch. Many can be pruned back to nodes where new buds will grow.
Flowering quince should bud from nodes on old wood so you can cut that one back pretty hard.
You can prune the mume back to any healthy side branch. Pruning like that may even stimulate even more buds on the trunk for future cuts.
Pruning can be done any time of year. Trees are adapted to surviving grazing animals and storms which don't operate on a calendar so they can survive pruning at all times of year. Having said that responses may be quicker when the trees are active and in some cases the post pruning growth will differ slightly.
Now, as the trees start growing is generally a good time of year to identify healthy shoots to prune to and response will be pretty quick.

With the 2 x quinces - I would trim back much of the existing extended branch lengths & try to get them to root as cuttings. Plant all together to start a group or clump style. Quince can be difficult to build up ramification on individually. A few cuttings planted together will give you a good head start.

www.internationalbonsai.com/files/17083 ... RTICLE.pdf

shibui wrote: ↑September 14th, 2020, 8:45 pm IMHO pruning is a much more useful than wiring and bending. Wire will give bends but can't give us valuable taper. Pruning can do both at the same time.
Any tree can be pruned back to any live branch. Many can be pruned back to nodes where new buds will grow.
Flowering quince should bud from nodes on old wood so you can cut that one back pretty hard.
You can prune the mume back to any healthy side branch. Pruning like that may even stimulate even more buds on the trunk for future cuts.
Pruning can be done any time of year. Trees are adapted to surviving grazing animals and storms which don't operate on a calendar so they can survive pruning at all times of year. Having said that responses may be quicker when the trees are active and in some cases the post pruning growth will differ slightly.
Now, as the trees start growing is generally a good time of year to identify healthy shoots to prune to and response will be pretty quick.

thanks Neil for the info. I will jump on them today and start the ID and pruning.

Keep Calm and Ramify wrote: ↑September 14th, 2020, 9:01 pm With the 2 x quinces - I would trim back much of the existing extended branch lengths & try to get them to root as cuttings. Plant all together to start a group or clump style. Quince can be difficult to build up ramification on individually. A few cuttings planted together will give you a good head start.

www.internationalbonsai.com/files/17083 ... RTICLE.pdf

Wow KCR, that is such a great document. A bit of study and off to the garden.
Thanks so much to both of you.

P