Chinese Quince...

[astroboy76]

i had brilliant colour on mine this year and it has had no leaves for weeks now. i noticed just yesterday that slight swelling(and the redness now showing) in the buds so i expect it will burst in a week or two. quite early. but all of mine are bursting early. two elms are popping out everywhere, crabpples flowering. its crazy. i think the week or two or cloudy weather followed by the perfect sunny days of late have tricked the trees.

as for flowering, keep ur tree moist. a slightly deeper pot will help. also feed low nitrogen all year. i stop feeding mine the moment leaves start to colour. they usually only fower of the lateral branches of last years growth

[astroboy76]

and a set of leaves burst before the flower pops out so u might be lucky and some of those bursting buds could contain flowers

[craigw60]

Hi Joe, I have a tree in the carpark of my nursery which has been there for about 10 years and this year for the first time it had a decent crop of fruit, although none of the fruit had any seed in it which was a bit disappointing.
Craigw

[Jow]

10 years, I think that is fairly usual for fruiting trees, if that is the case i might have to wait a while longer. Shame you had no seed, you dont need another nearby to set seed do you?

[bodhidharma]

I have one in my orchard about 12 years old and has been setting fruit for the last 4 years. I dont have another on my property so i do not think it needs another to set fruit. I have one in a pot that flowers every year but no fruit. I will be layering the one in my orchard this year.

[craigw60]

I think the lack of seed is an age thing. There is one in a garden at Silvan which I planted 20 years ago and its fruit is full of seed, unfortunately the property was sold a couple of years ago so I no longer have access to it.
Craigw

[Gerard]

I decided mine was not going dormant, so I leaf pruned and potted it today. I took your advice Jow and root pruned fairly hard.

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[Jow]

Looks much better. If it responds anything like mine did it won't miss a beat.

[shibui]

Early on I had some fruit on trees in grow boxes to develop into bonsai, which had few seed inside. Now we have plenty of plants in the garden, most loaded with fruit this year and all with good seed.

Tried cooking a few fruit this year but was not very impressed with the results.

I am amazed at the size of the fruit - smaller ones are 10 cm long, bigger ones up to 20cm x 10cm! Anyone know how the Japanese get such small fruit to display on their trees in Autumn? I've read that they are picked while immature then stored until autumn and tied back onto the trees for display but I can't imagine an immature fruit surviving that long or ripening to that wonderful golden colour. Maybe they pick the smallest ones from a garden tree for display on bonsai?

[astroboy76]

there are a few different cultivators of psuedocydonia sinensis. Perhaps some cultivators have seeds and some dont? some might have different sized fruits etc

'Chino' - The large fragrant greenish-white fruit has few seeds[183]. It ripens in mid to late autumn[183]. This cultivar is adapted to growing in all areas of southern USA, except Florida[183]. Self-sterile, it requires another cultivar for pollination to take place[183].
'Dragon Eye' - The yellow medium-size fruit is hard and suitable for pickling[183]. It ripens in mid to late autumn[183]. A self-sterile plant, it requires another cultivar for pollination to take place[183].

Trees are very hardy when grown in a continental climate with long hot summers but in the cooler climate of Britain where they do not always ripen their wood they are only reliably hardy to about -5°c[200]. They grow well on a south-facing wall[11, 200] and this is the only way to ensure that they fruit well in Britain

some info

[Jow]

Early on I had some fruit on trees in grow boxes to develop into bonsai, which had few seed inside. Now we have plenty of plants in the garden, most loaded with fruit this year and all with good seed.

Tried cooking a few fruit this year but was not very impressed with the results.

I am amazed at the size of the fruit - smaller ones are 10 cm long, bigger ones up to 20cm x 10cm! Anyone know how the Japanese get such small fruit to display on their trees in Autumn? I've read that they are picked while immature then stored until autumn and tied back onto the trees for display but I can't imagine an immature fruit surviving that long or ripening to that wonderful golden colour. Maybe they pick the smallest ones from a garden tree for display on bonsai?

Hi Neil,

Although i did see a number of smaller sized quinces, most of the famous ones you might have seen in Japanese exhibition books that have fruit all seem to be on the large size <1m. Then i guess the smaller fruit is chosen for display. I have also heard the rhumor of refridgerating the fruits then re-applying for exhibition but have never had that confirmed in Japan..... could be some truth in it or maybe not.

Thanks forthe additional info Astro. I will have to see if i can ID the variety once it flowers and sets fruit.

[craigw60]

Interesting that there are selected forms of chinese quince. This species has now been moved in with quince so its call cydonia sinensis now
Craigw