AusBonsai

i was really lucky. i went to ray nesci's nursery in dural last weekend and he had just put it out for sale the day before so i snatched it up. it is actually a chinese quince. there are two main types of quince, one is a small spiny shrub commonly known as japanese quince. i have a few of these as well. then there is Pseudocydonia sinensis, chinese quince which grows as a tree. same leaves and flowers and fruit, just bigger!

Bonbon wrote:I believe this is a Japanese Flowering Quince, right?

Where did you get it from?

I have two quince myself but rather thin and tall. Good flowers, though. Would love to get a thick trunk one if possible.

JFQ sucker a lot and don't thicken very well. Its why you see them styled as clumps.

i was thinking fo cutting this quince off just after the mnain two bends in the trunk. i drew this diagram of what i am hoping to achieve. i added the cut mark as well, let me know your thoughts...

That's where I would layer, setting up on of those thin branches up to be the new leader. From there it takes time to thicken it up .

ok people, its about a year since i purchased this quince and it is coming along nicely. leaps and bounds actually. it ramifies amazingly. every node shoots out a new branch which in turn does the same. its hard keeping up with it. took me an hour to wire today. there are some obvious things that are still required, and its a long way off to make this tree close to being what i would call a great tree but im getting there. all i need is time hehe.

from the original pics earlier in this post i trunk chopped it and trained a new leader. unfortunately the new leader was snapped by my dog so i am now training yet another new leader. will take another year or two until i get the gradual taper of the trunk. this tree grows phenominally. in one year the first new leader was the circumference of a ten cent coin. at that rate two years will give me great gradual taper. i am also currently letting the ends of the branches extend to thicken them so the tree is looking a little out of sorts and the dodgey phone pics dont really show how well this tree is coming along but thought i would share its progress with you all anyway.

the actual trunk size is about as round as a coke can. oh, and the peeling bark is just a natural feature of the chinese quince

the first two pics were taken 3 weeks ago after i gave it a good hard prune to stimulate a burst in growth to help thicken it all up. the following pics i took today after wiring. i just wish i had a better setup to take pics. these dont do the tree any justice at all

so in short this is a definate long term project but its coming along brilliantly i think

here is another pic of the other side taken a few weeks ago after hard