AusBonsai

Dear fella bonsai enthusiasts,

I've gained a permission to dig up a flowering quince shrub from a property that will be demolishing in a few weeks time. My main concern is a survival rate during this time of year in Sydney West. I don't have any other choice and do not want lose my chance of getting my hand on this specimen therefore I am looking at unearth it this coming weekend

what is the best collecting method to keep it survives during winter

1. Should I bare root it without any field soil, pot up with well-drained mix, cover it with a clear plastic bag and protect it from frostbite.
2. keep all field soil intact with the root ball, plant it in large foam box and keep it cover.

I am looking forward to your advices and thanks all in advance .

T. Le,

When you dig, get as many fine roots as you can
As it is a deciduous tree now thru till late winter is the best time to get them.
Bare root shoud be fine to do now, and I would take off any big down pointing roots whil you have it out, and pot up into nice mix
Defoliate if not already bare, and keep out of Any frosts we may get tall thru winter

This time of year I woud not cover it as you do not want to encourage bud burst before the end of winter I think

Post a piccie when you get it

Ken

Thanks for your advice Ken...sound like I till have a good chance. Will post some pic's once it collected.

P.S: I have had collected 2 large kumquats yesterday from the same location and will plant them into the ground this arvo, hope they will full through the cold

Cheers,
T. Le

Hi Ken and all,

I collected the flower quince shrub late yesterday afternoon and I am planning to pot them up when I finish work today. I will hose and clean all field soil before potting. I am thinking of split them into two small clumps as the current clump is large and heavy for me, it has a root-ball of about 600mm in diameter. I wish to remove a few stumps inside as there are to dense so should I remove them now or I should wait until there it grows after a season or two?

Thanks,
T. Le

Hey T, If it were mine i would leave it whole. Design a clump out of the most aged and interesting trunks. Some, if not most/all may need to be chopped and regrown to wire movement into them. Some of the younger growth may be used to fill and create perspective and depth. anything that wont be used should be eliminated early in the piece so as to open the clump up and divert the energy to what is used.allowing light and air in also!

T, that's some nice material.

Hi T,

I collected a large mandarin at this time last year, dont expect too much to happen between now & spring but it should recover fine. Depending on how much growth you removed it may not flower or fruit next season but thats ok as it will give it an extra year to really get its roots reestablished.

As for the flowering quince, I dug one a bit larger last year and decided rather than try to work with it as a whole I split it into a load of smaller pieces with up to half a dozen trunks. They have all powered away with no loses so you should be fine. You can be really brutal, I took an axe to mine.

Matt

I reckon Matt is correct it would be best to split them up a bit, With such a huge number of trunks it may be quite difficult to sort out whats to be kept and whats to be cut out.
Craig

Hi Guys,
Thank you very much for your constructive and encouraging advices, I will give it another thoroughly look before deciding whether to split it or not.

Matt,
I did not think my two kumquats should recover during this time of the year, I am pleased that you've shared a successful story with your collected mandarin. I plant mine in the ground for now and will post some pic's at late stage.
Edit: Matt, would it be possible to post some pics of a progression of your flowering quince?

Thanks all,
T. Le

Nice Dig
I woud split them to so you can manage them more easily
Plenty to choos from

Ken

hio, i am in sth west sydney and i have Japanese and chinese flowering quince varieties. they love the weather and strive like weeds hehehe.