AusBonsai

hey everyone

My fiance has just brought herself a little flowering quince, It's her second bonsai. Shes has only just goten into bonsai recently. I'm posting this on her behalf
She would like to know what everyone thinks of her little quince and how she should style it with help from me of course
all suggestions welcome

How well does it bend?

I would put some low 'wild bends' in it and feed it as much as possible.

I would pick one of the leaders and remove the other one at the 'junction', then bend the lowest branch down and then bend the whole thing into shape.

I'll try to do a virt.

Is its japanese or chinese quince?

Japanese quince are quite easy to work with although they dont thicken up very readily at all. they work well as small bonsai or as a clump. I would select the tickest truck and remove the rest. I woudl then cut an inch off the top of the chosen trunk which will stimulate secondary growth. quince are normally quite flexible so try and get some movement in the trunk. if the thickest trunk it too hard maybe choose a trunk out of one of the more flexible branches. once the seconday growth hardens only slightly i woudl then start wiring it. you coudl easily make a nice little tree in one season. and next you will have twice as much ramification

Or you could easily get it looking something like this one below. Remember quince flower on last year growth (one year old wood_. initially ignore flowering and try to obtain a basic branch structure. Once this is obtained, allow new growth to grow free all summer then come autmn prune it to shape leave 3 or 4 nodes (these will be flower buds next spring). once it flowers, cut it back to the bascit branch structure and let it growth free all summer and then cut back to 3 or 4 nodes in autumn.

i had a play with it before after she brought it home, the trunk is really stiff it could be bent but not much and would take alot of stuffing around like its reallly stiff. i'm not sure if its japanese or chinese apperently all the tag said was flowering quince "plum" . its about to boom in the next few days ill take some more pics when the the shoots open up.
as this is also the 1st quince iv'e worked on when is the best time to hack away on it?
a virt would be much appreciated thanks scott

Get some thick wire on it and bend slowly, Move a little bit every few days, and you should be able to get some movement in there
Either that or cut back and get new shoots to get wire on before it sets

Ge the branches away from the trunk while you can.
Be a few years yet, but the tree astro posted can be achieved in a short time

Ken

Quince wood sets very hard very quickly so tread carefully, it just snaps suddenly and without warning.
I would say you have chaenomeles japonica which is flowering quince. The japanese usually grow them in the clump or multiple trunk style.
Craig

i'm going to do some wiring with hannah today, do they air layer well or do i try and strike the cuttings as she doesn't want to waste any of her tree

Japanese quince are pretty hardy. cut it at any time although it might be nice to wait till after it flowers. if the main trunk is too stiff and ur worried about breaking it how are the other leaders? stiff too? maybe cut them off and train the small branch on the right. they ramify pretty easy after flowering if you cut the tip off. below is a picture of mine. when i bought it the quince it was a cutting. nothing but a 6 inch straight branch in a pot. in one season this is what i acheived. so dont worry about losing the big branches. and i am pretty sure quince strike really well from cuttings. just google which time of year is best. i have a double white flowering and a coral pink, a single red, double red and a frilly flowered peach and white quince. of all i find the pink has the best flowers. the others dont tend to last too long and if they get wet they get ruined. so when it flowers, try to keeop the flowers dry.

Hey Jake,

I would go with clip and grow rather than trying to wire & bend due to the already mentioned stiffness of the wood. If you can plant it out in the ground it will thicken quicker tho a large pot would also work. They love there food and will reward you with thickening quicker, tho its still slow.

If its about to shoot away now is the time to get in & sort out the roots & pot on or plant out. They sucker like crazy so if you dont want a clump you will have to keep ontop of removing them, but for the first couple of years it is a good idea to let them go as they will help thicken the base for you, cutting them out at each repot.

They strike easily from cuttings tho if its about to shoot its a bit late to try for hardwood cuttings, they also layer well. I would be inclined to let it just have its head for this year to help add some more bulk to the trunk and then take cuttings after leaf fall next winter.

Matt

i ended up snapping 2 branches on it yesterday
its way way to stiff i am going to use the clip and grow method slowly but surly we'll get there
using 2.5mm and 3mm wire still couldn't get any movment in most of the branches
thanks for the help guy's much appreciated

(by the way i'm in the bad books for snapping branches off the missus tree haha)

By the end of summer it will grow back and them some! Plus it will ramify a fair bit if branches snapped. Next winter it will be flower haven

how long does it take to air layer a quince?
iv'e got my eye on one of the top sections to make a shohin, as ill have to cut them back anyway its way to tall.
we ended up getting a fair amount of movment in that thin side branch. it will turn out good in a few years and a bit of training
thanks for the help everyone it has been a big help for us

Airlayering won't take too long. I think they strike from cuttings fairly readily tho

Jake wrote:
(by the way i'm in the bad books for snapping branches off the missus tree haha)

Only if you throw them out.
If you but them in as cuttings you can use that as a CYA story, ( CYA - Cover Your Ass)

Ken