Just Got a Quince From the Nursery...

Shambhala

I just got back from the nursery with a brand new Quince

I have a few questions I am hoping some of you can answer, the person at the nursery didn't have much to say:

1. How big do the leaves and fruit get?
2. What is a good style for a Quince? Mine looks like a decent informal, wondering if I can do anything else.
3. When should I begin to cut back the roots, and how much should I for the initial cut?

Thanks! I am going to have a pic of it by tomorrow

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TreeBay

Is it Japanese Flowering Quince or Chinese (fruiting) Quince?

Chinese Quince can be as large as a small pear. In fact, quince served as the root stock for many pear trees imported from France in the 1900's. Japanese Flowering Quince is more fig-sized. It has smaller leaves and flowers usually before the leaves appear.

You want to repot before the leaf buds open, in either case. How much you cut back depends on how much branch load you have and how well developed the root system is. Just keep it in proportion and error on the side of too much root.

Chinese quince is usually styled to appear more like a tree and Japanese variety is styled with a lot of spurs for the flowers. Might look a little more wild.

There are several quinces here in the gallery to give you some ideas. All these are various flowering quinces.

Regards,

Matt

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Shambhala

The card says Flowering Quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) and apparently it also has edible fruits. The woman at the nursery kept on telling me how beautiful they were

I really don't find the clump style attractive, so maybe I'll go for the root over rock look. I heard the trunks grow very slowly partly because of the suckers, how long would I be looking at to go from a 1/2 inch trunk to a 2 inch trunk?

Look at me, I just bought it as my first potensai and am already worried about the details that are years ahead

Another question: In the pot there are about 4 long 'branches' coming from the soil that appear to be different trees growing. Are these actually seperate quinces growing, or are they part of the root system from the main one; they are about 6 inches apart from the main tree.

TreeBay

Quince suckers pretty readily. The shoots are most likely thrown up from the roots and part of the connected root system, but you could probably divide them at repotting time.

Sometimes quince is grafted, and in that case the suckers might be a different variety.

Regards,

Matt

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Shambhala

Thanks for the info!

When will I be able to start pruning/wiring? I have decided on a cascade style, but I think it would be wiser to do that when the leaves are on the tree, so I can get an idea of how they are structurally.

Shambhala

Hope these pics are alright, I am going to post a few of them, from two different angles.

As you can see it is very 'shrubby' right now, and I am thinking about a cascade/semi-cascade style. Let me know what you guys think about the style and how I would go about doing this.

Actually right now I see semi-formal

Shambhala

And another...

Shambhala

One More

TreeBay

Wiring a quince is a little tricky. I'm sure you'll find out. The branches snap a lot, so get used to the sound.

Snap, snap, snap!

To get this trunk into a cascade, you would need to split it down the middle and wrap it tightly with raffia, then wire, and then grit your teeth and

Snap!

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