Pruning a Quince

Ronny

When is the best time to prune a quince?

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TreeBay

well... it depends on whether you're concerned about cutting off flowers (Flowering Quince) or fruit (Chinese Quince).

After the danger of frost has passed, you can prune safely, though.

Regards,

Matt

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hortriot

hiya,

i would say ditch the flowers,
if you want a good looking tree, sacrifice them and you will not be limited in your shaping/pruning.

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TreeBay

It simply isn't clear from the post WHY we are pruning, so it's difficult to provide any specific advice. We don't know the species of the tree, or whether the tree is going to be shown this year, for example.

Matt

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Ronny

when i purchased this plant all it said was qunice white flower trail, it has some really long over grown branches and all i want to do is to shape it up thats all so just need to know when the best time is to do this. I am not a shower of my trees, i have my trees because i love to do it thats all, they are for me.

fredtruck

From your description, it sounds like you have a Chaenomeles, rather than the Chinese quince. Assuming this is correct...

If you want flowers, prune it back hard to two or three nodes after the current flowers wither. Give the tree its basic shape then. Let it grow unchecked until the summer heat stops extension...usually late June or early July. Then cut new growth back to one, two or three nodes, depending on the fineness of ramification you want. Then, let the tree grow again unchecked until fall, and cut back new growth again after the leaves drop. It is often easier to prune for shape during late fall or winter, when you can see what you are trimming.

Flowering quince form flowers on last year's wood. Try for short, compact branches. Brent Walston at Evergreen Gardenworks has an excellent article on Flowering Quince.

Ronny

yes fred that is what it seems to be to me. so will ok to prune it back now?

fredtruck

Yes.

ozzerbon

Hi Ya Dude,

By your initial description, I would guess that your tree is Chaenomeles Superba 'Jet Trail'. Wait until after flowering, which if I be correct, then the large flowers will be an almost pure white.

If on the otherhand it is a Chaenomeles Chojubai 'White form' [which I doubt], then the abundant crop of flowers are more near to being an extremely pale yellow. And this rather special guy is rather rare.

Regards,
Nigel

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