Digging a Quince

fredtruck

In August of 2003, I had the opportunity to dig up a quince. In talking to the owner of the house, and obtaining permission, their only disappointment was that I couldn’t take the entire shrub. Since this chaenomeles speciosa is approximately 12 feet tall and at least 8 feet in diameter, I had to settle for a division. It was 103 degrees F. and it took me, working with a friend, about 3 hours to separate an 18” segment. I thought it would be okay to dig at this time of year, because quince has a growth spurt in September and October and sometimes later, which I planned to take advantage of.

The house the plant belongs to was built in the 1920s. Because of that date, and because of the extreme thickness of the roots, I estimate the age of this tree to be 70 years, or more. The root shown, which I have carved on, measures 3” diagonally, a phenomenal size for a quince.

The first picture shows the quince, a tall fence, and a neighboring house for size comparison. I took this picture recently, just for documentation. The second picture shows the root.

Attached Images

	quince.jpg (63.4 KB, 328 views)
	age.jpg (64.2 KB, 336 views)

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fredtruck

I cut the tree back to approximately 4 feet tall, and put it in the ground. By the end of September, new leaves were appearing everywhere. The tree wintered well, so well in fact, that the leaves at the base of the shoots stayed green during the whole, very cold season. I decided to pot it up in the spring of 2004. I cut back the shoots n a preliminary assessment of style, removed part of the old plant that was clearly dead, dug up the tree, washed off about half the yard soil, and put it in a pot. To my disappointment, there were no new roots, at all. I assumed the tree was living on “trunk fat.” Still, I went ahead. The quince had a good growing season, and lost most of its leaves in the fall. It had a good winter.

I took the first picture a year later, in January of 2005. New growth was coming on. I began thinking about the basic clump structure I wanted to develop.

I took the next picture in March of 2005. Growth was explosive.

Attached Images

	speciosa.jpg (61.9 KB, 300 views)
	march2005.jpg (40.8 KB, 296 views)

fredtruck

In May of 2005, I repotted the clump. I used a slightly smaller pot, and removed portions of the original “clump stump” that had put out no shoots, leaving portions I thought still viable. I washed off all the remaining yard soil and was pleased to see many fine feeder roots had developed.

In the very late fall of 2005, I removed more portions of the clump stump that weren’t producing, and I also removed a couple that were, because the shoots were all wrong. I made a few tweaks to my basic design.

Because I had reduced the size of the clump stump from 18” to about 10”, the pot now seems a bit small, although the tree will grow a lot very quickly. I am not sure but what a smaller pot might be necessary.

The first picture shows the repot in May of 2005.

The second picture shows the quince as it is now, in a very cut-back form.

The first flower buds are visible now.

Attached Images

	may2005.jpg (40.9 KB, 134 views)
	now.jpg (56.6 KB, 239 views)

pootsie

Fred:

I expect great things from this tree. Thanks for sharing!

pootsie

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Joanie

Quince are such beautiful trees. An older branch, with craggy bark, contrasting with the delicate flowers...

Thank you for sharing, this is well on its way and is going to be glorious.

Joanie

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fredtruck

My pleasure. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

ozzerbon

Great work and progress details, terrific clump, lucky fella, looking forwards to seeing those flowers....?

Regards,
Nigel

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fredtruck

I'm looking forward to the flowers, too. I think in 3 or 4 weeks, they will open. There won't be many this year, but it will start the ball rolling. Thanks for the kind words.

zen

It is so nice to see a post like this one, wherein the progress of a tree is recorded, from nothing at all into something quite nice, it really gives one a sense that sometimes, not going to a bonsai-specific-purpose-grown-trees-sold-here-for-your-instant-gratification type of nursery, and droppin off your kid's tuition for a couple of nice trunks, and adding your deed and car title to the pot for a decent looking chunk of clay to stick ONE of those trees in,....not to mention the body parts that some folks will take off ya for a handful of soil,...then you still gotta get wire and other stuff,...anyhow to end the rant,...nice tree, and even nicer to know that some of us bonsai folk'involoved in an artform where the motto is "patience,my boy patience",still have some. Now I'm off to work so I can start saving up some dough to spend on some decent trunks, because as much of a purist as I am at heart,...i'm a bonsaiist, at hand, and those hands do get tired of not doing anything that produces the kind of magnificent results that I see here and elsewhere on the web,...(butt-kissing=start)BUT MOSTLY HERE BY FAR,GREAT TREES YA'LL(butt-kissing=end). Love and trees, JeremyM.C.

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