Chines Quince Stump

Eric Group

Eric Group

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This is a chunk of Quince a buddy gave me. It had a bunch more branches until a few days ago.. Finally found most of the trunk line I want to follow. I am probably going to remove at least one more trunk section eventually.. just need to figure out which one. I have just been hedge pruning since I removed the branches. It grows super fast it seems, but I am not sure if it is creating the ramification I want. Hopefully I can heal some wounds and get a little ramification, reduce the leaves a little more and have a good looking tree one day. This will be the progression thread for it. DSC01868.JPG DSC01869.JPG DSC01871.JPG DSC01875.JPG
 
Eric, you'll have fun working with this species. They grow quickly, but it takes time to get sufficient thickness in the branches. I was advised by an expert to let them grow all the way out to get the girth before worrying about the secondary limbs. This was good advice. The secondaries will develop while the branch thickens. Once you decide you will use a shoot as a branch, go ahead and wire it in the desired direction right after it's lignified; they become rigid quickly. While they usually give you plenty of branches to choose from, often they will grow in crazy directions, despite your best efforts. You just have to go with the tree's flow within reasonable parameters. Since Chinese quince backbuds readily, you can achieve ramification fairly quickly. But don't expect the sort of ramification you might be use to in, say, an elm or a maple. This tree has a rather coarse growth habit. The nicest one I've seen is the large one in the N.C. Arboretum's bonsai collection. I'm sure you can find a pic of it online. Check it out for inspiration.
 
Update... decided what to do with all those trunks= GET RID OF EM!! Well.. all but one anyway. I am sure some will think I ruined it, but this is what Is aw as the best way forward. Did not look right with three big ones,and this gives me the most clear path to healing the scar as well... Problem is, it is a BIG SCAR, and these guys do not heal particularly fast! Time to let it grow a bit and see what happens...

DSC02921.JPG DSC02922.JPG DSC02923.JPG DSC02924.JPG DSC02926.JPG
This is the big ugly! DSC02928.JPG
 
Something Or Nothing.

Nice !

Sorce
 
Any idea what the base looks like? I had a similarly afflicted maple with many trunks. I did something along the lines of what you did here and I'm running into taper issue. The more the branches grow at the scar section the wider it grows. I think you may have a similar problem with the swelling at that scar site causing taper issues the longer it goes on. Not sure if quince will behave much differently to maple in this regard though as my quince are all in the ground growing.
 
I like C Quince a lot. You've done some big work with this one! I like the second image of your new outline the best, with the sub trunk turned slightly away from front.
 
JudyB said:
I like C Quince a lot. You've done some big work with this one! I like the second image of your new outline the best, with the sub trunk turned slightly away from front.
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I do as well Judy, thanks. It takes looking at it in a picture sometimes to find the best front I think.
 
Nybonsai12 said:
Any idea what the base looks like? I had a similarly afflicted maple with many trunks. I did something along the lines of what you did here and I'm running into taper issue. The more the branches grow at the scar section the wider it grows. I think you may have a similar problem with the swelling at that scar site causing taper issues the longer it goes on. Not sure if quince will behave much differently to maple in this regard though as my quince are all in the ground growing.
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It is absolutely a potential issue down the road, but no more so than having three large trunks and a couple side branches coming from the same place IMO. My hope is that the slightly thinner callous/ bark on these guys will lead to less of a nasty swell there, but having never attempted to heal over a Chinese Quince wound of this size, I honestly have no clue. Kind of an experiment.

I was given this tree by @johng who basically told me he just didn't like it that much or didn't see a future, so I am trying to basically make something from nothing here. Primarily I have used it for propagation! (I put all my trees so work like that!) I got two decent cuttings off it last year, trying about 6 more from this round of work- now is a good time to start cuttings in my area... Well it is as EARLY AS YOU SHOULD start them anyway and I want to get a jump on the growing season!- so even if this one never turns into a masterpiece (LOL), I am getting SOMETHING from it. I have found them to be incredibly easy to root from cuttings or I might have done a layer instead....
 
It's nice that it has the greenish coloration on the bark already. I love the ones that have the green and orange. Mine has not really gotten any orange yet...
 
Planta said:
I like it. Good move simplifying the design.
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Thanks Planta... The more I look at it, the more I like it as well! Hopping for a good year of growth. Plan to repot it in the Spring... The pot it is in is overrun with weeds and to remove them I simply have to remove all the soil I think! I believe if I do that, and put it in a good mix and a large training pot for a couple years, it will respond with rapid growth and some rapid HEALING hopefully... If not, I will hollow it out some and make that big ugly spot a feature one day... Still want to get some heavy callousing around it to add an aged look.
 
I have noticed that on the one I have, the previous owner performed chops and the healing take a long time but when it starts to heal over, the cambium is very thick and will cause a very large bulge. I would make your chops with that in mind. Try to keep them toward the back or create them with more taper
 
Well.. I guess repotting season is here already! This ChinesE Quince sure thinks so! Buds were swelling and just starting to push, so it is pretty much the perfect time to get it done I guess. Just need to protect it if we get any more freezes...

So, this little chunk of wood has a problem, an INFESTATION of little weeds! I spent TIME this past Soring pulling them out, as many as I could... And it did NOTHING, this is some sort of invasive little viney EVILNESS and I must eradicate it!
image.jpeg
Close up of the offender:
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Raked the surface of the soil completely OFF, should be good enough right?
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HELL NAW! I had to get rid of every SPECK of soil and then get out the tweezers to carefully pull every last bit of weed roots from the root ball!
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Here she is repotted! These were all pics taken its my phone, I took better shots with my real camera too, will try to pot them up soon.
image.jpeg
Just bought this little Chinese pot from the Bonsai Learning Center out of Charlotte a few weeks ago through $.99 Bonsai on FB! Has a neat, drippy glaze... Will try to capture that in the better pics...
 
DUDE! Very bold...and something you won't regret later down the road wishing you had...Really trying to come to terms with this myself. In my handling of my maple I have. Though nothing this drastic...but...it just tosses the go bold move right there in my face...as to understand it once more for clarity.

LOVE where your taking this...
 
parhamr said:
@Eric Group what are you using for wound paste? It looks similar to duct seal putty.
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Just the regular old "clay like" Japanese stuff... Comes in a little plastic jar. I have only ever used it, just ordered my first tube of the top Jin (orange stuff comes in a tube like tooth paste) because I have been told it is good, and this putty stuff tends to dry up and fall off, or animals eat it off... I think my dog likes it! Any tree low enough for him to get his face on it, suddenly that stuff disappears! Same with organic fertilizer pellets. It is like a fn magic trick! Poof- it's gone!
 
JudyB said:
Were you able to cut some of those big roots back? Looks like a good time to get that done. That weed is very persistent.
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Yes. I had to cut some back to get it in the smaller pot, but I did not go real hard. Mostly I just cut them back for shape, and removed some big chunks from the very bottom and a few that were pointing up and would have been sticking up out of the soil at the new planting depth/ angle. I was honestly hoping for better roots than I found when I got all the old dirt off! I am used to Maples I guess and they just slam fill up a container with roots! This guy seems to send out long, thick roots with only small amounts of fiber out roots, mostly on the tips... Could be a species thing or could just be the heavy potting soil it was in... Guess I will find out in a few years when it is time for the next repot. This is the first major repot I have done on a Chinese Quince so I was a bit cautious. Wasn't sure how it would like a full bare root (again, it was necessary to get rid of those damned weeds!), so I figured pruning the roots back real hard at the same time might cause some stress. Next time I repot it, I will probably take more of the big ones off.

I did remove enough to get a pot of root cuttings! Figure they work well for Jap Quince, why not Chinese, right?
 
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