Chojubai cuttings

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

Hi all,

Recently I got two young Chojubai cuttings from a friend.
Before I got them I never really felt much to the species.
More like a short shrub, which felt not like bonsai material to me. Thought they where broadleaved evergreen . So apparently no experience with them!
But they are flowering deciduous. Then they caught my interest, simple as that .

The aim that I have is of course is to have a thicker trunk.

Can we use the sacrife branch approach on this species?

One is already heading for a shrub kind of growth. If I want to mature this one, should I just let it go, or do I just let one branch run up?
(I mean to keep it in baskets btw)

The other one is cascading. I kind of like the way it looks. But is cascade or semi cascade something worthwhile considering those species?

And than again, can I use the sacrifice principle or does this recuire a different approach?

I read in in the species, but most of it is plain information.
It is an somewhat unknown species to me, so perhaps one is willing to share a little knowledge (or link adressing the matter) to me to get something started in the right way from this young laids. Tnx!

Grz Jasper

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

For our chojobai,the more branches and foliage these guys can carry the thicker the trunk will get. However one caveat, once a branch gets too long the inner foliage dies off, so it’s a matter of clip and grow.

So the trees shown would be cutting back to two leaves, or three with the last going in the direction desired. Don’t worry, this will boost ramification and growth.

Our bunch isn’t needy - they love water, decent, but not full sun and good solid fertilization. I’l also need room to grow sideways and deputize, so please don’t cram these guys into little shallow pots. Likely would slip pot without root disturbances into the next size nursery pots with similar media for now.

Btw: they strike cuttings fairly easily… so try it out. They take a little bit to get going, one season. The first ones we tried we just struck them in the mother plants pot… but now get have spears around their bench in other pots.

Hope this helps

Ceers
DSD sends

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

For our chojobai,the more branches and foliage these guys can carry the thicker the trunk will get. However one caveat, once a branch gets too long the inner foliage dies off, so it’s a matter of clip and grow.

So the trees shown would be cutting back to two leaves, or three with the last going in the direction desired. Don’t worry, this will boost ramification and growth.

Our bunch isn’t needy - they love water, decent, but not full sun and good solid fertilization. I’l also need room to grow sideways and deputize, so please don’t cram these guys into little shallow pots. Likely would slip pot without root disturbances into the next size nursery pots with similar media for now.

Btw: they strike cuttings fairly easily… so try it out. They take a little bit to get going, one season. The first ones we tried we just struck them in the mother plants pot… but now get have spears around their bench in other pots.

Hope this helps

Ceers
DSD sends

Thanks for your helpful reply!
Slip potting those was on my to do list, because a bit of wind tips them over. But you confirmed that for another/better reason.

One more question. Do they respond well to leaf drop pruning in fall?

Grz

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Sure! Whatever pot the quince is put into, plan on keeping it in it for 3ish years and then to up pot into a box. Usually after up to three or so years they then go into an Anderson flat…. (Michael’s advice). At this up pot the quince should have reached critical mass and it will begin to bulk out faster

Actually we prune ours three times a year in a good year. Was over a Michael Hagedorn’s a few years ago and he trimmed in October and again in spring… not sure if he pruned in summer.

Cheers
DSD sends

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

Oke that is good to know. Thanks for your help!

 

[Shibui]

There is definitely a limit to how thick you can grow Chojubai - at least the one I have here. Never seems to get very thick. 3/4 inch would be very good over 10 years? They seem to put all their effort into suckers rather than thickening trunks. Even planted in the grow bed the clump just spreads instead of trunks thickening.

Stem cuttings strike well - sometimes and not so good other times but I have not kept good enough records to say what's good.
Root cuttings strike as well as stem cuttings.
Suckers strike even better, even if they have not yet developed roots of their own.

I've seen some promising results by planting a number of chojubai close together so the multi trunks provide the trunk bulk we all want.
I'm also trying some grown in tall pots so the roots merge to give a larger trunk in time.

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

Thanks for replying
I just read an article by Michael Hagedorn and he mentions that most mature species are multitrunk. Single trunk mature species are rare. Not just another walk in the park to make a Chojubai into something else I guess.
I can imagine that fusion of trunks can be a good way like you described.

 

[Deep Sea Diver]

Sort of interesting.

The reason for this remark is despite him saying this, Michael specializes in creating splendid single trunk chojubai from small, 2” cuttings. After 6-10 years these begin to look fantastic. Have had the pleasure on working in a couple classes on his chojubai growing yard. Here’s one post in his blog.

https://crataegus.com/2023/03/03/chojubai-10-year-development/

We have been growing quite a few single trunk. Here’s a 4-5 year cutting we neglected a lot, followed by a three 2nd year cuttings. It’s just a matter of putting in the time.



Cheers
DSD sends

 

[NeedlesAndLeaves]

Sort of interesting.

The reason for this remark is despite him saying this, Michael specializes in creating splendid single trunk chojubai from small, 2” cuttings. After 6-10 years these begin to look fantastic. Have had the pleasure on working in a couple classes on his chojubai growing yard. Here’s one post in his blog.

https://crataegus.com/2023/03/03/chojubai-10-year-development/

We have been growing quite a few single trunk. Here’s a 4-5 year cutting we neglected a lot, followed by a three 2nd year cuttings. It’s just a matter of putting in the time.

View attachment 564369 View attachment 564368

Cheers
DSD sends

Ah did not know that! To quick of a conclusion making from one article .

Must be great to have had the opportunity to work with him!

 

[Shibui]

Here's a couple I've been developing down here.

The first 2 are the result of packing several cuttings close together to form a clump. Both around 4 years old now?


This one is more of a single trunk but still well under finger thick after 5 or 6 years.


Here's my stock plant. The label says it was started in 2014 so 10 years and trunks still well under 1/2" thick. Check all the suckers this year. I don't think I've harvested any suckers to start new plants for a couple of years now so they are pretty prolific now.


Final shot is the Chojubai in the grow bed. It's been in the ground for 4 or 5 years now. Suckers have spread to give a clump of stems around 2 feet diameter. A bit hard to see in the photo but the main stems are still less than finger thick.