Quince, when should I collect from my yard?

[Slow Learner]

A small but at least seven year old quince has been growing on the border of my yard. I do not know whether it is Japanese or Chinese or what species or variety. It was on the property when we bought our house seven years ago. I did not notice it for the first few years until I saw it flowering. It has solid red flowers, more red than orange or pink, always five petals. Unfortunately, it has both a small holly and small sweet gum growing around and possibly through its root ball. It will be difficult to remove and collect.

I would like to know when is the best time of year to dig it up and put it in a large grow pot.

 

[thumblessprimate1]

Why don't you take a picture and show us when you get a chance.

 

[sorce]

I tore some seedlings out of the ground in early June.
They are growing well.

I'd go with spring...

And kill the other 2 before winter so the roots die and you can pull em put easier.

Sorce

 

[parhamr]

I had success digging up a Japanese quince on January 19, 2016. Caveats: this winter was super mild, I had prepared the tree/clump with moderate pruning in 2014, heavily fed and did some root cutting/trenching in 2015, and the quince got to sit in partial shade for what turned out to be an ideal spring.

I'm in zone 8b.

 

[parhamr]

Here is a photo of the flowers on February 16, 2016. This clump was a landscape shrub and it is either Chaenomeles japonica or Chaenomeles speciosa.

 

[parhamr]

If the buds have swollen like this (February 8) then it might be too late for digging in the winter/spring. I'm guessing that an early-summer dig might work okay if you time it after the new growths are fully hardened and during a brief dormant period before a secondary flush of growth.

 

[petegreg]

I don't know much about collecting quinces, but if they can be repotted in early fall...? If you don't mind flowers first year after collecting the spring is good.

 

[Slow Learner]

And kill the other 2 before winter so the roots die and you can pull em put easier.
Sorce

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding killing the holy and sweetgum that are growing around and through the quince at my property border that will not harm the quince?

I have cut both back at least twice but they keep coming back. I will attempt to post a picture but getting a good one is not easy.

 

[sorce]

killing the holy and sweetgum that are growing around and through the quince at my property border that will not harm the quince?

@M. Frary might have an idea.

The roots will Probly look different enough to tell em apart anyway...then you can just cut the others out.

Sorce

 

[JoeR]

Wait... So when are chojubai Ideally repotted? As with other quince, late summer/early fall?

 

[M. Frary]

Does anyone have any suggestions regarding killing the holy and sweetgum that are growing around and through the quince at my property border that will not harm the quince

The only thing I can suggest is to cut them off close to the ground. Probably right around now. Keep cutting off any shoots they produce until they are dormant. In the spring do the same. If you didn't have a plant that their roots were touching I would say kill them with herbicide.
But if you go that route you risk transfer of the chemical wherever the roots touch.
It takes a while sometimes to kill a tree by cuthing them down and killing the sprouts as they appear. By doing it now in the heat of summer it's harder for the stump to recover and as it goes into fall if you keep cutting any new growth off you take away leaves to fuel root growth.

 

[Slow Learner]

The only thing I can suggest is to cut them off close to the ground. Probably right around now. Keep cutting off any shoots they produce until they are dormant. In the spring do the same. If you didn't have a plant that their roots were touching I would say kill them with herbicide.
But if you go that route you risk transfer of the chemical wherever the roots touch.
It takes a while sometimes to kill a tree by cuthing them down and killing the sprouts as they appear. By doing it now in the heat of summer it's harder for the stump to recover and as it goes into fall if you keep cutting any new growth off you take away leaves to fuel root growth.

Thank you for the solid advice.

 

[M. Frary]

Thank you for the solid advice.

Good luck.

 

[M. Frary]

Killing trees is my profession. I'm very good at it too.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

both holly and sweet gum make good bonsai, why not just collect the clump, tease them apart after you dig the group up? pot up each separately.

Middle - late summer is one season good for repotting quince (autumn is not recommended as often) I've done summer repotting with good results. Early spring is the other season.

 

[petegreg]

Middle - late summer is one season good for repotting quince (autumn is not recommended as often) I've done summer repotting with good results. Early spring is the other season.

The fall repotting is recommended on Crataegus pages. I understand the more to the North the shorter the season is. This makes sense. You live in zone 5b, I do in 6a. If I want to repot it now from the "black" soil to bonsai soil can I bare root it? Actually they are growing vigorously.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The fall repotting is recommended on Crataegus pages. I understand the more to the North the shorter the season is. This makes sense. You live in zone 5b, I do in 6a. If I want to repot it now from the "black" soil to bonsai soil can I bare root it? Actually they are growing vigorously.

yes, with all advise factor in the climate of the person offering the advice.

Bare root or not? Depends on health and age of tree, and your skill level for aftercare. Younger trees will tolerate bare rooting better than older trees. A healthy tree will survive bare rooting better than a weak tree. You are the only one who can make the decision.

But - I found quince, Chaenomeles, even my chojubai, pretty tolerant of being bare rooted.Likely I would take the chance.

 

[petegreg]

Thank you sir, They all are some few years old rooted cuttings, so I'll do full bare root repot today. We are having some colder snap this week, so I'll take an advantage of it.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Regarding fall repotting, and figuring out when this is in your own specific climate. You need to know when your average first frost date is, and when your ground actually freezes. A ''late summer repotting'' happens 8 to 12 weeks before average first frost. Autumn reportting is less than 8 weeks before first frost. For autumn repotting I would repot at least 3 or 4 weeks before frost so cut and broken roots have time to callus over before freezing, new roots may, or may not have time to form before cold sets in. I prefer doing root work in late summer over autumn, as there is enough time for new roots to grow some and then harden off before winter. Each species responds differently. Quince seem pretty tolerant of late summer and or early autumn root work.

 

[petegreg]

Thank you for explaining. I repotted them a week or ten days ago, They seem to be ok, lost just very few older leaves.
Our first frost date is Oct 1-10...so it was a late summer repotting.