Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia Sinensis) leafing out way early

[InstilledChaos]

I have a young Chinese Quince (Pseudocydonia Sinensis) that is already starting to leaf out. Actually, truthfully, due to our insanely mild winter thus far it never lost all its leaves. It kept fully green leaves on its most basal shoot while losing all the rest (what amazing fall color!) It is currently kept in my attached, unheated garage, most of the time in darkness. I think this is not a species that requires much of a dormancy period, so I am wondering if my best course of action is to pull it inside in my south facing window for the remainder of the winter.

The thing that gives me pause is the fact that I woke this particular tree up prematurely last winter on purpose by putting it inside under lights, and it actually thought it was winter when I put it outside in the spring cool. It lost some leaves and then pushed out new growth just fine, but obviously this guy is just all out of whack. I can’t imagine leaving it in the cold(and dark) while it is leafing out would be the right course of action though. Any thoughts or advice from more experienced Nuts is welcome.

I actually have a few first year quince seedlings that never even lost all of their leaves it's been so mild.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

Bad year for these quince.

Sorce

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Mine look like that too, and I just leave them alone. If it’s warm, they grow a little, and if it cools back off, they stop and wait. I’d leave it in the unheated garage if it was me. Mine are sitting on the bench and will stay right there regardless of the weather. Unfortunately I need to repot mine, and when I do that I’ll probably protect it from freezing, but I’m trying to stall the repot as long as possible.

 

[InstilledChaos]

Thanks Brian. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one. I’ll let it ride in the garage.

 

[Warpig]

Your not alone at here. Here's another post where they are getting the same this winter.

What to do about early bud break?

Hi All, In North Carolina, we have had some near record highs. It has been low 70s this week, but it is expected to get down to high 20s next week. Some of my trees (quince, beautyberry) have already started to leaf out despite being in a sun protected cold frame. This is a new experience...

www.bonsainut.com

 

[Paulpash]

Quince are the MMA fighters of the bonsai arena. The 2 Chinese Quince I have in the ground still have pristine leaves after multiple sub zero frosts. The Jap Quince I have hasn't ever blinked at frost in the 20 plus years I've had it. It survived - 16C one year with a dozen leaves (unburnt).

Protect it if it if you want but it's one of the toughest trees I've personally ever had on my benches.

 

[bwaynef]

The only chinese quince I've had, I lost due to it leafing early and then the weather turning cold after it was almost fully in leaf.

 

[Mike Corazzi]

Quince does not like me. At all. I attribute it to reading sorce posts.

 

[Mike Hennigan]

Mine looks just like that as well, I’m also in central New York, in Ithaca. Just leaving mine outside mulched in in the shade. Follow Brian’s advice.

 

[InstilledChaos]

Seems like this is happening to everyone. Good to see other CNYers here. Up near Syracuse here.

 

[Bloodwar]

So I've got the same thing going on with my chinese quinces,I have two one with red flowers and the other with orange,there both in the unheated garage and because the crazy highs and lows, and highs and lows, here in Illinois ,I'm not surprised certain trees are starting to bud like its spring. I've been woundering what's the best thing to do for the tree? I'm guessing that the best thing to do, is to leave it in the garage. especially this earily in the winter dormancy.
Also has anyone ever seen a tree get to the point where it gets almost,to fully out of dormancy early? To the point where it should be brought inside/or placed in grow room,would be recommended? Instead of just leaving it in the cold and hopping it goes dormant again, pluss still has enough energy to push second flush of regrowth agian in spring?
I'm just curious if anyone has had any experience with trees that need full dormancy to thrive, coming out early and what the results where? Did the tree make it? Did it get back on track and go dormant the following winter or did it run out of energy, get weak and die?
The pictures I attached, two of them are a azelea, I dunno what species it is because it was a gift.I do remember that it's a zone 7 tree and I live in zone 5, so I put it into a round ceramic pot last spring after removing 70% of the old nursery soil and 30% of the roots.i used some gravel at the bottom of the pot for water drainage and used kanuma to fill in under and around the rootball which still has a 30% or so remainder of the old azalea soil. Which probably consisted of peatmoss,pinebark,and,perlight.i think i let it stay out in the cooler tempts to long into the year cause it went semi dormant,at the time I thought this was good for it but know I'm not shure. Eventually I brought it inside and put it in front of east facing window for some sun light ,also its under a single t5 light. It started flowering in mid December to now. I'm worried that letting it flower wasting energy that a young azalea prebonsai should be reserving for growing new leaves for making new energy instead of flowers for plantsex.if anyone knows what type azalea I have or advise on what I should do to keep it alive,and thoughts on where I messed up feel free to let me know.

 

[eryk2kartman]

Mine Quince is doing same thing, as i missed repotting last year due to the same reason, it leafed out way too early, this year i decided to repot it even it is very early in the year, so it was done on Saturday, a lot of roots has been grown since last repot, had to trim a lot.
Overall it was successful, tree is left in the greenhouse now, fingers crossed, i hope it wont die.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

So I've got the same thing going on with my chinese quinces,I have two one with red flowers and the other with orange,there both in the unheated garage and because the crazy highs and lows, and highs and lows, here in Illinois ,I'm not surprised certain trees are starting to bud like its spring. I've been woundering what's the best thing to do for the tree? I'm guessing that the best thing to do, is to leave it in the garage. especially this earily in the winter dormancy.
Also has anyone ever seen a tree get to the point where it gets almost,to fully out of dormancy early? To the point where it should be brought inside/or placed in grow room,would be recommended? Instead of just leaving it in the cold and hopping it goes dormant

It sounds like you have Japanese Quinces, Chaenomeles japonica. They flower in a variety of colors/cultivars on young plants, are stooling shrubs available more commonly at garden centers. Most of them are more reliably winter-hardy than the Chinese Quince, Pseudocydonia chinensis. C. Quince has (only) pink flowers on older plants, are treelike with exfoliating bark and are not commonly available. My Chinese Quince is pictured below.

A challenge in growing trees outside your zone is what you’re experiencing...they break bud earlier than your climate allows them to be outside. Keeping them as cool as possible, as long as necessary helps. When it’s safe to put them outside, often it’s necessary to cut them back and go for the second flush so you’re not working with etiolated shoots.

 

[InstilledChaos]

Brian, so when you need to repot and this is happening you just go ahead and do a winter repot before bud burst and protect it from freezing for the rest of the winter?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Brian, so when you need to repot and this is happening you just go ahead and do a winter repot before bud burst and protect it from freezing for the rest of the winter?

Basically, yes. It’s starting to bud out now, and it’s cold this week, so hopefully that will slow it down. I’ll wait as long as I can, then protect it from freezing temps afterward.

 

[cmeg1]

I an going to try these from cuttings.I have some seedlings from Bill on the way.Excited because I am going to repot right away and get growing indoors a few months early.

 

[InstilledChaos]

Basically, yes. It’s starting to bud out now, and it’s cold this week, so hopefully that will slow it down. I’ll wait as long as I can, then protect it from freezing temps afterward.
View attachment 279732View attachment 279733

That is a beauty Brian. I love the exfoliating bark on these trees. What exactly are you looking for to indicate to you that it is the last possible moment to repot?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

That is a beauty Brian. I love the exfoliating bark on these trees. What exactly are you looking for to indicate to you that it is the last possible moment to repot?

When it is about like this (taken 2/21/19):

because by 3/20/19, it looked like this:

which I think would be too late.

 

[InstilledChaos]

Is yours getting any sun while it is slowly leafing out?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Is yours getting any sun while it is slowly leafing out?

Full sun. If it starts moving too fast, I’ll put in the shade.