Chojubai White

fredtruck

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I bought this chojubai white in the first week of January, 2017. I bought it from Don Blackmond. It is just under 9" tall at the moment. It is true that the chojubai red is much more popular than the white, but I had one excellent reason for buying this tree.


Flowering quince are difficult to ramify, but the red chojubai has unsurpassed ramification. The chojubai white usually doesn’t have good ramification, but this one does. Additionally, the tree is a clump, which is the quince’s preferred form. Single-trunked chojubai are all the rage now but to me, the clump is an interesting style worthy of consideration in itself.


Another reason I bought this tree was that it is 30 to 35 years old according to Don. I’ve been working with cuttings for years, and have a couple good bonsai from that material, but I was ready for something a little older and more established.


The major change I’ve made since coming into possession of the chojubai was to change the soil and repot. The pot is a Yixing pot by Sui-mei. The moss is material I gathered from my back yard.


Here are a series of pictures from 1-7-17 to yesterday, 3-5-17.

chojubai white 4780 1-7-17.jpg
1-7-17
chojubai white 4823 1-17-17.jpg
1-17-17
chojubai white flowers.jpg
1-21-17 flowers
chojubai white C 2-9-17.jpg
2-9-17
 

fredtruck

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Continuing...

chojubai white 2-26-17 5521.jpg
2-26-17 5521
chojubai white front 3-5-17.jpg
3-5-17 front
chojubai white back 3-5-17.jpg
3-5-17 back

One other reason I bought this tree was I knew many of the flowers are actually pale yellow. After a time, they turn white. I wanted to capture that mix of white and yellow to show that Chojubai White trees have a feature not often explored.
 

Giga

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Looks nice I think, I have a hard time looking at them ,as none of them are in focus?
 

Carol 83

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Nybonsai12

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Very nice Fred. A good show of flowers and the pale yellow is pretty and interesting.
 

terry

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Continuing...

View attachment 135165
2-26-17 5521
View attachment 135166
3-5-17 front
View attachment 135167
3-5-17 back

One other reason I bought this tree was I knew many of the flowers are actually pale yellow. After a time, they turn white. I wanted to capture that mix of white and yellow to show that Chojubai White trees have a feature not often explored.
I like the repot Fred, the tree sets very nicely in that pot. Your a good salesman Fred, I may have to look again at a red or white Chojubai. I am fortunate to live about 30 miles from Don Blckmond and have seen his trees several times. It is hard to find a better tree than a Blackmond tree.
 

fredtruck

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Coloring is off in the photos. Flowers tend to be white to creamy white. Perhaps photo editing altered coloring and clarity.

That may be. What I have done is to make the flowers a little darker because in the image as shot, the white is so bright that you can't really see very much at all. I'm not talking about major, huge adjustments. Just a very slight minus to the exposure.
 

mcpesq817

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I have a chojubai white from Brent - the flowers indeed have a slight yellowish tint as Fred mentioned. Pretty cool look in my opinion.
 

MACH5

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Gorgeous Fred! Love the pic where it has a few flowers with no leaves. I may be wrong, but for the first time ever, a chojubai won the Kokufu prize this year! Wonderful species that I would not mind getting few more of.
 

fredtruck

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They are wonderful little trees. The only caveat I have is you can get obsessed by them. I have and have backed off before it was too late!
 

fredtruck

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Spring produced its usual flush of growth. I thought it would be fun to focus on the foliage in a series of pictures. I took this first picture on June 30, a few days after I cut back almost all the new growth to 1, 2 or 3 nodes.

chojubai white super pano obverse 6-30-17.jpg

There were a few shoots I didn't trim because I felt they hadn't extended enough. Then I let it grow unhindered until yesterday, July 18.

chojubai white growth.jpg

The reason I decided to cut shoots yesterday is that the new growth was snaking its way into other trees' spaces. Normally, the second cut back is done in late August or September but the chojubai has really grown.

chojubai white 7-19-17.jpg
 

GrimLore

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Nice job! Here it seems cutting them back after flowering in Spring and heavy Fall pruning of the Summer growth really helps with ramification and still allows blooming - there too or?

Grimmy
 

fredtruck

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Yes. I think that's the pattern, but I have had flowering quince that just didn't ramify no matter what you did. With those, I just took the long view. Eventually, trees like that will ramify...some. Mostly they just popped extension growth, or sent up a sucker.
 

GrimLore

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Eventually, trees like that will ramify...some.

The exact reason I mentioned it - this is an older specimen and I have seen first hand that process works best on established stock ;) Really like it the way it is though - hard pressed to say if it would make it any better. Thank you for sharing yet another "lovely" :)

Grimmy
 
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