Pseudocydonia, Chinese Quince

[Brian Van Fleet]

Here is an update on the quince. I had time to prune it back pretty hard, perform a partial defoliation, and wire it again. I am working to refine the branching and soften it just a little. It is a coarse grower, and a vigorous grower, so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for it to start growing again after this round of work.
Before:

After pruning and partial defoliation:

And after wiring, adjusting, and a little more trimming. I’m still not happy with the bowed appearance of lower-right branch, but shortening it helped.

I am going for a very broad, rounded canopy, ultimately, but the way it grows, it will take some time to build it right.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Rounding out nicely after a few weeks...

 

[WNC Bonsai]

How have you magnaged to keep it disease free? Around here the cedar quince rust is everywhere in the native hawthorns and amelanchiers and my chinese quince have now acquired it.

 

[AlainK]

Salut Brian,

That's an awesome project that one, this tree is beautiful, félicitations.

I'm fumbling with mine, too young, needs to grow. Yours is an inspiration, thanks for your input.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

How have you magnaged to keep it disease free? Around here the cedar quince rust is everywhere in the native hawthorns and amelanchiers and my chinese quince have now acquired it.

I use Cleary’s 3336 granular and Mancozeb every few weeks in the summer. It isn’t disease-free for sure, but disease-suppressed anyway. The granular fungicide does cause some caking of the soil surface, so you need to use a chopstick every couple weeks to ensure water penetration, but it has been effective. Night shot:

 

[WNC Bonsai]

Looks good to me. I have been letting mine grow like wild this year and giving them regular applications of fungicides in hopes of beating it back. They are getting up to about 4’ tall and I am still scouting for a spot in the sun for ground planting them. I may have to take them out to my daughter’s place near Greensboro or sneak them into some of the common ground in our neighborhood. I wonder how they would do in a large growbox in my driveway?

 

[AlainK]

I use Cleary’s 3336 granular and Mancozeb every few weeks in the summer.

I've never used any chemicals on my two Chinese Quince, except slow-release fert. when repotting and I've never had an issue with mine since I bought it as a "pre-bonsai" in 2015, and I've got another one that is planted in the ground, the trunk hardly wider but ten feet tall now. I've never seen any sign of disease on either of them. The only pb I encountered was that the leaves of the potted one had strated to unfold, and there were a few days of frost. I thought it was a dead, but it recovered.

Luck ? Climate ? Other ?

Anyway, your tree's beautiful and I'll keep following this thread to learn more about a species I'm just discovering. 4 years is a short time to understand a tree when you've never worked with the species before, and I still have a lot to learn. You seem to know much more than me from what I can see

 

[just.wing.it]

Killer tree, great progression thread.
These types of threads are priceless.
Thanks BVF.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

I've never used any chemicals on my two Chinese Quince, except slow-release fert. when repotting and I've never had an issue with mine since I bought it as a "pre-bonsai" in 2015, and I've got another one that is planted in the ground, the trunk hardly wider but ten feet tall now. I've never seen any sign of disease on either of them. The only pb I encountered was that the leaves of the potted one had strated to unfold, and there were a few days of frost. I thought it was a dead, but it recovered.

Luck ? Climate ? Other ?

Anyway, your tree's beautiful and I'll keep following this thread to learn more about a species I'm just discovering. 4 years is a short time to understand a tree when you've never worked with the species before, and I still have a lot to learn. You seem to know much more than me from what I can see

Is cedar quince, hawthorne, apple rust prevalent in your area? You may be located in an area where it just isn’t an issue or is only present at a low level. Here we have native hawthorn and amelanchier everywhere and they all seem to be infected with it. Plus every yard seems to have at lest one large old landscape juniper that can serve as a host. If junipers are not present then that disrupts the life cycle of the fungus. Killing all the local junipers off is not an option so the best I can do is to dump on fungicides and hope to keep it under cintrol.

 

[AlainK]

I had two pear trees in the ground that were regularly affected by apple rust, but I rmoved them. Surprinsingly, I have a Nashi just between the two and it was not, or slightly attacked.

Mybe differences in genetics in different strains, some more resistant than others ?...

And there are no native junipers here, the ones that you can see are low-spreading varieties in gardens.

 

[CasAH]

. Killing all the local junipers off is not an option.

Or is it?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Managed a good shot today. 99f outside, and this tree loves it.

 

[misfit11]

Looking great, Brian! I love that bark. It will only get better I'm sure.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Fall color shot. It will keep getting brighter with a little luck.

 

[amcoffeegirl]

A nice progression there.
It has come a long way.
Thanks for sharing the updates.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

We had a really windy streak and lost quite a few leaves, but the ones left are pretty bright.

 

[just.wing.it]

I'm loving the color! And the look.

Hey, how is that wire doing?
Biting in anywhere?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I'm loving the color! And the look.

Hey, how is that wire doing?
Biting in anywhere?

Yeah, just about everywhere. When the leaves come off, so does the wire.

 

[Paulpash]

It always great to see a little stick become a well done tree. I have 2 growing in the ground - only another 15 years before I see fruition lol.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

No leaves, and no wires...