Japanese Flowering Quince

 Japanese Flowering Quince is among one of the real lovely flowering bonsai in early spring especially when the plant obtains some age.

 I have had a couple of these plants in my garden for years but I never really considered this material for bonsai until just recently. The nature of quince is such that is will set out many shoots and they grow upwards in many directions and clump together making more of a shrub style rather than a tree look.

 Most bonsai plants are created to look and resemble a tree. So I decided to take a closer look at this plant as a bonsai subject.

 I started a couple of plants this year from the mother plants in the garden by way of a root divide and began training them as bonsai they were already flowering so I will wait until they have finished there bloom cycle before I attempt to start wire training these plants to any bonsai style.

 In the mean time it will be clip and grow as I do with a lot of my new started bonsai.
Most of the varieties of quince flower before they begin to leaf up, they will sometimes flower as early as January if the weather warms enough to start producing buds.

The quince will produce fruit of a yellow nature that is sometimes very large although the fruit will be very hard and not edible. However the fruit can be made into preserves that can be eaten. If you would like to start a quince as a bonsai then I would suggest that you go to your favorite nursery early in the spring and get your stock in a one gallon container and then start from there to get it ready for bonsai.

 Other wise you'll be waiting a long time for the plant to mature enough for you to enjoy it and the idea is to start with a plant that will flower and give you some pleasure the very first year.

 You can start quince from seed but you would need to cold treat the seeds before you plant them in the early spring after any chance of frost. You can also try to get your self a plant growing by taking soft wood cuttings in the spring and also in the fall, but rooting is very slow by this method.

 You can also get a plant started by root divide as I did if you have stock or know some one that will let you have some of there plant.

Cuttings are always a nice way to get plants started but they simply require that you’re right on top of the watering and care of these new shoots as they are always especially vulnerable until they have rooted.

 And even then for a year you still need to be very vigilante of your new plants.
Quince is really only one of the plants that likes to be transplanted in the autumn so if you let your plant mature through out the spring and summer you’ll have a nice start by late autumn.

 You can transplant them in early spring but be careful with any root trimming you might do as the plants have most likely have already budded up and are very tender at this time of the year.

 To begin with you'll want to trim off any sucker limbs that you see and start to get the plant looking like a tree instead of a mass of shoots growing in every direction. These sucker stems also sap energy from the rest of the plant and thus you’ll have less blooms and a much more leggy looking plant. So always start out thinking tree when you begin to create a bonsai.

 Most of the quince are a bright orange or reddish color but some are a light pink with white also in the flower and I like to offset that with a black pot once the plant is ready to display the black really brings out the beauty of the flowers.

 You’ll want to keep your quince watered very well, during the growing season but be careful not to mist the plant as this will damage your flowers and might even rot any fruit that it might have. Make sure you do not ever let your quince completely dry out.

 I like to use a liquid fertilizer for feeding a lot of my plants and quince is one that I use this type with. There are several on the market so it is a matter of choice. If you’re in doubt ask advice at any nursery.

 Or you may simply take my lead and use what I use. I use a combination of two fertilizers on my plants and they are a timed release type and a spray type.

 The fertilizers that I use are Osmocote which is a slow release plant food that will work for either indoor or outdoor plants I use kelp based liquid spray also and this can also be used for either type of plant indoors or out.

 Quince will need to have the flowers plucked off regularly as well as any fruit as these tend to really sap the main plant and especially if the plant is a young growing bonsai. You can wire your plant from spring through the end of the summer but be careful of any buds that might be growing.

 You will want to cut back your quince often if you desire a nice tree shape and a larger trunk. A larger trunk is very hard to develop because the nature of quince is to create sucker growth all the time from the root of the plant and if these are not constantly cut off you’ll never get a trunk to develop any size.




Respectfully Yours, Harold Yearout