How to Propagate Red Flowering Quince

Red flowering quince spreads through its suckers. Suckering shrubs and trees send new shoots up through the ground from their roots. These suckers often have roots at their base so they can survive when removed from the parent plant. Removing and transplanting suckers in early summer is the best method of propagating red flowering quince.

Things You'll Need

• Root pruning shovel
• Pruning shears
• Toweling or burlap
• 10-inch diameter pots with drainage holes
• Commercial transplanting mix
• Sphagnum peat
• Vermiculite
• Compost
• Hose

Instructions

Separating Suckers

1. Dig around the sucker, disturbing the parent quince as little as possible. Check the roots of the sucker. It needs enough roots to survive without the parent.

2. Re-cover shoots with weak or non-existent roots. Sever shoots with good root systems from the parent using pruning shears or a sharp root pruning shovel.

3. Re-cover the severed shoots with soil and keep them well-watered for the next three weeks to encourage root growth.

4. Check root formation after three weeks. Dig up suckers with well-formed roots, keeping as much soil with the root ball as possible. Trim the original root back to the new root ball.

5. Pot or transplant suckers immediately. Keep roots moist until planting by wrapping the root ball in wet toweling or burlap.

Potting Suckers

1. Select a pot, at least 10 inches in diameter, for the transplant. Put a 1-inch layer of gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage.

2. Buy sterile commercial transplant mix or make a mix of 1 part each vermiculite, sphagnum peat and compost. Pre-moisten your soil mix. Put a mound of soil mix in the bottom of the pot.

3. Put the sucker on the soil mound and check for the old soil mark on the stem. Build up soil under the sucker till the old soil mark is 1 inch below the lip of the pot.

4. Fill the rest of the pot with soil mix, firming gently by hand. Do not allow potting soil to go above the old soil mark on the shoot.

5. Water till moisture comes out the pot drainage hole. Water deeply every seven days during the growing season. Transplant outside in early fall or in the following early spring.

Transplanting Suckers

1. Water suckers well the day before transplanting. Dig a hole twice as deep and three times as wide as the sucker's root ball. Mix 1 part compost into 1 part dug soil.

2. Remove wet coverings from freshly dug suckers before planting. Remove suckers from pots by gently washing out soil with a light hose stream until the plant slides out easily.

3. Put a mound of soil mix in the middle of the hole. Put the sucker on the mound, carefully spreading the roots. Keep the soil mark on the trunk even with or slightly above ground level.

4. Fill the hole with soil mix and firm the soil by hand as you go. Water suckers deeply immediately after planting. Continue watering regularly until they go dormant.

Tips & Warnings

• Mulch can be used on top of the soil in pots to keep transplants from drying out.

• Flowering quince will tolerate heavy soil and is nearly maintenance-free when naturalized.

• Use flowering quince as an effective thorny barrier shrub in a mixed hedge.

• Never let quince roots dry out when transplanting or the transplants may not take.

• Wear gloves when working around flowering quince since it has thorny branches.

• Flowering quince can become invasive if shoots are not removed regularly.

References

• Washington State University Extension: Flowering Quince
• Royal Horticultural Society: Propagating Using Suckers
• University of Florida Extension: Propagation of Landscape Plants

Resources

• University of Kentucky Extension: Propagating Plants in and Around the Home
• Washington State University: Propagating Deciduous and Evergreen Shrubs, Trees and Plants
• Knowledge of Bonsai: Plant Propagation by Stem Cuttings