Expert: C.L. Fornari - 3/18/2008

Question
I am living in the North east, we bought a house with a quince bush for lack of a better term. It is planted in the ground. Presently it is ~6ft in diameter and ~3ft high. It is over shadowed by a diseased maple tree, which drops seed pods into the middle. The seed pods have taken root over the years. What would be a good way to cut this back or remove the maple saplings?

Answer
Ed,
Good for you for wanting to clean up this Quince - one of my favorite shrubs!  You could do one of the following methods:

1. clip off all maple seedlings at ground level now, while you can clearly see them. At the same time, remove 1/3 of the OLDEST quince stems, also at ground level.  (Look at the shrub and determine how many old stems - the fattest, largest, oldest looking ones there are - and then divide by 3 and remove that number.)  This rejuvenates the quince at the same time. Then, check the quince once a month or every three weeks and clip off any stems that poke up from the maple roots. Every time you clip them off you starve the roots a bit more, so that finally they run out of energy to put up new shoots. The key to the success of this method is to cut them BEFORE they have a chance to leaf out and make more food for the roots...so write it on your calendar to go on Maple Patrol and cut them out all summer.  This method is the easiest and less disruptive to the quince.

2. Dig the entire quince up, maple seedlings and all.  Chop off a part of the quince that is clear of maple seedlings and re-plant that in the same space, discarding all the rest.  The piece you replace should be about two feet in diameter and from the outside of the bush - the youngest stems - if possible.  You can amend the soil with new loam and compost or composted manure before you put the quince piece back in place.  Needless to day, digging up a shrub that is 6' in diameter will be a tough job... If this is the method you choose, you should do it right after the plant flowers so that it has the summer to recover.  Water what you replace deeply once a week through the summer.

I hope this helps!
C.L.