Thanks for the insight
I’m trying to see what fruit would be good to graft onto wild parsley-leaf hawthorn trees and thought medlars could work…
I am growing medlars in zone 8b or 9a. Very easy. We get a lot of chill hours up here though.
John S
PDX OR
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I don’t process my medlar. I eat a ton of them now, in season. Then I throw them in a bag and freeze them. If they are great fresh, they are great frozen.
I just thaw them out and eat them. No processing.
John S
PDX OR
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Good to know you enjoy them and they don’t need to be processed if given enough time.
Still looking for anyone growing them in the deep south…
You are thinking just as I am. I did not get medlar started this last year. In future I still want to graft medlar & then add another variety. I may be able to sell value-added medlars that way, with cross-pollination plus the virus enhanced taste.
This idea came about when learning Cox Orange Pippin apple has at least one virus and, when virus scrubbed, it lacked distinction. Worth a shot, don’t you think?
I’m not sure what gave you the idea that the virus is the source of the superior flavor of some medlars. Whether or not it has any discernable effects on the plants other than a positive test result in a laboratory is not something I’ve ever seen any evidence for.
Looks like at least 2 of us has the concept of doing a case study on grafting Nottingham onto a another variety to check for changes in flavor. The only source for Nottingham I found was as a grafted tree in Cricket Hill Garden in Connecticut. Alas, I only have so much space and there are so many tree choices available. I pre-ordered the cultivar Nefle Tardive to start.
There are multiple sources for ‘Nottingham’. As I had repeated previously in the thread, it is sold by some nurseries under the trade name “Marron.” To be clear, “Marron” is not merely similar to ‘Nottingham,’ but “Marron” IS ‘Nottingham.’
And scion wood (at the time of this posting there are only 5 pieces of scion wood left, so hurry):
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I will be using Figure 1 from this paper as my reference as to what is the same and what is not the same because I have used the same techniques (restriction enzymes, agar gel electrophoresis, cluster analysis, generating a dendrogram) in a laboratory myself.
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Given that your interest is the virus they have, I think it’s worth getting the scion wood offered by Fruitwood Nursery.
I also found the fruits dry and mealy until just this year. This is the first year they did what they are supposed to and I’m enjoying them. I just pop the whole thing in my mouth. I’m in New Mexico so the air is always very dry but we did have more rain this year. I wonder if that’s what made the difference. My cat thought the little round fruits were toys and batted one right off the tree!
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I wanted to add that our fall weather has been more humid than usual due to some regular rain. That may have been an important factor - not necessarily the extra moisture at the roots but a bit more humidity in the air. I wonder if it would work to try spraying the tree with water regularly in the fall as the fruits are beginning to ripen. Just a thought.
I got a stick of Marron from fruitwood nursery.
Going to graft my Royal over to Marron/Nottingham.
TNHunter
How bad is brown rot there? My trees were loaded, but lost half the fruit to rot. I thought they were a spray free fruit. Guess it’s another I’ll have to add to the spray list. Odd it didn’t get it the first years fruiting with all the stone fruits around it.
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@Robert … I have only seen brown rot on peaches here.
I started growing them in 2002… (no spray) and for about 10 years had no OFM or brown rot…
Then OFM showed up… I will not spray so we just ate the good peaches and tossed the bad ones… on some you could salvage some good part and toss the rest.
Brown rot showed up around 2020…and was devastating (no spray)… it came back each year after that… I removed my 3 peach trees.
If medlars can’t be grown here no spray… i will toss it and replace it with something that can.
I was hoping they would be a no spray fruit.
TNHunter
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I’ve always thought that medlars were avoided for being problematic and requiring spray. I have to hit mine with fungicide a few times a year or I get leaf spot and a fungal infection that causes the fruit to get brown and lumpy.
It looks like Cliff England has ‘Nottingham’ available as scion.
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Id think rust would be a problem potentially. Im surprised to hear it would even host brown rot. I thought that was strictly a stone fruit thing. Ive had no need for spray here.
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Yeah, me too. I had to google it after someone on here told me what it was.
Are you sure that isn’t scab?