Medlars - fresh fruit in winter

General Fruit Growing
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Found this online later…
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Most medlar trees are sold grafted onto either hawthorn or quince roots, to keep them more compact. The most common rootstocks are: Crataegus (hawthorn) – semi-vigorous. ‘Quince A’ – semi-vigorous.

Pear rootstocks tend to produce larger trees than quince or hawthorn rootstocks.
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Perhaps on callery rootstock you could get most of your fruit production up in the 8-12 ft range and out of deer reach. I have to put buck rub protection on all my fruit trees… a cattle panel cage works well for that.

More details found online.

Medlar’s are self-fertile . Site requirements: Full sun location. Medlars will grow in a range of soil types provided the planting location is well drained. Soil pH of 6.5 is ideal.

I might just try big russian on callery.

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Read online that Macrocarpa is the variety that produces the largest fruit. 2.5 inch.

Raintree has them… 99.99

Is Macrocarpa another name for Large Russian ?

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I noticed that Burnt Ridge has medlar as zone 4 to 10. Is that something that will survive a Wisconsin winter? I also see a zone 4 quince listed. Those are 2 trees I’ve wanted to add to my garden.

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yes, that seems to be the case. It has HUGE fruit. Im pretty sure these are Macrocarpa.
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Heres a nice writeup by Lee Reich : Ugly, But Tasty, Old Fruit – Lee Reich

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Medlar seems like a safe bet in your locale. True Quince (Cydonia) is probably more iffy. You might try ‘Orange’ quince, a seedling type that comes true. Id have it on its own roots in any case, so that if it dies back it will grow back.

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The bletting (bell jar) in that article… is pretty much the same thing I do for my persimmon ripening chamber.

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I’ve picked and eaten ‘Macrocarpa’ a couple of times. It’s my favorite variety for flavor and texture, but is no where near the biggest medlar. I’d consider it a mid-sized medlar. I’ve had the “giant” types before and they are of poor texture and flavor by comparison.

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Based of the USDA’s NCGR-Corvallis Mespilus Catalog, it seems they believe ‘Macrocarpa,’ ‘Nottingham’ and ‘Marron’ to all be synonyms. Of the three I’ve only eaten ‘Macrocarpa’ (lots of it), but regardless of whether all three are actually the same clone or not, if they’re at least similar enough to tentatively be synonyms I’d have to say they’re all my top pick.

https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20721500/catalogs/mescult.html

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Looking at several sources for Medlar… noticed this one which seems to have a consistent description at all sites. On the size most sites say 1.5 inch or medium-sized.

Cliff at Englands Orchard nuttrees.net - only has one medlar variety mentioned and it is this one.,

Royal Medlar - A very productive and attractive tree that bears heavy crops of 1.5" diameter fruit. The fruit is pleasantly sweet-tart and smooth textured when ripe. The large fruit develops an attractive, dark colored skin.

From Raintree — ‘Royal’ is an English cultivar first imported into the US about 30 years ago. The USDA describes this variety as having : “medium-sized fruit, good flavor, heavy cropper”.

From OGW — A very productive and attractive variety, Royal Medlar Fruit Tree bears heavy crops of 1-1/2″ diameter, pleasantly sweet-tart, smooth textured fruits. When ripe, the large fruits develop an attractive, dark, nut brown color.”

Note… OGW has several varieties of medlar listed… but only mentions a specific size on two of those (Royal Medlar) and (Breda Giant Medlar) and the size listed is very similar. The other 5 or 6 they have either no mention of size… or they may say Large… but no specifics mentioned… which I don’t trust.

From – Burnt Ridge — Royal Medlar - Very productive of medium sized brown fruit. When soft, fruit tastes like cinnamon spiced apple butter. Royal Medlar is a naturally dwarfing tree, about 8 ft. tall. Self fruitful.

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Burnt Ridge also provided this picture.

Just noticed that this one seems to be rather consistently described… with a specific size 1.5 inch… good taste, texture, color, production… and it is included at Nurseries all over the USA.

Anyone here growing Royal Medlar ?

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yes, I am. I havent tried it yet though. Some claim it has the best fruit quality. It also goes by ‘Dutch’. There are a bunch of confusing aliases in the medlar world it seems. Another confusing thing youll run into is the loquat - Eriobotrya japonica - being referred to as “japanese medlar”. Its hard to understand why people in earlier times made that connection, since theyre such different plants and fruits, though they can both be grafted to quince.

As far as the giant fruited types go, Ive heard that they are not as good flavor or texture wise. Ive been pleased with Monstreusse, and would be keen to grow Russian Giant to try it out. If processing, flavor and texture are somewhat less important and the improved pulp:seed ratio would probably be really helpful. My reference point for flavor and texture is Breda Giant, since Ive been harvesting and eating them for some years. I find it tasty, though Ive found a lot of variation in flavor and (mostly) texture depending on bletting conditions. I still have yet to understand what makes for good bletting. Ive ruined several batches trying to blet indoors, and have found that the most consistently and best flavor/texture is achieved by leaving them to hang into winter. They’re usually ready to pick starting mid-December or so.

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This is just part of my medlar harvest this year. Very tasty but unknown variety.

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where did you source it?

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It’s my friends tree. It is a grafted tree from a local nursery. He just doesn’t remember the name of the variety.

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“That’s another way of eating them, which I’ve also tried. I find that they are drier left outdoors.” Lee Reich talking about letting them ripen on the tree vs. indoor.

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Does anybody have medlar growing on its own roots? I have seen nurseries call them natural dwarfs, but they all seem to be grafted to pear rootstock. I have read that it grows into a proper tree on its own roots.
Are medlar roots extra disease-prone, or is it just something nurseries do, like grafting black mulberry to white mulberry?

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the seeds are very hard to germinate in my experience. theyre like rocks. probably heavy scarification and double stratification would do it. Ive tried but gave up. I do think seedling medlars may be higher vigor. Ive seen some pictures of old trees at monasteries and the like and they do seem to get to be more sizeable

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What about air layering as an option to get them on their own roots, if medlar seedlings are difficult to start?

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yeah, that’s probably a good bet. you’d still likely see some dwarfing since you’d wind up with a fibrous root system rather than the big branched rootsystem you typically see in a seedling

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I worked on layering a medlar onto its own roots for a number of years by having the graft union buried (growing in a huge pot). I repotted it last year and then moved it to a sunnier spot because I didn’t think it was getting enough sun. During re-potting I discovered that even after a few years it had not pushed any roots above the graft union. After that it began to decline and then died, but a few suckers pushed up from the rootstock. I think my mistake was moving it to a sunnier spot followed by a very harsh summer.

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I just learned that whey can be a very good fungicide sprayed on plants. I’m trying to track down a source. Anyone with goats or who sells raw milk might be a good place to start. Check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEH4Zezeqf4

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