welcome to the forum! Id apologize for my poor farsi if I knew any. No worries, we’re glad to hear your perspective on things. Id love to hear some more about how you use amboo/konoos.
Its not clear to me from the little bit of reading Ive done how unique the ‘Iranian’ cultivar of medlar sold by that British nursery is. You refer to it as a “wild” type of fruit. How much variation do you tend to find in these wild fruits? Do you have good types or cultivars that people propagate (clone) in Iran? Those are some nice looking fruits. The description I read of ‘Iranian’ (the cultivar) made it sound rather small. Seeing some of the wild fruits held by the USDA germplasm reposity, many of which are pea sized, makes those fruits look quite large for a “wild” fruit. Perhaps they are not truly wild, but have been casually cultivated and harvested over time? Before you eat them, you usually have to let them get brown and soft (which we call “bletting”). How do you normally do that in Iran? thanks again for joining the conversation @Javhzs72 !
Tnx for your warm greetings
Q:how do you use it? If we want to use it for making pickles , syrup , paste , juice and jellies we leave it on the tree to rot(bletting) but if we want to save it for later fresh consumption , we pick it earlier and let it rest in not so cold place.
Q:what do u mean by wild? In iran some fruits are miserable and unlucky like mulberries , hawthorns , russian olives and medlars .they are less appreciated by people. Fruits suffer this fate that either they are small in size or they are found in abundance in nature or it is boring to pick them.
There is a Persian proverb that says : things that have no cost have no value.
Because of these reasons the good breeds are not officially registered as cultivars, and they are bred locally by ordinary people through mass selection from wild ones. That’s why every nursery has its own mother stock for grafting rootstocks grown from wild seeds. Some people propogate it sexually through seeds but their fruits are smaller in size (1-2 cm) but those selected ones grafted are larger (3-4 cm)
I hope you got the answers to your questions .
There is no need to import, you can get persian medlar from Paradise nursery in CA. whose manager is an Iranian person named Dr. Majid jahanbin.check their website
some things translate across languages almost perfectly. In english, theres a funny thing where practically the same words- priceless and worthless- mean completely opposite things. It is true that paying for something really does change your perception of its value. I like to think of the difference between inherent value and market value, and I personally tend to pursue the former: even if they dont net financial rewards, their value is tangible and assured. Medlar is like that for sure. It will probably never be something that can be easily marketed, but its very satisfying (I find) to eat something sweet and delightful from my own trees in the depths of winter. And the fact that it cant be had, practically speaking, anywhere else kind of turns its worthlessness on its head. Perhaps that makes it in some sense priceless.
I have a mulberry from California called ‘Paradise’. I wonder if it perhaps comes from this nursery.
@TJ_westPA You offered as much usable information in your post above as I found in Jane Steward’s book on medlars.
I hope for scions of 5 cvs. to graft this spring. Time & direct experience will tell, informing this thread.
Anybody trying the cultivar “Beacon” from Oikos? Here’s the description from the Oikos site:
‘Beacon’ is a new variety of medlar from Oikos Tree Crops: originally from our Walters seed grown medlars. This selection out yields all the other seedlings making it the most productive selection I have yet found in my seedling plantings. The plant also has the largest caliper of all seedlings now over a foot across at the base. It has never shown any hint of fireblight and produces a small tree that is truly a beacon on the hill I planted it on over 30 years ago. Medlars can be grafted onto hawthorne and this is normally the way it is reproduced clonally. For those with a proper rootstock, please request the scionwood and we will send ‘Beacon’ with the seeds or in January and February. Grafting can be done like apples in the spring in a dormant condition. ‘Beacon’ is available with the purchase of the seeds free upon request. There are two trees that are essentially identical that I collect seed from.
Sounds promising. I’m tempted, but don’t think I can justify spending $60 on a pack of medlar seeds just to get the “free” scion! Don’t see any indication on the site that they sell the scions separately.
My “Puciu Mol” had a few fruit last year, but they aborted. “Puciu Super Mol” isn’t big enough yet. Had “Sultan” for a few seasons, but it was a sickly little thing, stunted and plagued with leaf maladies, and it finally croaked one winter. The Piedmontese medlars are much healthier here—especially “Puciu Mol,” which is a strong grower (by medlar standards, I imagine) and has had no disease issues in the few years I’ve had it.
I believe that medlar is native to Iran. Also on the two types of medlars shown, one of them is what we call medlar. The other one, I believe is a loquat. In Italy, they call loquats Japanese medlars. I guess it’s how they think about it.
I have grown Royal medlars for about 30 years. They are good. Then I went to a fruit show in Seattle about 23 years ago and bought a scion of Nottingham. Once it fruited, it became clear to me that I liked that flavor much more than Royal. I have grafted over most of my tree to Nottingham. Then a buddy on HOS said he tried one from Georgia call Kha Kheti. He thought it was way better than all of the other varieties. I ordered it from Grin. I haven’t tasted it yet, but it’s growing on my tree. This was the former SSR, not the Georgia that Charlie Daniels sang about:).
I think medlar is a very valuable tree. Fresh fruit in the winter is a good way to say it. My guess is that since it hasn’t been overly bred, it probably has more antioxidants and phytonutrients than other fruit. I have planted one in the garden at one of the schools I work at.
I agree, the yellow fruits were loquat (Eriobotrya japonica), I’ve also seen them called Japanese medlar, because the long waxy leaves look very similar in shape.
I actually ordered from Paradise a while back when I first got into gardening (to get something from my parents mother country), but I’m not sure they selling a variety thats from Iran or just something else more common.
Like people will sell Persian Sour Cherry (aka Albaloo) for a premium but I heard its really its just English Morello.
OneGreenWorld has alot of interesting varieties still in stock and prob cost ya 1/3rd as much: https://onegreenworld.com/product-category/fruiting-trees-shrubs/medlar/
I may grab some scionwood of Monstreuse d’ Eveinnoff and Large Russian soon to put on that tree.
Hey John, You wouldn’t happen to have a small cutting or 2 of this one? I was looking at the GRIN database and saw that and another one from Adjara, Georgia. Might be nice to try to graft one.
On a sidenote, they have a hybrid. wonder what that tastes like if it has edible fruit…
that was the quandary that sprung to mind for me. it sounds like this cultivar ‘Iranian’ may have some unique attributes, however the variety name makes confusion much more likely.
bte, Ari I have Monstreusse so Im glad to include some in the scionwood Ill be sending you shortly. I cant help you with ‘large russian’ but if you find a source let me know!
I sort of figured Georgia or the greater Caucasus region was likely the origin and center of diversity for Mespilus. I haven’t pored through the GRIN accessions because when I perused it seemed most were seed grown wild stock with truly tiny fruit. Kha Kheti sounds like it could be a winner. Guess I should really get ahold of some Nottingham!
Cool, I’ll take some Monstreusse :). Will PM you later, according to my notes, think you may have a few other persimmon you were going to send me as well.
Some of the members have reported the larger varieties not tasting as good. Has that been your experience? How much larger is the Monstreusse? I’ve got BG and Puciu Mol. There is nothing giant about BG though and wanted to add something that had some real meat to it.
Monstreus is fairly new for me but the fruit has been larger than Breda. The former is around 1.5”, which is fairly large though not massive. Monstreus seems to run about 2”.Ive seen pics of ‘large russian’that seem to indicate its up to 2 1/2 or even 3”. Ive found Monstreus tasty enough, though I haven’t gotten a big harvest yet.
If you have seen the wild type medlars you wouldn’t call ‘Royal’ and ‘Nottingham’ small at 1.5". haha
@feralfarm23 Matt grows wild type and they are pretty flavorful with good texture (he shared some with me a few years back). They are more like the size of medium rose hips. He recommends them for processing because they don’t tend to ever get moldy inside like some of the larger types.
like mulberries , hawthorns , russian olives and medlars .they are less appreciated by people. Fruits suffer this fate that either they are small in size or they are found in abundance in nature or it is boring to pick them.
haha