I am still pretty new to grafting and closer examination of fruit trees…when I got these quince in the mail I was a little confused by what I was looking at. They all seem to have competing leaders and I cannot tell if I’m looking at one coming from the graft and one from below or if they’re both grafted onto the rootstock.
They look great otherwise, although the roots seem to be exploding out of the bottom of the small pots and I’m thinking I may have to consider up potting or planting out before this fall.
Any comments are appreciated.
Id say offhand that those are on their own roots. Youre pictures dont show the base of the trunk, but there is no evidence of a graft that i can see. Quince roots very easily, so its not surprising that’d be the case. You can grow them either as standards (by pruning to a single strong leader) or let them sprawl out and make a multi stemmed bush. T
1 Like
With you saying that, I went back and stared at the base of the trunks for awhile, and I do see maybe a whip and tongue type graft. The nursery did say that they were grafted, but the weird way it seemed to be coming out of the trunk in some places didn’t seem right to me… shows what I know, haha.
Sometimes theyll say trees are “grafted” as a synonym for any kind of clonal stock. The general public is not informed about the ins and outs. In any case, if they are grafted its very low. That is a useful thing to know, because quince also suckers from the roots and would obviously then have bearing on the relative worth of those suckers. The graft, if present, may be below the soil line. Trees that size would be last year’s grafts, so itd be pretty noticeable. I didnt graft any quinces last year, but here are a couple of last years mulberries.
Quince has a gnarly and beautiful growth habit. My oldest ones were left to grow multiple trunks. Some newer ones Im growing on a “leg” as standards.
1 Like
Very beautiful trees. I love quince and am hopeful I’ll be able to nurture these into producing well. How old are your oldest?
This seems like it is grafted, maybe a few inches above the soil. I will blame working outside all day in hot, high humidity weather for not seeing it. Let me know if you think it looks like a very neat whip and tongue graft.
yup, thats a w&t for sure. my couple oldest quince are about 15 years old or so. Its the first year in a good while that theyre not loaded with fruit. they bloomed nicely after the hard frost in May but either the frost damaged the pistils (even though the flower buds werent open yet) or else the poor weather afterwards meant no fruit set. Hopefully theyll be back to being loaded next year!
What varieties did you get @Buckeye ?
1 Like
They look lovely. I have been rethinking where I planted out quince initially (Meech’s Prolific and Seker Gervek) because it is south/southwest and very exposed. They did not like it much over winter. I am hoping to get in a line of spruces as a windbreak this fall.
I have purchased quite a few! OGW had a bunch of “experimental” selections so I snagged a few of those, including Claribel. Very little information is available. This is definitely going to be a strongest survives situation as I try to be as low spray/organic as possible. I am hoping for a tannic variety suitable for preserves/desserts.
