Hi, just joined this group and thanks for having me. I am a gardener who likes to grow fruit and other perennial crops when possible. I have two quince from fedco and they are doing great. My question is though, we’ve had several frosts it’s October and these fruit show no sign of being close to ripe. Do they endure continuous cold weather and still ripen on the tree or do I have to bring them in at some point? I was hoping to plant several more next year. Thanks and looking forward to reading more posts here and being apart of this group.
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Welcome to the group! I don’t know anything about quince, but some more particulars about your location may help people in answering you. If you mean Midcoast Maine, then anything Fedco sells should be a decent fit for your area.
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Hi. I live in Searsmont. My question isn’t which quince to grow, it’s more, when do people harvest them in Maine ( New England)? After multiple frosts? Before frosts? Do frosts and cold weather stunt their maturation and or ruin the fruit? Everywhere I’ve read about them it’s always some moderate region where they can harvest in late October or November but probably with no considerable frosts by then. I’ve already had three frosts and my quinces are still very green.
Thanks in advance for anyone’s input!
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Not certain , but I have had tiny crab apples with frozen nights , and still be good and crisp.
How many Do you have could always take a few in for a experiment .
Quince is pretty well to store so may not know with the ones taken inside for months if they improve .
I love quinces by the way great for drying for tea.
Can I ask how long you’ve had your quince in ground?
Hi,
They are two years old now from when I purchased them from Fedco
They’re still doing fine on the branch. I brought one in and cooked it and it seemed ripe enough. The leaves are all on still, so it seems strangely unaffected by the weather so far. It has been pretty mild this past month though
Hi there:
Just put (well 3 months ago…) 5 quince Zagreb (5 years of age each tree) in the ground. May I ask you if you know the variety you are growing, please?
It’s unfortunate that zones seem not to be the same in whole North America… I’ m zone 5 but my climatic condition must ressemble yours unless you are near the sea… What is the coldest temperature you got in winter, please? Thanks! Marc
Ideally quince are picked once they turn yellow and become aromatic. They can take a frost that affect the ground level vegetation. A hard freeze of below ~25 F can impact the quality of the fruit, so you’d probably be better off picking and trying to ripen on the counter if the fruit hasn’t
ripened on the tree yet