I grew quince on pear for the last 3 years. I made several grafts all of which suddenly failed this year. I would say quince on pear is only partially compatible and will always fail long term.
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Only graft pear on quince if that variety is compatible. Otherwise, graft it onto the pear afterwards.
John S
PDX OR
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I have pears on quince that are max 8 feet tall. They are old trees and wont’ get bigger. When you have quince, you prune it, stick it in the ground and it makes another tree. Graft onto that one too.
John S
PDX OR
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Some quince has been cultivated to be good for fresh eating. Crimea by One Green World is also known as Krimskaya to the USDA CLonal Germplasm repository in Corvallis, OR.
Mine are fantastic fresh. Everyone likes them. I never cook them.
John S
PDX OR
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Are there any updates on the quince you grafted onto your sister’s pear?
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I don’t visit the tree often. The quince is on lower branches. I don’t recall if the Aromatnaya limbs are dead now, or just shaded out and no vigor. I’ll have to remember to take another look. I don’t remember seeing any fruit the last couple of years.
It doesn’t get any pruning or care. The Hosui is very vigorous, and all the European pears are more vigorous than the quince. The Winter Banana apple grafts have held on like a champ though, and annually produce some apples.
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Thanks for responding.
I’ve got a big Bradford pear tree in the front yard I was hoping to stick a few quince varieties on to it just to hold the varieties over until next year and get some scion wood from them. I wouldn’t really be expecting to get any fruit from them or have any long term plans for them being on the pear tree.
From your experience, do you think the Bradford would be serviceable for that?
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I have no experience with Bradford pear. If its not quince compatible, perhaps you could use a compatible interstem.
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Pears grafted to quince work but quince on pears fails after several years.
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Not all pears are long term compatible on quince. SOme will take but not fruit. Some will fruit for a couple of years and then break.
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Corvallis ARS GRIN varieties that are quince compatible.docx (33.2 KB)
Hopefully that worked. I have had to cut out varieties that were on trees that I bought at a nursery. Fortunately, I grafted those varieties to other pear trees first. After removing the others, the original comice (compatible) gave me a lot more delicious pears. Now I can graft any pear onto comice, just not necessarily onto quince.
John S
PDX OR
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Pears Graft Compatible with Quince Rootstock.doc (29.5 KB)
Maybe this? We grow a lot of pears around here.
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That Aromatnaya quince on unknown Euro pear died. Likely survived 3-5 years.
Winter Banana lasted longer, but I think eventually died too. Maybe 5-8 years. I wasn’t keeping track.
edit: my estimates may be off by several years. I can’t tell if its me getting older, Covid time warp, or a combination
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I know this thread is old, but I’m both sad and amused that so many people seem to be judging quince as a raw fruit. It is so good baked. You wouldn’t like bread either if you had to eat it in the form of raw flour.
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People very often confuse the flowering quince (Chaenomeles) with the true quince (Cydonia). The former can be used to make jelly, but the fruit has an intense lemony sourness and not much complexity of flavor. True quince (Cydonia) on the other hand, is a fruit par excellence and well worth growing and eating. It has some inherent astringency raw for the most part, and is quite dry. It’s aroma is out of this world though, and it’s flavor has strong notes of pineapple.
In the Caucasus and Black Sea region, sweet varieties are grown for fresh eating. Our season is too short, and those varieties are not well adapted to most of the US. Varieties commonly grown historically in the US would have been mainly for a source of pectin, which they have in spades. Even these are a good nibble, but their main use is for processing. The most delectable fruit preserve can be made by boiling quince and running the softened fruit through a food mill. Then add a prodigious quantity of sugar (to taste, also for texture ) and simmer while stirring. You’ll know it’s done when it turns pink and sticks to the spoon. Wrap in parchment and store the “ paste” or “cheese” for months.
This is considered a delicacy in France and Spain (membril, membrillo) and nearly everywhere else quince is grown and appreciated.
The best low intensity way to use quince is to add it 25-50% to anything you make with apples. It thickens sauce or pie and adds lots of flavor and aroma.
Too bad it’s not more appreciated here, as it’s a beautiful specimen and (apart from fireblight) a productive and trouble free crop for the most part. I grow 5 varieties myself
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As for graft compatibility, I’d suggest using an interstem of pear rootstock of wide compatibility. I’ve found, for example, that OH87 grows quite well on wild hawthorn while most cultivated pears show major compatibility issues.
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I like Crimea and Kuganskaya better raw than baked. You can bake apples or eat them raw. I prefer them raw. There are many quince that I will only eat baked, but not those two.
John S
PDX OR
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I made quince chutney last year and it was awesome. I froze the excess, so it lasted quite a while. I even mixed the quince chutney with cranberry sauce to go with my Christmas turkey, (delicious). 
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