I grew out 30 - 40 quince from seed earlier this spring. I had so many I really wasn’t too concerned about babying them. They got a little neglected and the majority of the seedlings died from what I assume was quince rust. The few that survived were mostly stunted and still had signs of being infected. That is with one exception. Here we are almost in the new year and one of my quince seedlings is still going strong. It even still has its leaves when most of my other fruit trees defoliated some time ago. I’m rather impressed by this spindly little seedling for its resiliency.
I mostly just tried growing quince from seed as a lark, or perhaps for rootstock for pear. I doubt the fruit from any seedling would be that good, but I guess you never know.
I think they tend to produce reasonably good quality seedlings. Many of the old quinces you find in the dooryard of old farmhouses were simply grown from seed. There is a “cultivar” called ‘Orange’ that is seed grown. FWIW, Ive had several different types from local homesteads and found them all to be of good size and flavor. As I recall, @scottfsmith has grown out some seedlings - Spalding and Wilson maybe???- and found them to be more disease resistant that cultivars while still producing high quality fruit.
yeah, pertaps. I dont know the back story, but I wasnt under the impression that @scottfsmith had grown out vast quantities to find those selections. Id be curious to know. The farmers who planted them in old homesteads here likely before 1900 probably did no selection. Ive yet to see one that was obviously inferior- small fruited or otherwise- though I suppose those could have been eliminated long ago. Homesteaders were mainly interested in them as a source of pectin, found concentrated in the membrane around the seeds- so they probably didn’t really care all that much what the fruit was like.
An interesting trial would be to put quince seedlings near trees that are infected with cedar rust for a few years and see what survives. You basically accidentally did this :). Let us all know how the fruit eventually is as maybe you got a winner.
hey, no worries. theres not much cedar rust here, so its not on my radar. I didn’t realize it was fatal for quince either. I know that its a buggaboo for a lot of pomes. Amelanchier, etc.
Nothing but a rainforestst full of cedars and firs on my neighbours and my property, so lots of hosts nearby. My apple trees had a lot of rust issues last summer, but they weren’t bad this year. Mind you, I did apply several dormant sprays to the apple trees, that of course the quince seedlings didn’t have the benefit of.
I have fruited seedling quince(from cultivar mother trees) in my orchard, the fruit was much smaller, perhaps 1/3 the size of actual varieties. It grew nicely and fruited 7 years from seed. I have subsequently top worked it over to 3 other named varieties. It sprouts a clump of suckers from the base every year that I mound layer and harvest for rootstock.
I saw OneGreenWorld added some varieties to a special collections page (which someone else commented on here they did the same to a plum section to introduce some rarer varieties).
I just thought I’d post here if anyone was interested:
Anyone know anything about any of them (minus Claribel which i think I bought from Raintree… supposed to be more disease-resistant)?
That Bulgarian hybrid should be resistant as well as Triumph and Bobev’s Triumph. PY98-1, Granitnaia, and Vernaia are possibly varieties for cider. This thread might interest you:
They’ve had these listed for awhile, the specimens I received over the summer were great looking albeit desperately needing bigger pots (I put them in ground).
Edited to add: they have been doing great in ground albeit for less than a year.
Do you know if any of the fruit from these disease-resistant varieties is as good as the quince that can be eaten ‘fresh’ out-of-hand (like Crimea/Aromatnaya/Kuganskaya). or more purely cooking-type quince.
Also happen to know the difference between Triumph O.P. and Bobev’s Triumph?
Im not really well acquainted but if you’re referring to the Bulgarian selections, Id wager they’re really good. Theyre not really the sort to breed inferior fruit since they like and make use of all sorts of what we’d consider oddball fruits. Home production is far more prevalent in that part of the world to my knowledge. Not to over generalize, but I had a group of visitors of mixed slavic descent and they not only knew nearly every oddball fruit I was growing, but for most they had stories about where they’d collected them, various names for them (Quince is called aiva in most slavic countries), how they like to prepare them, etc. They may not be the equal of the sweet varieties, Im not sure. Im still unsure how sweet and tender those really get in my climate. Hopefully will know in a couple of years.
I saw @scottfsmith had the Bulgarian Triumph seedling growing and got some fruit, as seen here earlier in the thread:
@scottfsmith, How did it taste and how was its flesh?
Sweet/Aromatic and Tender-fleshed?
Did it need to get cut into thin slices to enjoy fresh?
or think it is only meant for cooking?
Personally, I think even the main Pineapple variety you see in stores can be enjoyed fresh if you cut it into thin slices (but I’ve had a few very large quince that I would say are truly rock-hard and meant for cooking).
I believe he’s at USDA Beltsville, MD. Not sure on ordering from Corvalis. Ive had good luck in the past but I know they are getting more selective, especially if the accessions are available elsewhere.
