Quince
Quince is a tall tree with beautiful, entire foliage, large flowers and pear-shaped or apple-shaped fruits. In ancient times, quince was considered a symbol of love and fertility. Under natural growing conditions, wild representatives of the genus can be found in the east of Russia and even in Siberia. A fruit tree with fragrant fruits has spread throughout the Caucasus, Central Asia, Moldova and the Crimea. Even a novice gardener can plant a quince in a personal plot, since a fruit tree is not considered a capricious crop to care for.
Content:
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Species: classification
Quince in bloom
The original classification included 3 types:
- Japanese
- Chinese
- evergreen
Over time, this classification was revised and only 1 species was identified: common quince.
Quince ordinary
Quince pear
A single species includes 5 garden groups or varieties. All trees differ from each other in a number of biological features.
The first two are considered varieties of decorative quince: it is pyramidal - a tree with a pyramidal crown, and marble - with a variegated surface of leaves densely covered with yellow or white spots.
Separately allocate garden quince. It includes:
- pear-shaped quince
- apple-shaped
- Portuguese
Consider the representatives of the species in more detail.
decorative quince
All varieties included in this group have good resistance to drought, easily tolerate bad weather conditions, can be grown in cities: they are not afraid of air pollution and dustiness.
In early spring, decorative quince looks very elegant: it is completely covered with spectacular flowers that stay on the plant for about a month.
In autumn, the bush is decorative due to the red foliage and bright yellow fruits.
All varieties must be sheared to give the crown the desired shape.
Decorative quince is a promising plant not only for decorating a summer cottage, but also for landscaping city parks.
garden quince
The group includes more than 400 varieties of fruit trees, but in our climatic conditions no more than 39 can grow.
Characteristics of garden quince:
- good winter hardiness
- high yield
- the possibility of long-term storage of fruits
- good transportability
- disease resistance
According to the shape of the fruit, pear-shaped and apple-shaped quince are distinguished. According to the shape of the crown, the classification is as follows:
- spherical
- pyramidal
- wide pyramidal
Apple-shaped quince is considered the most early ripening, pear-shaped has sweet and juicy fruits.
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Since quince is a heat-loving plant, a winter temperature drop above -15 ° C can lead to death. In view of these features, the distribution area was determined.
Quince can be grown in the North Caucasus region of Russia, in the Crimea, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions (Lower Volga region).
Quince has become widespread in Ukraine (Transcarpathia, Odessa and Odessa region), in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan.
Krasnobrodskaya
The variety is recommended for zoning in the Caucasus and the Volga region. Krasnobrodskaya quince has gained popularity due to its low growth and high yield. The fruits are large, weigh up to 400 g, have an apple shape. The pulp is juicy, stony cells are absent.
Japanese "Pink Lady"
An early flowering shrub with beautiful, bright leaves of an emerald green hue with a pronounced sheen.
The originality of the plant is given by pink flowers, from the center of which yellow stamens majestically appear. Over time, yellow fruits form in their place.
Variety characteristics:
- deciduous shrub of medium height
- spiny, curved shoots
- height - 1.2 m, width - 1.2 m
- abundant flowering in May
- prefers drained soil
Fragrant and tasty fruits of the Pink Lady variety are rich in vitamins and have a pronounced aroma.
Japanese "Nivalis"
Deciduous shrub with a spreading crown and prickly shoots. The oval dark green foliage has a pronounced sheen.
In early spring, snow-white flowers with yellow stamens bloom on bare shoots. By autumn, golden-yellow fruits are formed. The variety prefers sunny places.
Japanese Rubra
A beautiful spreading shrub with thorny shoots. Branches first grow vertically, then lie down.
Mature plants reach a height of 2 m, the crown in diameter blooms by 2 m. In one year, the growth is 10 cm.
The upper surface of the leaves is painted dark green, the bottom is grayish green. Deciduous shrub.
The flowers are purple-red. In dissolution - 2-3 cm. Flowering begins in the last decade of May on bare shoots.
It enters fruiting 2-3 years after planting the seedling.
To get fruits, it is necessary to plant 2-3 shrubs on the site, since the variety is not self-fertile and needs a pollinator.
The fruits are shaped like an apple, reach a diameter of 8 cm. At the ripening stage they are green, when ripe they turn yellow.
The variety requires shelter for the winter, especially young bushes. Winter hardiness on a scale is estimated at 5 points.
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Landing
The heat-loving plant easily tolerates drought. It can also tolerate light waterlogging of the soil.
Seedling ready for planting
Quince is best planted in an open area on the south side of the house. Soil - any, but grow better on heavy soils. Light sandy soils allow the plant to bear fruit earlier, but the fruits will be more modest, and life expectancy will noticeably decrease.
Landing should be carried out in autumn or spring - this time is characterized by a dormant period.
autumn planting
Seedlings at the age of 1 year can be bought with an open root system, it is preferable to take two-year-olds with a closed one.
When planting, it should be taken into account that the quince root system during growth occupies a huge area, sometimes even several times larger than the crown area.
Autumn planting should be preceded by spring soil preparation. In the spring, you need to dig the soil to the depth of a bayonet-shovel, apply fertilizer. For example, for 1 m2 you will need:
- potassium salt - 20 g
- superphosphate – 50 g
After fertilizing, the prepared place is watered. In autumn, you need to dig a hole to a depth of 40 cm, and 50-80 cm in diameter. The depth and width of the hole is determined by the size of the root system of the seedling.
Drive a peg into the center of the hole for further tying. Fill the bottom of the hole with a layer of clay, all the remaining space with fertile soil. 150 g of superphosphate and 50 g of wood ash must be added to the soil.
After that, you can install a seedling, straighten the roots, sprinkle with soil and tamp. When watering 1 tree should go 20 liters of water. After the water is absorbed, you need to tie up the plant and mulch the soil by pouring a thick soy of peat or humus.
Planting in the spring
The stages of planting quince in spring are similar to planting in autumn. A layer of mulch is required, but it may not be as thick as 5 cm is sufficient.
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With the advent of spring, sap flow has not yet begun, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning: remove shoots broken under the weight of snow, dried branches and affected by diseases. Young specimens need formative pruning, old ones need rejuvenating pruning.
Blooming tree
When the buds begin to bloom, the quince is treated with 3% Bordeaux mixture.
In the spring, the trunks are whitewashed with lime, mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil. During the budding period, treatment from pests is needed: aphids, moths, sawflies, leafworms, spindles. Quince often suffers from powdery mildew, so Fastak's treatment is only beneficial. In 10 liters of water, you will need to dissolve 3 ml of the product.
During the period of budding, flowering, and after it, the trees are provided with abundant watering. Mineral fertilizers are applied to the soil.
When the plant fades, after 10 days, prophylactic treatment against pests and diseases is again carried out. You can use "Topaz" or its analogues.
In early June, insect control is carried out. It is impossible to allow codling moths, moths, aphids, leafworms, golden tails to appear on the trees. For processing, you can use the following solution: in 10 liters of water you need to dissolve 6 ml of the drug "Sonnet".
For the entire growing season in the summer, you should not get carried away with chemical treatments. They should only be done as needed.
In summer, you need to weed the near-trunk circle, remove weeds. To avoid unnecessary work, you can mulch the ground around the trunk.
V July complex mineral fertilizer is applied under the trunk. A month before harvesting, it is necessary to stop all top dressing. After harvesting, the plantings are treated with a 5% urea solution.
In autumn, water-charging watering is recommended.During the dormant period, when the plant sheds foliage, it will be necessary to carry out thinning, sanitary and rejuvenating pruning.
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crown formation
In early spring, it is recommended to carry out the main pruning of quince, while sap flow has not yet begun. Diseased and dry shoots must be removed and burned.
spring pruning quince
Trimming Rules
After the tree has formed, its crown should look like a bowl with an open center.. It is necessary to leave 5 skeletal branches, which are located at a distance of 15 cm from each other.
Low-growing varieties should be given a sparse-tiered crown, which will include 8-9 shoots. Branching should be uniform.
The stem should be formed at a distance of 40 cm from the soil surface.
When planting a seedling in a permanent place, it is necessary to immediately cut it to a height of 50 cm, leaving only 6-7 buds on the plant. Of these, the lower tier will subsequently be formed.
A year later, also in early spring, you need to carry out 1 more pruning. Now you need to shorten the central branch by 30 cm. The growth of last year is shortened to 50 cm.
You can not cut the side shoots. It is worth removing them only if they thicken the crown and prevent other branches from growing.
All root shoots are recommended to be removed in time. By 3-4 years of age, the crown should be formed.
Starting at 5 years of age, pruning should be maintenance. All excess must be cut in the spring.
Sanitary pruning is carried out in the fall, after the foliage has fallen. At this time, all dried, thickened and diseased branches are removed.
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To propagate quince, you can use the following methods:
- propagation by seeds
- cuttings
- vaccination
- using root suckers
- layering
The culture reproduces very well by seeds, which cannot be said about other plants.
seed propagation
To obtain seeds, you need to select beautiful fruits that were collected from a tree no more than 1 month ago. Seeds must be extracted from the fruits, as a rule, they are brown in color. They need to be washed under running water, laid out on paper to dry.
Seeds will remain viable for 6 months. The resulting material can be sown in the garden in the fall, then during the winter they will undergo natural stratification and in the spring you can see the first shoots.
quince seeds
If sowing is postponed until spring, the seeds must still be stratified - they must be sown in containers and sent to the refrigerator for 3 months. Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in water for 5 hours.
It is necessary to sow the seeds in the garden, planting them in the soil to a depth of 2 cm. After sowing, the bed should be mulched with a layer of humus or peat. When sowing, the distance must be observed: in the row spacing - 20 cm, and no more than 100 seeds should be sown per 1 m2.
After the emergence of seedlings, several thinnings should be carried out. The first time you need to thin out, leaving 10 cm between the seedlings. And during the second thinning, you will need to remove all weak specimens and make sure that the distance between young plants is at least 20 cm.
During the growing season, the plants will gain strength and they can already be transplanted to a permanent place.
cuttings
Harvesting planting material should be done in the morning. The best month for cutting cuttings is June. When cutting cuttings, you need to look so that each of them has 2 internodes. The heel must be at least 1 cm.
quince stalk
Sections need to be treated with a growth stimulator, planted in a mixture of peat and sand at an angle. The ratio of peat to sand should be 1:3. The optimal distance between the cuttings is 5-6 cm. The rooting process takes place over a month. After the cuttings appear, they are planted in a permanent place.
Lignified cuttings are also suitable for propagation. Their length is 25 cm, the lower cut must be made under the kidney. However, rooting should take place in the greenhouse.
Graft
August is the best time to propagate by grafting
The rootstock for quince propagation can be quince seedlings or hawthorngrown from seeds. The best rootstocks are obtained from the seeds of Anger and Provence quince. Budding should be carried out on the resulting annual shoots. The best time for vaccination is August.
Use of root offspring
Root offspring are root shoots with which gardeners are constantly fighting. Quince gives many offspring, but this does not mean that many new specimens can be obtained in this way.
This is what rootstock looks like
You should be aware that when transplanting root shoots to another place, new plants will have a weak root system, and their fruits will be much smaller than those of the mother plant.
layering
Two methods of propagation by layering
Sometimes arcuate or horizontal layering is used to propagate quince. There is a slight difference between them: the horizontal shoot is completely covered by the ground, only the top remains on the surface, and the arcuate shoot is only in the middle.
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Among the diseases, such as powdery mildew, brownish leaves, monoliosis, and gray rot are often common. Of the pests, fruit mites, leaf moths, apple aphids and codling moths annoy.
Red fruit mite
This name was given to a group of insects that mine leaves. They subsequently turn yellow and fall off. As a result of the vital activity of pests, not only a decrease in yield occurs, but also a loss in the quality of fruits. When affected, the plant becomes susceptible to diseases, it can freeze during the winter.
How to fight? After flowering, the quince should be treated with drugs: "Fundazol" (1%), "Diptrex" (1.5%). For preventive purposes, it is recommended to maintain cleanliness in the near-stem circle.
Omnivorous insect. A colonial settlement can kill quince, as the pest feeds on sap. As a result of the activity of aphids, soot fungus develops on the leaves.
The pest spreads viral diseases, and this is very bad.
How to fight? It is easy to get rid of aphids - any insecticides help in the fight against it. In addition, folk remedies are also effective. For example, an infusion of laundry soap with garlic helps against aphids. Folk remedies are completely harmless, so they can be used even during fruit ripening.
Allocate red and brown fruit mites. They cause great damage to fruit crops. The larvae have a depressing effect on the buds and young shoots, the garden begins to “shed tears”, that is, the juice begins to stand out from the wound.
How to fight? When leaf fall begins, it is recommended to treat the plantings with a 7% solution of urea.
A disease that quickly spreads throughout the plant: it all starts with small brown spots, which grow very rapidly and completely cover the entire bush. The spread of the disease contributes to high humidity. The virus spreads easily to new plants.
How to fight? Sick specimens can be treated with Oxyx, Topaz, Kuproksat.
Fungal disease. You can recognize the enemy by dark spots, which, having appeared on the leaves, are rapidly spreading over the entire surface. The disease is dangerous because during flowering and bud formation it gets inside and destroys the buds, the ovary.
How to fight? To minimize the occurrence of the disease, it is important to carry out sanitary pruning, thin out the crown and prevent branches from intertwining. After harvesting, if dry fruits are seen on quince, they must be removed and destroyed. Recommended treatment with the drug "Fundazol".
Growing quince in the garden does not require certain skills. Once you plant a fruit tree in your garden, you will provide your family with vitamins for a whole year. I would like to note that the fruits are very fragrant, so after drying a few slices and putting them in a closet, you can soak the clothes with a pleasant aroma.
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