Re: [nafex] My poor young quince

Betsy,

I've been growing quinces for a few decades, but have just about given up because of rust. If you can't wipe out all the red cedar trees within a 10 mile radius (that's an exaggeration), then you will have problems with rust. My last ditch effort was to bring in a 'Lisle's Special' quince, which was purported to be resistant to rust. It is not. I took out the tree last year. The only quince I have remaining is a seedling of Lisle's Special. It is also showing a lot of rust. I expect it will be yanked out, too in a few years.

Sorry for the bad news. I love the fruit also.

Lester Davis gave me a quince-like tree a few years ago. It is certainly not C. oblonga, but the fruit is similar in flavor. It gets rust, but not so severely that I want to remove it. It also has a wonderful fragrance akin to the C. oblonga fruit from my grandmother's yard and the exfoliating bark is quite ornamental. You might contact him for more information.

Best regards,

Anton
Piedmont region of NC, near RTP


-----Original Message-----
>From: Elizabeth Hilborn <ehilborn@mebtel.net>
>Sent: May 17, 2016 8:38 PM
>To: mailing list at ibiblio - Northamerican Allied Fruit Experimenters <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
>Subject: [nafex] My poor young quince
>
>I have never tried growing Cydonia oblonga before as we have severe fire
>blight here. However, a site opened up with good ventilation and first
>AM sun. I love the fruit so I bought a tree. It arrived in our warm
>early spring, I was able to protect it from the late freezes. It was
>vigorous and put out at least 10 inches of new growth with healthy leaves.
>
>Now, although it has escaped fire blight, it is suffering extensively
>from rust. The apical meristem is brown and necrotic, each leaf is at
>least somewhat deformed and every petiole is swelling with future
>fruiting bodies. One petiole has already started releasing spores.
>
>I feel like I have staked a goat out in a tiger infested jungle.
>
>So, does anyone have experience with this? Is this young tree destined
>to die a long, protracted death, or can it survive this severe rust
>infection? I would rather rip the quince out if it is a hopeless cause
>for survival. This IS a bad rust year, my apples are suffering too - not
>every year is so bad....
>
>
>Betsy Hilborn
>7a Central NC
>
>
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