Hello everybody, I quite fancy having a Quince tree in the garden, I think I am right that this is the right time of year to plant fruit trees? Only thing is, i am really pushed for space, can Quinces be espaliered against a wall/fence as with other fruit trees? I have also heard that Quices take a long time to fruit?
Your opinions would be greatley apreciated.
Regards, Essexboy.
Quince tree
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Hi Essexboy
From my own experience:
Quince are harder to 'force' into a uniform structure than apples or pears, but not impossible. You must be ruthless in removing unwanted shoots completely. Always remove anyshoots on the back and underside of any wall trained tree.
I am fan training 2 trees (variety = Vranja) for a customer (against my better judgement!), at the end of season 2 I have 5 fruits on 2 trees. From maidens.
At present the structure is being built, and I anticipate pruning side shoots next summer - I don't know how they will react to modified lorette system, we will see! I expect that, as well as pruning to make spur systems, I will to have to completely remove many shoots as I have needed to so far.
Quince take no longer than apples or pears to come into bearing - in my experience, just a bit sparse.
Cheers
Mole
From my own experience:
Quince are harder to 'force' into a uniform structure than apples or pears, but not impossible. You must be ruthless in removing unwanted shoots completely. Always remove anyshoots on the back and underside of any wall trained tree.
I am fan training 2 trees (variety = Vranja) for a customer (against my better judgement!), at the end of season 2 I have 5 fruits on 2 trees. From maidens.
At present the structure is being built, and I anticipate pruning side shoots next summer - I don't know how they will react to modified lorette system, we will see! I expect that, as well as pruning to make spur systems, I will to have to completely remove many shoots as I have needed to so far.
Quince take no longer than apples or pears to come into bearing - in my experience, just a bit sparse.
Cheers
Mole
Hello Essexboy
I have a quince that grew in a large half oak barrel for the first 3 years of it's life. As I was pushed for space I pruned it very hard every year, clearing the centre and encouraging a classic goblet shape with lots of fruiting spurs. Year 1 - nought, year 2 got 1 quince, year 3 got about 6 big fruits.
Last spring I finally moved it into a border,still intending to keep it very compact (it's literally only 2-2.5 metres tall with approx. 1 metre spread) It flowered like a beauty, but then the drought we had in our area late spring\early summer meant all the fruit dropped. If they had all held, I would have had about a dozen fruits and would have had to thin them.
Now is an ideal time to plant, so I would say have a go and if fan training sounds a bit complex, try growing as a tightly pruned standard like I have.
Sue
I have a quince that grew in a large half oak barrel for the first 3 years of it's life. As I was pushed for space I pruned it very hard every year, clearing the centre and encouraging a classic goblet shape with lots of fruiting spurs. Year 1 - nought, year 2 got 1 quince, year 3 got about 6 big fruits.
Last spring I finally moved it into a border,still intending to keep it very compact (it's literally only 2-2.5 metres tall with approx. 1 metre spread) It flowered like a beauty, but then the drought we had in our area late spring\early summer meant all the fruit dropped. If they had all held, I would have had about a dozen fruits and would have had to thin them.
Now is an ideal time to plant, so I would say have a go and if fan training sounds a bit complex, try growing as a tightly pruned standard like I have.
Sue