sad quince

[gan heather]

I planted a quince tree back at the end of winter and it has failed to thrive. All the leaves have died and it looks dead except when I knick the tree with my fingernail, it's green underneath and there's a lovely shoot growing from the base (the only part of the tree that looks alive!). There's an apple tree which was planted at the same time, about 5 feet away, and that's doing fine. What's going on with it? Is there anything I can do to bring it back from the brink?

[FB.]

Has it had enough water?

Does the soil retain moisture well?

Is your soil an unsual type?

Does it have some kind of bark damage on the trunk or the graft?

The shoot coming from the base and the decline in health of the top suggests some kind of canker attacking the trunk and blocking the sapflow, to the point where the roots are starting to sprout because the top is all-but dead.

[gan heather]

The soil is clay and retains water well. I have watered it, but maybe it needed even more than I gave it?

Is there anything I can do for it? Would removing the top allow it to regrow from the base? Or is it a lost cause? It's on Quince A rootstock, if that makes any difference.

[FB.]

I suggest look at the trunk and main branches for areas of unusual-coloured, split or sunken bark which could suggest canker.
If you cut off the top, you will lose the fruiting variety and have a Quince A tree instead of whatever quince or pear it was beforehand. I have no idea of how good the fruit is if the Quince A rootstock is allowed to fruit - I've let QA root suckers grow on my pears but the suckers never seem to want to fruit.

Unless the top is visibly badly diseased, cutting it off now could make the tree even more unhappy.

Until you pinpoint the underlying cause of the problem, you can't take action because it may be the wrong action.