Quince Day!

[Alison]

how did you make the vodka?

Grated a couple of quinces into a jar, added sugar and filled the jar with vodka. Been shaking for a few weeks and will probably strain in time for Christmas. Not done it before but was recommeded when we were down at River Cottage and is in the latest fruit book handbook.

Here. This is where I bought mine. As you can see, they do various rootstocks for various sizes of mature tree.

Aren't quince usually just grown as oppose to grafted onto rootstock? I know I was told that by somebody (anybody?) and it seemed to make sense as quince is used as a rootstock for other fruit.

[StephenH]

Aren't quince usually just grown as oppose to grafted onto rootstock? I know I was told that by somebody (anybody?) and it seemed to make sense as quince is used as a rootstock for other fruit.

I think they can be own-root, but if you want a smaller tree, you can have it grafted onto a semi-dwarfing rootstock, which will result in a tree about 10' high and wide, I believe. You can't get very dwarfing rootstocks, as you can with apples, but at least 10'x10' is more possible for a smallish garden.

[Two_Sheds]

My quince is only 5ft tall and about 4ft wide, it's at least 5 years old and gives me about 6 fruits a year (which is 6 more than I ever use)

[Alison]

Use them Two Sheds, they are loverly

[veggiechicken]

In my garden I have a very old pear tree (probably 50+ years old), not sure what type it is. For some years it has been sending out suckers from the base and, for the last 2 years there have been flowers which look very much like quince. No fruit yet. Is quince self fertiile? Will it ever fruit?

[northepaul]

if its on a quince roots stock - which it might not be as its so old (?) then it may well have quinces!
Older pears are harder to identify - around here its known as a pear area, and we have some very old trees.
Oh and yes quinces are self fertile.

[veggiechicken]

Thanks Northepaul. I know the pear tree is over 30 years old as I've had it that long and it was fully grown and falling over when we moved here. The suckering may have been going on for quite a while as there are raspberries running amok all around the tree and its hard to see the ground. There was a horizontal plum nearby but that had the chop many years ago. I would really like the quince to fruit as I have fond memories of making quince and pineapple jam - and that was a very long time ago!

[Two_Sheds]

Use them Two Sheds, they are loverly

I think I will
As soon as I have jars I'll make some apple & quince jelly I think