Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

labruscagrape - Re: [OFEX] - quince - apple leader pruning - Ben Sarek and Ben Lomond Currents

labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Ontario Fruit Explorers

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "John Barbowski" <jbarbowski@hotmail.com>
  • To: labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [OFEX] - quince - apple leader pruning - Ben Sarek and Ben Lomond Currents
  • Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 16:26:56 +0000

At my partner's house near High Park in Toronto, we have a quince that that blooms well in the spring. Last year, we had about a 12 quart basket of pears that produced some nice jam.

This year, in spite of a flowry showing, mild winter and reasonable spring, there are no fruits!

The plant is a shrub that I maintain as an ornamental - the pears are a bonus. I prune it back to keep it withing its boundaries, otherwise, it would grow to about 10 feet or more (aka the neighbour's plant from which the cuttings were derived).

The area is somewhat protected, probably a  6a that is influenced by the lake, about a mile away.

The leader pruning intrigues me. I have a few apples on M26 and Ott3 where the leader is approaching 12 feet, about 3 feet above the closest branch. I have read where it is recommended that the leader be kept intact and left to grow and I have also seen pictures where it was bent back and tied to the main stem. I was led to believe that the auxin production and proximity pruning inhibited competition and helped keep the tree under control. As long as the leader is maintained, energy would not be expended to produce more vigorous shoots.

The looping of the leader contradicts what I was taught, that auxins tend to flow down. I believe that the looping would confound the situation and produce two areas of accumulation, the end result - I am at a loss to define.

I'll see how high the leaders get, and at the same time maintain a pruning regime (summer - have to start today) to keep the tree under control and small enough to be manageable without excessive labour.

 

As for black currents, I had about a litre from each of my 3 year ol Ben's. I found Ben Sarek large and a little more tart than Ben L. This was perhaps due to the fact that there were some immature berries mixed with the mature ones. I should probably have waited another week before picking Ben S. I tried to pick just the mature berries - too labour intensive. The size was excellent. Some Czech natives and Ribes conniseurs thought they were Josta Berries!

The Jostas that I had were good, but nothing special. The berry stem proved difficult to remove and took some berry flesh with it. This necessitated eating the berry immediately! (tsk tsk)

Ben Lomond berries were also excellent, good size and more uniformity in their maturing. This made picking somewhat easier. Slightly different taste, perhaps a bit sweeter, but with the standard balck current tartiness.


jmb

ps the tree rats knocked off about a dozen of my peaches yesterday! Almost time to get a dog!

 

 

 


From:  "Thomas Olenio" <tolenio@sentex.net>
Reply-To:  Ontario Fruit Explorers <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
To:  "Ontario Fruit Explorers" <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject:  Re: [OFEX] Elderberry, plus quince and medlar
Date:  Wed, 26 Jul 2006 09:17:12 -0400
>On Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:57:18 -0400, Biz Storms <biz.storms@sympatico.ca>
>wrote:
>
> > Has anyone had decent success with growing quince?
>
>
>Hi,
>
>Lon Rombough sent me some less astringent quince seed a few years back.  I
>grew them out and gave a couple to Bert.
>
>I no longer have any qunice due to rodent damage.
>
>Later,
>Tom
>--
>============
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this outgoing message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.10.3/395 - Release Date: 07/21/2006
>
>_______________________________________________
>LabruscaGrape mailing list
>LabruscaGrape@lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/labruscagrape



Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page