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

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  • From: "Biz Storms" <biz.storms@sympatico.ca>
  • To: "'Ontario Fruit Explorers'" <labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [OFEX] - quince - apple leader pruning - Ben Sarek and BenLomond Currents
  • Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:23:48 -0400

Hey John

 

My late father-in-law used to say, “never buy anything that eats”. Would that we have listened, with three dogs, three horses and a cat. :-)

 

Cheers, Bizmark.

 

Ps I know what you mean about selective picking of ripe black currants.

The stains on my fingers should be gone in a few days.

Nice to hear about differences between the two Ben’s, though.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: labruscagrape-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:labruscagrape-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of
John Barbowski
Sent: 26 July 2006 11:27
To: labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [OFEX] - quince - apple leader pruning - Ben Sarek and BenLomond Currents

 

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
>--
>============
>
>
>--
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>
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