North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

I am extremely puzzled about quinces.  I picked fruit off a tree in Tifton 
GA that had belonged to Major Collins.  The tree looked perfectly healthy to 
me, I was sure no expert back then 20 years ago, but I think I'd have 
noticed if it had died back from blight and then recovered.  And here in 
Cookeville TN I am well acquainted with 3 probably identical 15 years old 
quince bushes that came as sprouts from NY and may be only rootstocks, but 
they crop some, and they get a little blight and survive it fine without 
anyone spraying or pruning the blight off.  Down in the deep crevasse of 
Hidden Springs in very humid conditions with very poor air circulation, 
Hector's smallish but middle aged  trees of Cook's Jumbo and 2-4 other 
varieties are all at least alive.  Annie, his daughter, said that they have 
their problems, but fire blight doesn't seem to be all that important.  The 
trees are not cared for, are not pruned to stimulate new growth as they 
should be, and at least one of them has thread blight, which would cut 
production in any fruit tree due to premature leaf loss year after year. 
Yet they are far from dead.  I have seen Asian pears there a few rows away 
that were being eaten alive by FB.
   Is this a matter of varieties?  Did Hector have others that died of 
blight?  Are they protected from it by simply growing slowly, ie nitrogen 
deprived?  (Pretty lush soil down there actually, not acid soil as quinces 
are said to prefer.)  Do we not happen to have the race of FB that most 
damages quince?  I'd certainly like to hear more from others who have tried 
quinces in the FB riddled east.  Donna