North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Martha Davis <martha_davis@earthlink.net>]

Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Quince Varieties
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

It is my understanding that fire blight is especially likely to occur in fresh cuts as from pruning in spring as opposed to winter and the lush new growth stimulated by winter and spring pruning (also by high N). If Hector pruned his quince trees more I think he would have more problems.  

Martha