Quince

Family

Rosaceae

Habit

Tree

Height

7.2 m

Spread

6 m

Growth

medium

Lifespan

50 years

First yield

after 3 years

Full yield

after 25 years

Yield per plant

up to 25 kg a year

Yield in cultivation

up to 20 t/ha

Energy yield

500 kcal per m² a year

Hardiness

zone 5–9

Shade tolerance

full shade

Soil

Sand, Silt, Loam

Soil moisture

dry – very moist

pH

5 – 7

Times apply to the northern hemisphere in a temperate climate and shift with altitude and cultivar.

Edible: Quince fruit is strongly aromatic, its flesh firm, rather granular and notably rich in pectin. In Central Europe it stays hard and astringent and must be cooked before eating; only in warm climates does it turn soft and juicy enough to eat raw. Cooked it yields jelly, jam, purée, juice and wine, and its high pectin content also makes it a setting aid for low-pectin fruit. Added to stewed apple it lends a powerful aroma. Depending on cultivar the fruit is apple- or pear-shaped and up to about ten centimetres long. The dried, crushed seeds make a mucilaginous drink: simmer for some five minutes and sweeten to taste. The flowers are edible too.

Medicinal: The quince is one of the old medicinal plants of Europe. Two preparations were traditionally used: the mucilage of the seeds and the cooked fruit pulp. Quince seeds contain around 20 % mucilage, which swells in cold water; the mucilage thus obtained was applied externally to irritated skin and mucous membranes and taken for coughs and sore throats. The cooked pulp, rich in pectin, was regarded as a remedy for digestive complaints. Safe handling of the seeds matters here: they contain up to 1.5 % amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the seeds are crushed, chewed or ground. For extracting the mucilage the seeds must therefore be soaked whole and then strained off; crushed seeds are not to be used, and the core must not be cooked with the fruit.

Other uses: A substance extracted from the seed coat serves as a replacement for gum arabic to add gloss to the material. The seed comprises 20% mucilage and 15% fatty oils, while the fruit is high in pectin, believed to offer radiation protection. The leaves have 11% tannin.

Site: Warm, sunny and airy — in Central Europe reliably only in vine-growing areas or against a south- to west-facing wall. The airy position is not a comfort but disease prevention: damp, shaded corners greatly favour quince leaf blight. On lime-rich soils it responds with chlorosis. One advantage of its late flowering in May and June is that it escapes the late frosts that strike other fruit trees — which also suits it to positions at risk of frost in April. Care: Prune sparingly, as it flowers at the tips of one-year-old shoots; a thinning cut in late winter suffices, while hard cutting costs the crop. While the fruit develops in summer the soil should stay evenly moist. Clear fallen leaves thoroughly in autumn — the leaf blight fungus overwinters in them and reinfects in spring. The species is highly susceptible to fire blight, including cultivars marketed as robust; suddenly blackened, withered shoot tips are a suspected case and notifiable in some regions. Harvest September to October before the first harder frosts. In a dry southern climate it pays to raise the rootstock in its final position from a 1 m hardwood cutting driven 70 cm deep, and to graft only in the following year — see propagation.

Propagation from cuttings or torn-off shoots succeeds only occasionally with cultivars, so nursery plants are almost invariably grafted — usually onto quince rootstocks raised for the purpose. These rootstocks matter beyond the species itself: quince is the classic dwarfing rootstock for pears and there governs vigour and the onset of cropping. Quince can be raised from seed, but seedlings do not come true; the pips are removed from the core, washed and stratified cold and moist over winter before germinating in spring. Layering is a further workable method for the garden. Grafted trees bear early, often in their third or fourth season. Portuguese practice (Taro): in winter, cut a hardwood cutting about as thick as a broom handle and roughly 1 m long, and drive it vertically 70 cm into the ground — only a hand's width shows above the surface. The quince roots reliably along the buried wood, and because the roots sit below the drying topsoil layer from the outset, the young plant is connected to soil moisture through its first summer. In a dry southern climate that is exactly what decides between establishment and dieback, and it saves irrigation in the first season. The following year the desired quince or pear variety is grafted onto the rooted shoot — you raise the rootstock directly in its final position, with no pot culture and no transplant shock.

Quince flowers late, in May and June, when most other fruit trees have long finished, and so fills a gap in the foraging calendar. Its large pink solitary flowers are hermaphrodite and are visited by around 29 wild bee species, none of them specialists; honey bees take both nectar and pollen, though not in outstanding quantity. As a crop from the Caucasus region, quince has attracted few caterpillars here — it is a food source for flower visitors rather than a nursery. The heavy, aromatic fruit often hangs late into autumn, and windfalls are taken by wasps, blackbirds and mammals.

Special features: Very shade-tolerant, but requires plenty of light and warmth for high fruit yields. Harvest before frost; can be stored for 6-9 weeks. To preserve the seed mucilage, soak the seeds in water for 1 hour. A weak-growing rootstock for pears; forms runners: separate in spring; layering takes 1 year.

Eastern Caucasus and Transcaucasia. The quince originates in the eastern Caucasus and Transcaucasia. Its occurrences in Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Syria and Afghanistan go back to dispersal by people in the distant past. The earliest evidence of cultivation reaches back some 4,000 years; it is attested in Greece from about 600 BC, among the Romans from 200 BC, and in Central Europe from the ninth century. Today it is grown in southern Europe, western Asia and Central Asia and occasionally escapes in the Mediterranean; in Central Europe it remains confined to gardens and traditional orchards.

In its native range the quince grows along woodland edges, in scrub and on slopes of the Caucasian mountain country, mostly in open, summer-warm places with sufficient soil moisture. It is heat-loving and in Central Europe depends on a vine-growing climate. Fresh, nutrient-rich, free-draining soils suit it; waterlogging and alternately wet ground damage it, and high calcium levels in the soil cause chlorosis. Full sun is a precondition for the fruit to ripen — in Central Europe a south- or west-facing wall proves its worth. Frosts below about -20 °C can cause damage. As a neophyte it fits here into gardens and orchards without penetrating semi-natural vegetation.