My three year old quince tree has over 50 fruit on it. Last night (Sunday Sept 13) one large branch broke (see photo). I picked all the fruit off that branch and am wondering if I can repair the tree at the break? The branch is the lower one on the right side and it's about 6 feet long. Also, because I picked the fruit do I have to do something right away with them or can I cold-storage the fruit for a few weeks to let them ripen a bit? When can you harvest quince? (In the Lower Mainland - Delta). It's a Le Bourgeaut ? Thanks in advance for the advice, Linda
Looks nasty I would trim off if it were mine. Can't help with fruit but should imagine would work the same as pears and apples. Otherwise maybe quince jam Liz
Looks a lot like what happened to mine two years ago. Must be specific to that variety. What I did with mine was cut the broken branch off as cleanly as I could and hope. It bounced back just fine, but now I try to thin the fruit before it gets so heavy. With regard to the fruit you harvested, just make sure they are dry, then put them in a bowl in your dining room. Trust me, you will know when they're ripe because of the wonderful perfume. You should be harvesting them when just starting to go yellow anyway -- any later and they often split. Once they are ripe, it's quince jam time! keke
Thanks for the advice - I will have to carefully cut the brach off and hope for the best. As for the fruit - I would like to leave it on my dining room table to ripen but, as you can see from the picture, I would need a very large bowl! There are 27 quince and at least double that left on the tree.
Hmm, a big bowl needed! I put mine in a wicker basket but check them weekly in case of rot. I should note that by thinning mine at the "gumball" size stage I get larger fruit athough fewer of them. keke
An update. I just harvested my remaining quince (about 50 fruit!). The smell in the house was heavenly. I've made jam with about half of them - 5 litres worth! 12x 250 ml jars and 4x 500 ml jars. What a gorgeous burgundy colour. I will be making jelly with the remaining fruit. I will post a photo once they are all canned. Linda