Cultivation

Quince rootstock

Cydonia oblonga Mill.

Common quince is used as a dwarfing clonal rootstock for pear, ensuring early entry into fruit bearing. Quince itself can also be grown on its own roots or grafted onto hawthorn to adapt to soil conditions.

In the reference 44 varieties crop Quince, where this is mentioned in the description.

Using quince as a rootstock for pear allows for compact trees, which significantly simplifies maintenance and harvesting, as well as accelerates the onset of commercial fruit bearing by several years. The main biological feature of such an intergeneric combination is the incompatibility of many pear cultivars with quince, which is overcome by using an intercalary graft of a compatible intermediary cultivar.

The root system of quince rootstocks lies predominantly in the surface layer of the soil, which makes trees dependent on support due to poor anchorage and requires attention to soil moisture levels. In addition, quince is sensitive to high active calcium content in the soil, which provokes the development of chlorosis, while the limited winter hardiness of some clones prevents their use in regions with harsh climates.

When growing quince as a fruit crop, preference is given to own-rooted plants to avoid incompatibility issues. In rare cases, hawthorn is used as a rootstock to increase the adaptability of seedlings to specific soil types; however, such combinations are often inferior in longevity to classic variants.

General information about the subject — on the page Rootstock.

Sources8

Varieties of Quince mentioned in the description

Selection based on the description text, not on official evaluation: these data are absent from registers. For specific variety details, please refer to its profile.