Japanese quince - planting and care in open ground. photos of varieties

Description of the plant

Quince or Japanese chaenomeles (Chaenomeles japonica) is a species of perennial plants from the genus Chaenomeles of the Rosaceae family, usually deciduous shrubs. The plant comes from Japan and is grown in Europe and China.

The first Japanese chaenomeles was planted in Europe in 1796 at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK). It was brought by Joseph Banks (1796-1820), a famous British botanist, plant hunter and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Seedlings of the species appeared on sale in 1870 in Great Britain.

The generic name Chaenomeles is related to the anatomy of the fetus - it comes from the Greek words:

χαίνειν chainein (to break, open);
μῆλον mēlon (apple).

There are 4 known species of the genus Chaenomeles, of which they are grown in our country:

Japanese chaenomeles (Chaenomeles japonica);
Chaenomeles speciosa – native to China and Tibet;
Chaenomeles superb (Chaenomeles ×superba) is a hybrid of Japanese chaenomeles and beautiful.

Botanical description:

A thorny shrub 1-2 m high.
Escape. Young shoots are scaly, green, widely spaced, branched to the sides. Old branches are bare and turn brown. Young shoots are not leafy; on old shoots you can admire small green ovoid leaves.
The leaves are ovate or spatulate, up to 5 cm long, sharply serrated with large, serrated stipules. The leaves fall off for the winter.
Flowers – numerous, salmon-pink or orange-reddish with numerous stamens.
Fruit – spherical, aromatic, edible, light yellow when ripe, sometimes with red spots. Ripen in October. They can fall or remain on the bushes all winter, providing valuable food for birds.

When grown, Chaenomeles bushes reach a height of no more than one meter, but, planted individually, they can significantly exceed these dimensions. Already in early spring, numerous flowers appear, which are most often red, but depending on the variety they can take on an orange, pink or salmon color. The aroma of flowers is not impressive, it is heavy, without a sweet note, but attracts insects.

After flowering, fruits are set, which take a very long time to ripen. After leaf fall, fruits up to 4 cm in diameter appear golden on leafless bushes, and only in late autumn are they ready for harvest. Since they do not have stalks, they look like they are glued to the shoots. The fruits are bright yellow, sometimes slightly speckled, hard, shaped like small apples, and very sour in taste. They are characterized by an intense aroma that spreads very quickly throughout the room in which they are stored.

The plant is not self-fertile. The flowers are pollinated by pollen of other types of quince (fine, Japanese, excellent). In practice, it is not always necessary to plant 2 different varieties in the garden. It is enough if your neighbor grows quince.

Due to its flowering time, quince is an ideal honey plant. Flowers provide nectar and large amounts of pollen, stimulating the intensive development of bee colonies.

Characteristic features of culture

Japanese quince is a relative of all the familiar apple and pear trees. In gardens it is used as an ornamental crop. Distinctive features of the plant:

there are tree (up to 3 m) and bush (up to 0.6 m) forms;
shoots are flexible, have thorns up to 2 cm long;
the branches are densely leafy, the color of the leaves is emerald green;
the plant blooms with pink-red, orange-red, white flowers;
fruits with a diameter of 3-5 cm;
fruit color is yellow-green or orange;
the skin is dense, covered with a characteristic waxy coating;
1/2 of the fruit is occupied by the seed chamber.

The taste of the fruit is bitter-sweet, the flesh is dense and aromatic. Due to its rapid growth and decorative value, low bush quince is used in dachas to create hedges.

Interesting varieties

"RedJoy" Red Joy is a thorny deciduous shrub that grows up to 50 cm. The leaves are small and shiny. The flowers are large, 3 cm in diameter, red, fragrant, appear in March-April, before the leaves develop. Red Joy fruits are edible, yellow, aromatic. Chaenomeles loves sunny or slightly shaded places and moist soil. Suitable as an original decoration for small gardens, for planting in public places, and for constructing low hedges.
“Sargenta” Sargentii - the variety has a wide crown, reaching 1.5 m in width and 0.8 m in height. Before small leaves appear, bright orange flowers will bloom on the thorny bush in March-April. It bears fruit in the fall; large greenish-yellow fruits with a red blush are used in jelly, for making tinctures and wine.
"Sido" Cido - the shrub produces bright yellow fruits containing vitamin C and pectin. Fruits are used to make wine, delicious liqueurs, and jellies. The "Sido" variety grows up to 1 m in height and 2 m in width. Growing requirements: a warm, sunny position with a moderately moist substrate. Care consists of trimming lush side shoots.
«Calif" - a variety bred in the Donbass. Can reach a height of 2 meters, non-thorny. The flowers are white with pink spots. Fruits weigh about 100 g. Resistant to frost, drought, and pest damage.

Types of quince

There are not many types of quince in nature, which cannot be said about the varieties, of which there are over five hundred, on the basis of which breeders are creating more and more new varieties of quince. However, the choice for growing crops on the site is not so great: the vast majority of varieties are not suitable for planting in our latitudes. However, those who want to enjoy the unique beauty of flowers and healthy fruits will be able to choose for themselves the only type and variety that suits them in agricultural technology and the result. Among the common types are:

Quince is wonderful.
The name is not accidental; the shrub is valued for its unique decorative properties. A striking feature of the species and varieties is the change in leaf color throughout the season. At the beginning of the growing season, quince leaves are green, gradually towards the flowering period the leaves become bright red, and by autumn they acquire a rich burgundy color.

Quince Mauleya.
Among gardeners, it acquired the name “low quince” for its short stature in comparison with other representatives of the crop. The shrub reaches a height of no more than one and a half meters; the leaves of this species also change shade, but in this case they change color from red to green. Quince shoots are prickly, and the flowers resemble peonies in their splendor.
Chaenomeles cathayan.
The most common variety for planting in areas of our country. It occupies such a popular position for a reason: the shrub is very impressive in size, its height reaches 3 m, and is not afraid of frost and sudden climate changes.

Zubutlinskaya quince.
Another representative of popular species. Zubutlinskaya quince is a type of crop that is suitable in all respects for the climatic zone of our country. Even the northern regions can boast of growing quince on site when it comes to varieties of this species. The shrub without additional shelter can withstand frosts down to -30 degrees. In autumn, quince bears large and juicy fruits. Another advantage of growing quince is resistance to diseases, which cannot be said with confidence about other species.

Lady Pink.
The result of a long and difficult path of breeders. The main advantage of the species is the bright lush buds of the most delicate pink color with yellow stamens. Most often, this type of quince is used by landscape designers to fill mixborders or plant hedges; quince fruits do not carry any special value.
Crimson and Gold.
A popular variety for those wanting to plant an impressive hedge. The convenience of the variety is due to its sparse growth, due to which less and less frequent maintenance of the hedge is required.

Growing conditions

Quince is very easy to grow and has extremely small requirements.

The preferred soil for quince is as follows:

fertile;
moderately humid;
the reaction is preferably neutral (pH 6-7);
prefers heavy soils.

The bushes can cope with conditions in almost any location. They do not like saline and swampy soils. They do not tolerate areas where water remains for a long time during the growing season. The shrub reacts to stagnant water with a significant reduction in growth and disease.

On alkaline and dry soils, quince is susceptible to chlorosis associated with poor absorption of iron. Then acidification with sulfur or iron sulfate is recommended, but it is more effective to apply iron chelates to the soil or in the form of foliar feeding “on the leaf.”

For intensive flowering and fruiting, you need to provide good access to sunlight. The plant loves the sun, so it should not be placed on the north side of buildings or under tree canopies. Shrubs growing in the shade are sparse, poorly leafed, and produce few flowers.

The plant grows best in warm regions where the risk of frost is low. Quince should be given a warm, protected place. A shrub grown in good conditions produces a good harvest with excellent taste.

Landing

When to plant quince? Bare-root seedlings should only be planted when the plants are dormant:
autumn: October – December,
spring: March – April.

Compliance with these deadlines will give the best survival of plants in a new place.

You need to ensure that the substrate is slightly moist and free of weeds. Before planting, you need to prepare the site - dig up, select weeds, add compost. The hole for the seedling should be 30-40 centimeters deep.

Seedlings with a closed root system (in containers) can be planted at any time except winter

Bushes are planted at a distance of 2.5-3.5 m from each other (row spacing) at 0.75-1.5 m in a row. The best effect is obtained by planting Japanese quince in rows, at a distance of 1 meter, if we want to get the effect of a continuous low hedge.

A freshly planted bush should be watered abundantly.

Preparations for frost

Preparation for winter begins immediately after harvest. It is necessary to feed the soil with phosphorus fertilizer at the rate of 100 g of superphosphate per 1 square meter. m. plot. To prevent various diseases (scab, aphids, fruit rot, anthracnose), the foliage is sprayed with 0.2% foundationazole or 1% Bordeaux mixture:

in a non-metallic container, dissolve 50 g of copper sulfate in 2.5 liters of warm water;
in a separate 2.5 liter container, dilute 50 g of calcium hydroxide (lime);
then mix both solutions and spray the branches thickly.

When the plant completely sheds its foliage, it is necessary to carry out sanitary pruning of adult bushes. All damaged and dry branches should be trimmed. To avoid the development of fungal infections and the proliferation of harmful insects in the bark, the trunk is whitened. For 10 liters of water, take 2.5 kg of lime, 500 g of copper sulfate and 200 g of wood glue, or use a ready-made “Garden Whitewash” mixture.

Growing and care

Japanese quince is considered an undemanding shrub. It grows well without special care and can even withstand drought. However, care should not be neglected completely. The shrub does not tolerate weed competition well, especially at a young age, so you need to regularly remove them and mulch the soil.

Watering

There is no need to water frequently. During drought, young bushes can be watered once every 2-3 days to support their growth. Moderate humidity of the substrate should be maintained; adult plants will survive the dry period without problems. But the shrub blooms and bears fruit more profusely when the soil does not dry out too much.

The earth should be mulched with bark so that it does not quickly lose moisture and does not become clogged with weeds.

Feeding

It is worth feeding the quince with rotted compost annually or once every 2 years, and the young bushes with nitrogen fertilizers in the spring.

Autumn care, preparation for winter

Planting and caring for quince in the Moscow region will be easy, just carefully cover its branches from frosty gusts of wind; in the spring there is no need to fear unpleasant surprises. Japanese quince grows in Siberia and the Urals and is one of the most frost-resistant shrubs. However, in Siberia it can bloom only on the lower branches, so summer residents form the bush so that the branches are closer to the ground. For the conditions of Siberia, the low-growing varieties Nikolina and Jet Trail are better suited. During winter, it is worth properly covering its roots with agrofibre or bark.

During severe winters, branches not covered with snow may freeze, but after pruning the bushes usually grow back.

Trimming

One of the most important maintenance methods when growing Chaenomeles japonica is pruning. Immediately after planting, we shorten all the branches to stimulate the bush to develop, speed up acclimatization in a new place, and control the shape of the plant from the very beginning.

The next pruning of quince is carried out in the spring, in March. Weakened, overgrown shoots are completely cut off. It is necessary to regularly trim stems that are too long and shoots that do not bear fruit. It is recommended to cut them in half. It is also necessary to remove old branches and those parts of the plant that overly compact the bush or are affected by disease.

Diseases and pests

Quince is relatively resistant to diseases and pests in our climate. However, in unsuitable conditions it can hurt. The most common diseases are the following:

Moniliosis of fruit crops - brown, fast-growing spots of rot appear on infected fruits, and on them are characteristic concentric beige-gray warts on which conidial spores form. The rotten fruit dries up and remains on the tree in the form of a brown-black mummy until next spring. It is necessary to spray 2-3 times, starting from the June fall of the ovaries, with copper oxychloride (the drug Hom) or another copper-containing fungicide.
Powdery mildew - a white powdery coating appears on the entire surface of tissues developing from infected buds. Severe infection of leaves inhibits their growth, then leads to deformation and drying out. The fruits have a white powdery coating, which later turns into a reticulated browning. Effective drugs: Topsin M 500 SK.
Pear scab – the first symptoms appear as olive-green, velvety, uneven spots. Then the spots become dark brown, black with clear edges. Heavily infected leaves curl, wrinkle, and the spots on them merge into large clusters, often located along the main vein. As the fruit grows, the spots become dark brown and corky. The first spraying should be carried out in March with Hom. Effective drugs for treatment are also: Evaziol, Lecitek, Medzian Extra 350 SK, Poliram 70 WG.
Bacterial canker of fruit trees - in early spring, irregularly shaped spots appear on the trunk, branches, and young shoots. Sometimes characteristic cracks are observed in the upper layer of the bark. Frostbites contribute to the development of the disease. During leaf fall, spray with the following preparations: Miedzian Extra 350 SC, Miedzian 50 WP.
Bacterial burn of fruit crops - the affected flowers are at first as if saturated with water, then quickly wither, shrivel, and die. Young green shoots wither on top, turn brown over time, and die. Dark green spots appear on the fruit buds, which then turn red-brown. Rotting appears on the branches and trunk. At the site of infection, the bark collapses and dries out. Spraying: Hom, Topsin M 500 SC at the stage from bud swelling to flowering and during the growth of fruit buds.

The most common pests of quince:

Aphids - when they appear, the leaves and shoots curl. The pest produces a large amount of honeydew, which infects shoots and fruits. Immediately after the first symptoms appear, fight with the following drugs: Karate Zeon, MKS.
Fruit spider mite - during the growing season, small light spots first appear on the leaves, which merge into large spots. Damaged leaves turn brown, dry out, and fall off. The fruit does not grow and does not color. Flower buds set worse the next year. Carry out 2 treatments (before flowering and in early June) with Karate Zeon, MKS or another drug with an acaricidal effect.

All about the dacha

Japanese quince has inclined arched branches, beautiful during flowering, a dense crown and fragrant fruits.
It is the trees and shrubs that make our summer cottage garden. If your site is located closer to the North Pole than necessary, but you passionately want to have cultivated tree fruits and embellish your landscape design, then I advise you to plant a shrub in your dacha that can replace it - Japanese quince. Despite the sour taste of quince, it makes amazing jellies, jam with walnuts, compote, marshmallows and homemade baked goods for the winter. Let's not forget about the content of monosaccharides, vitamins and biologically active substances in fruits. Quince leaves are also used in medicine.

Reproduction

There are 3 ways to obtain young Japanese quince seedlings:

seeds,
cuttings,
root suckers.

Seeds

The most difficult way to propagate quince is by sowing seeds. You can sow seeds in pots all year round.

For good germination, the seeds need preparation - you need to soak them in water for 24 hours and stratify (cool) in the refrigerator for 60 days at a temperature of 5 °C.

Seeds for stratification are placed in a substrate prepared from clean, wet sand or sand mixed with peat in a 1:1 ratio. The ratio of seeds to substrate is 1:3, they are mixed so that individual seeds have less contact with each other. The mixture of seeds and substrate is placed in plastic containers or ziploc bags. Every 2 weeks and in the last month of stratification, the contents of the container should be stirred, ventilated, and, if necessary, moistened. After the first shoots appear, stratification stops and the seeds are sown in pots or open ground.

Further actions depend on the time of year:

in spring we sow directly into the ground;
in the fall - the seeds are sown in containers and only in the spring the seedlings are transplanted into open ground.

Seedlings are sown in pots with regular garden soil, placed in a warm place, and protected from drying out. The resulting seedlings do not exactly inherit the characteristics of the mother plant; if maintaining the variety is important, then the seedlings are then grafted using the budding method.

Cuttings

Most often, quince is propagated by cuttings. Half-ripe cuttings are used. The shoots are cut at the end of June - beginning of July. Young shoots of this year are chosen. Immediately after cutting, they are dipped in a preparation that stimulates the formation of roots and planted in loose, moist soil. After a few weeks, roots of the right size should appear to allow the plants to be transplanted to their destination.

Root suckers

Old specimens tend to grow laterally with the help of root suckers. Usually the shoots are cut with pruning shears (preferably underground).

The easiest way of propagation is to cut off the offspring from the mother bush, which often appear when growing quince. You can immediately plant them in the chosen place in open ground.

Winter protection

The root system of Japanese quince is horizontal and can easily freeze in winter. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to tightly cover the bottom of the chaenomelis with humus and cover it all with spruce branches. If there are only a few bushes of this plant growing on the site, and there is little snow in winter, all flexible branches of tall species are bent to the ground and covered with lutrasil.

You will need:

The trunk circle is covered with roofing material on top, the bush is wrapped in 3-4 layers of burlap, and on top of it - with film. When snow falls, you can throw a snowdrift under the tree. Low-growing forms for winter storage are covered with large cardboard boxes or wooden boxes, the soil under which is first mulched with sawdust.

Methods of protection against frost are quite simple and accessible to everyone. You just need to devote a little time and attention, because such care is necessary for young and adult bushes. And already next spring Chaenomeles will delight you with its lush color.

Application

Japanese quince was grown in our country decades ago. The bush attracts attention mainly in March-April, when flowers with unusually beautiful petals appear on thorny branches. There are many options for its use in many areas of life: gardening, landscape architecture, culinary arts, natural medicine, cosmetology.

Ornamental plant

Since quince blooms very abundantly and the flowers are brightly colored, the bush can be successfully grown to decorate gardens, roads and busy streets, where growing conditions are quite harsh. It beautifully decorates parks, classic and rocky gardens, terraces or balconies.

Quince bushes compact easily; when planted side by side, they form a compact structure. Proper formation will allow you to get a very interesting effect of a hedge, which is showered with flowers in early spring, and yellow fruits in the fall. Quince hedges decorate gardens and effectively protect against uninvited guests with thorns and dense branches. Even heavily pruned bushes bloom and bear fruit on old branches.

Tall, long, dramatic hedges can be created by combining quince with forsythia, ligustrum or barberry. Low-growing varieties are usually planted in uniform rows, for example, along alleys. On a meter-long plot you need to plant 3-5 bushes, depending on their growth vigor.

Ornamental Japanese chaenomeles is planted on slopes; it strengthens the soil well thanks to its very deep roots. Therefore, the bush is difficult to remove from the site.

You can even grow quince as bonsai - miniature trees that bloom in the second year of cultivation.

Where is it used?

The beneficial properties of fruits have ensured their use in various fields.

In medicine

Doctors prescribe chaenomeles as a primary or additional medicine for:

flu and colds to strengthen the immune system;
cough to increase expectoration;
asthma to prevent attacks;
anemia and blood loss to restore blood;
liver diseases to restore damaged cells;
poisoning as an astringent;
kidney diseases as a diuretic;
liver diseases as a choleretic agent.

But it is not recommended to prescribe chaenomeles treatment on your own: it is important to undergo an examination and find out compatibility with the medications you are taking.

In gardening

Gardeners use the plant to create hedges. The thorny plant forms impenetrable thorny thickets. Chaenomeles is decorative, therefore it is used for landscaping.

In cooking

The unusual taste of the fruit ensured their use in cooking. Chaenomeles produces:

jam;
candied fruit;
compotes;
jam;
wine;
liqueur.