Tree · Rosaceae
Quince
Cydonia oblonga
It's slow and it's tart off the tree, but quince makes up for it with fragrant golden fruit that's magic in the kitchen.
Full sun
Every 7–14 days
USDA 5–8
10–15 ft · 3–4.6 m
Overview
Quince is one of those old-world fruit trees people grew for ages, well before apples and pears took over the orchard. It won't crowd your yard, since it rarely gets past 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m). In late spring it's covered in soft pink blossoms, and by fall it's loaded with golden pomes that'll scent a whole room.
Here's the thing about quince: it's a fruit for cooking, not for biting into raw. Fresh off the tree it's hard and mouth-puckering, but cook it and it turns sweet and a gorgeous deep rose. All that high pectin is why it sets jelly and the Spanish paste called membrillo so well, and yes, it's a rose-family plant, Rosaceae, right alongside apples, pears, and plums.
Will it test your patience? A little. Quince takes its time settling in, and it's got one real soft spot: it's extremely prone to fire blight. But give it full sun, soil that drains, and some airflow, prune it thoughtfully, and one tree can keep you in homemade jelly for years.
Care
The short version: pop quince into full sun and well-drained soil, water it deeply while it's settling in and while the fruit fills out, prune for an open shape in late winter, and keep an eye out for fire blight once it flowers.
Light
Quince wants full sun if you're after a good crop, because a long day of light is what builds the sweetness and ripens the fruit. It'll handle a bit of partial shade, but you'll get fewer fruit and less flavor out of the deal.
Water
While your tree's getting established, and again when the fruit's filling out, water it deeply about every 7 to 14 days, adjusting for the weather. Let the top half of the soil dry out first. A grown tree can handle a short dry stretch just fine, but keep the moisture steady and you'll get the best fruit.
Soil
Quince isn't picky, but it does want good drainage. Give it fertile, well-drained loam that's a touch acidic, around a pH of 6.0 to 7.0, and it'll grow in all sorts of soils, as long as its roots aren't sitting in water.
Temperature
This is a tough tree that takes winters down to -20°F (-29°C) and heat up to 95°F (35°C). And here's a bonus: that temperate winter chill is part of what gets it to bloom and fruit well, so the cold actually works in your favor.
Humidity
Average outdoor humidity, somewhere around 40% to 70%, is plenty. What really matters is air moving through the branches, because still, damp air is what invites the fungal stuff quince tends to catch.
Feeding
A balanced fertilizer or a layer of compost in early spring is all it asks for each year. Just go easy on the nitrogen, since a burst of soft new growth is exactly what fire blight goes after.
Pruning
Prune it in late winter while it's dormant, opening it up into a vase-like shape so light and air get in. Clear out suckers, crossing branches, and dead wood, and if you see fire-blight damage, cut well below the canker and wipe your tools clean between cuts.
Repotting
Quince is really an in-the-ground tree, so it rarely needs repotting. Pick a permanent spot with room to grow, plant it once, and that's pretty much that.
Size & spacing
A full-grown quince gets about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 m) tall and spreads 9 to 12 feet (2.7 to 3.7 m) wide. Give it that whole footprint up front so light and air can reach every branch.
When to plant
Quince shrugs off cold winters and does great in zones 5 to 8, and it likes going in the ground while it's dormant. Plant a bare-root or container tree in early spring, or in fall if your winters are mild. The flowers show up in late spring, and the fruit ripens through fall, ready to pick around October before the first hard frost.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Plant bare-root or container trees in early spring while dormant, or in fall in mild-winter regions.
- Harvest: Blooms late spring (April to May); fragrant golden pome fruit ripens in fall (about October) and is harvested before the first hard frost.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 5–8
Temperature: down to -29°C
Troubleshooting
Just about every quince problem is fungal or bacterial, and honestly, most of them back off with good airflow, a bit of cleanup, and well-timed pruning. Fire blight's the exception that can actually kill a tree, so get to know that one first. Spot your symptom below, then jump on it before it spreads.
Blossoms and shoot tips go black and curl into a hook
If there's one disease to know, it's fire blight, because quince is about as prone to it as a tree gets. The bacteria sneak into open flowers and soft new shoots on warm, wet spring days, and the tips blacken and bend into a shepherd's crook. Cut well below the damage, 20 to 30 cm under any visible canker, sterilize your tools between cuts, and ease off the nitrogen so the tree isn't handing the bacteria the soft growth they love.
Fix:
- Prune out blackened, shepherd's-crook shoots 20 to 30 cm below visible cankers, disinfect tools, avoid excess nitrogen, and consider bloom-time bactericide sprays.
Crusty, warped patches show up on the fruit
Quince rust is a bit of an oddball fungus, since it needs two hosts, quince plus a nearby juniper or cedar, to finish its cycle. The spores blow in while the tree's flowering and leave the fruit misshapen. Where you can, take out alternate juniper hosts within range, and protect the tree with a fungicide while it blooms.
Fix:
- Remove nearby alternate juniper hosts where practical and apply protective fungicides during bloom.
Dark spots on the leaves, then early leaf drop
Leaf blight is a fungal thing that flares up in wet weather, peppering the leaves with dark spots and knocking them off before fall. Rake up and destroy the fallen leaves so spores can't overwinter at the base, thin the canopy for better airflow, and only grab a fungicide if the tree's dropping leaves badly.
Fix:
- Rake and destroy fallen leaves, improve air circulation, and apply fungicides if defoliation is severe.
A white, dusty film shows up on the leaves
Powdery mildew looks like a white, dusty coating, and it turns up when the air's humid and barely moving. The upside is that it hardly ever does real damage. Prune to get air flowing through the canopy, and only treat with a fungicide if it's spreading across a lot of the tree.
Fix:
- Prune for airflow and treat with fungicide if widespread.
Toxicity
Good news first: cooked quince flesh is totally safe, and it's what turns into jelly and membrillo. The catch is that the seeds hold cyanogenic compounds, the same kind you'll find in apple, cherry, and other rose-family pips. Whole seeds usually just pass through, but chewed in bulk they can release cyanide, so keep cores away from pets and grazing animals and don't eat the pips.
Toxic to
Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Safe for
People
Cats Mild
The flesh isn't really a concern, so a cat that nibbles a windfall is fine. It's the seeds you've got to watch, because chewed pips can release cyanide and lead to drooling, brick-red gums, and labored breathing if a cat swallows a good number.
Dogs Mild
A dog would have to crunch through a lot of seeds to actually get in trouble, since whole pips usually pass right through. Keep an eye out for drooling, dilated pupils, or heavier breathing after a dog chews into the cores, and pick up any fallen fruit.
Horses Mild
The real worry is windfall quince sitting in a pasture, since horses can gulp whole fruit and grind the seeds as they chew. A lot of crushed seed can bring on weakness, fast breathing, and red gums, so clear dropped fruit out of grazing areas.
Rabbits Mild
Keep cores and seeds out of reach, because those cyanogenic pips just don't belong in a rabbit's diet. A little taste of the flesh, cooked or raw, won't hurt, but the seeds are where the risk is.
Livestock Mild
Goats, sheep, and cattle will happily chew through fallen fruit and the seeds inside, and that's where the cyanide is. Pick up windfalls near grazing areas so they can't gorge on a bunch of seed.
Birds Mild
Backyard hens and other birds can peck the soft flesh no problem. It's the seeds you keep away, so don't toss cores or split fruit into the run.
People Cooked fruit safe
Cooked quince is a real treat, turning sweet and pink in jelly and membrillo with nothing to worry about. Just leave the seeds out of it, and teach kids to spit out the hard pips instead of chewing them.
Keep seeds and cores away from pets and children; the hard astringent flesh is eaten cooked, and jelly or membrillo made from the flesh is safe.
Helpline numbers
United States
ASPCA Animal Poison Control: (888) 426-4435 (fee applies)
Poison Control: (800) 222-1222
Canada
Poison Centres: 1-844-764-7669
Varieties
There aren't many quince varieties in home orchards, and most are grown for how well they cook rather than fresh eating. Here are the ones worth knowing about.
Pineapple
It's a California favorite with tender flesh and a little hint of pineapple, which is what makes it so good for cooking.
Smyrna
It carries big, seriously fragrant fruit that cooks down beautifully.
Orange
You'll also see it called Apple quince, and this old reliable bears round orange-yellow fruit that folks have turned into jelly forever.
Champion
It ripens late with large, pear-shaped fruit and a softer, more delicate flavor than most.
How to propagate
You can't just sow quince seed and get the same tree, since seedlings won't come true. So gardeners take the vegetative route instead, and each method below gives you an exact copy of the tree you started with.
GraftingModerate
Named quince varieties get budded or grafted onto rootstock instead of grown from seed, so they stay true to type. Funny enough, quince works the other way around too, since it's a popular dwarfing rootstock for pears.
Stem cuttingsModerate
Take hardwood cuttings off the dormant tree in winter, and they'll root with a bit of effort and grow into copies of the parent.
LayeringModerate
Pin a low stem to the ground so it roots while it's still attached, or stool the plant to get several shoots at once. It's the old-school way nurseries have long bulked up quince rootstock.
Myths
Quince and flowering quince are the same plant.
Nope, they just share a name. Real quince is the small Cydonia oblonga tree grown for its big, fragrant golden fruit, while flowering quince is a totally different ornamental shrub, Chaenomeles, grown for showy spring flowers and small hard fruit. One's for the kitchen, the other's for the flower bed.
You can eat quince raw off the tree, just like an apple.
Try that and you'll get a mouthful of hard, sour, puckery fruit. Cooking is what changes everything, sweetening the flesh and turning it deep pink, and its high pectin is exactly why jelly and membrillo set up so nicely.