Japanese quince: propagation by cuttings, cultivation and care

Japanese quince: its characteristics, breeding methods and rules for care, the use of Japanese quince in a garden landscape, step-by-step instructions for planting a plant in open ground - you can find all this information in this article.

Japanese quince: description of the bush

The value of Japanese quince is difficult to exaggerate, since it not only has a rather interesting and exotic taste, but also has many medicinal properties, therefore it is very popular precisely as a flavoring and any other additive. As a rule, in medicine, Japanese quince is used to treat colds, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, as well as pathological formations in the liver and on the blood integument, which are almost impossible to heal with the help of professional medical devices.

Japanese quince: photo of a bush

It is due to the fact that the Japanese quince has many medicinal properties that it has found a large number of admirers and adherents both among ordinary people and among gardeners and gardeners. In addition to helping to treat many diseases, quince is also incredibly decorative. With its help, a gardener can decorate not only a personal plot, but also plant greenery in parks and squares, other recreation areas that are popular among people in urban and suburban districts.

Japanese quince is a plant that is rightfully considered a long-liver. In the same place, it can grow for more than seven hundred years, and the Japanese quince begins to bear fruit about the third year after planting in open ground. The yield can also boggle the imagination of any experienced gardener, since from one bush you can collect from 20 kilograms to 100 kilograms of fruits, and this is far from the limit if we talk in conjunction with professional and careful care of this plant. Of course, this is surprising and admirable at the same time.

Japanese quince: photo of a bush

As for the storage of the fruits of the Japanese quince, they have a long keeping quality, they can lie after harvesting almost until next spring and at the same time do not deteriorate at all. Not only external properties are preserved: the longer the quince lies and is stored, the tastier its fruits become, the astringent taste disappears, they become much softer, better, sweeter, and this should be borne in mind by every gardener who has finally harvested the long-awaited harvest of Japanese quince and is preparing eat it or prepare some kind of food or drink from it.

Features of the variety

The variety of Japanese quince has its own differences and characteristics when comparing the Japanese quince from many others. In total, today experts have five key groups of this plant. They differ from each other in the height and volume of the bush or tree itself, as well as in the shape of the fruits that the gardener receives as a result.

The first type of quince is apple-shaped. Its fruits are actually very apple-like, while the Portuguese and pear-shaped quince has a noticeable resemblance to the pear. Marble quince produces fruits that are covered with yellow and white spots, and hence the name. If we talk about pyramidal quince, then its main feature is the unusual shape of the leaves - they resemble small pyramids. It is easy to guess that the types got their names due to external features.

Of course, one cannot fail to mention the most popular varieties, which today can most often be found on personal plots.These include Aurora, Anjerskaya quince, Anzherskaya from Gorin, Buinakskaya large-fruited, Vraniska Denmark, Golden, Gold of the Scythians, Golden ball, Late butter, Early butter, Muscat, Skorospelka, Japanese Henomeles. As you might guess, this article is mainly devoted to the latest quince - Japanese.

Japanese quince: photo of a bush

All names mainly reflect the characteristics of the fruit, the time of their ripening, the growth rate, as well as the taste and specificity of the appearance. But you should not rely on this alone: ​​you must very carefully read the instructions, select a variety in accordance with the characteristics of the soil on the site, take into account that the quince as a whole, although not capricious, still needs additional care and attention, because only from this it depends on what fruits it will give, in what quantity, and how rich the future harvest will be. In the next part of this article, we will dwell in a little more detail on what rules exist for growing Japanese quince, and whether these rules have any significant differences from the technique for growing ordinary quince or quince, which belongs to other varieties and subspecies.

Rules for growing Japanese quince

Of course, one cannot but touch upon the question of how to properly grow Japanese quince. Most often, well-lit areas are more suitable for this plant, since this quince variety is very thermophilic, striving for sunlight. So it is desirable for the gardener to provide her with this condition. In darker and shaded areas, the quince will feel less comfortable, will grow slowly, develop poorly. Such processes will negatively affect the quality of the ovaries and, therefore, the process of fruiting itself, which is also extremely important to consider.

Japanese quince: photo of a seedling

If we talk about the soil, as well as its composition, then it should be said that the ideal soil for Japanese quince can be light sandy loam soil or loamy soil. Quince also takes root well in sod-podzolic soils, which also contain a large amount of humus, and the acid reaction is minimal and weak. For quince, peat or alkaline lands are undesirable, since a rather dangerous and serious disease called chlorosis can occur on the plants that live there. This should be taken into account by the gardener when choosing a site for a site and when selecting a soil composition for planting a Japanese quince.

Before planting Japanese quince, the soil should be carefully prepared. To do this, you should choose an area where there are no drafts, and where there will certainly not be strong winds. It is in such conditions that the quince feels very comfortable and will thank the breeder with a generous harvest after a while. It is also worth emphasizing that frost and cold have a very negative effect on the Japanese quince, although today it is successfully grown even in the most unstable regions, where temperature drops and, of course, such problems as freezing temperatures are present.

It is best to prepare a site for planting Japanese quince in the fall. To do this, the site is very carefully dug up, cleaned of weeds, and also a more fertile soil is created - sand, leafy soil, compost are added to it. By the way, compost for Japanese quince, or rather for planting it, is best done on the basis of peat or manure. It will also be very important to add various potash and phosphorus fertilizers to the soil, which will affect the growth rate and quince ovary.

All of the above ingredients must be mixed thoroughly, left until spring. By this time, the earth will absorb all the variety of useful components and substances, and will be completely ready for a gardener to plant a Japanese quince in it.

Japanese quince: photo of a bush

As for planting, it is best to plant two-year-old, more adapted Japanese quince seedlings for one, permanent place.You can buy quince in nurseries, but many gardeners have enough skills to grow their own specimens on their own and, by the way, they do it quite successfully.

In the process of planting a Japanese quince, it is necessary to ensure that its roots are not exposed in any way, but at the same time, the root collar is allowed to be slightly on the surface. If the gardener decides to transplant the quince, then he needs to remember that the plant will be very difficult to endure this process, since it is best to plant the quince in one place, which will then become its permanent place of growth. The distance between seedlings is usually about 100 centimeters, and in this form, the already grown quince will become a hedge, but the plants will not interfere with each other or touch each other with either the plant part or the root.

Mulch for each plant and crop becomes a fairly reliable protection against weeds, as well as against insects that can cause some damage to the quince. Also, mulch allows you to retain moisture in the soil, does not allow it to dry out excessively. In the summer, especially when there is a drought and an increase in temperatures, mulching saves the Japanese quince from drying out and overheating, and this is very important, because the plant still prefers an average, comfortable air temperature for it. Otherwise, it may experience stress, which affects the growth and development of the root system and, accordingly, negatively affects fruit setting and other processes that bear fruit.

Japanese quince differs in that its shoots can grow very actively. In order to avoid this, and so that the bushes look well-groomed and neat, it is necessary to periodically produce formative pruning. But it is worth remembering that a strong shortening can also negatively affect the plant: the crown will begin to eject shoots even more intensively and, accordingly, the overgrowth will also become even stronger and more active.

Let's talk about an important part of caring for Japanese quince - watering. For this variety of quince, there is a special, special irrigation regime. It must be treated very responsibly, since the plant, in principle, does not tolerate being very intensively and often moisturized. In just a season, a gardener can produce no more than six sessions of watering Japanese quince:

• in the spring, when the flowers on the bush have not yet blossomed;
• during the period of active flowering of the Japanese quince;
• after the ovaries fall off and the flowers are also dropped, you can intensively water the quince for the third time;
• while young shoots will grow on the bush;
• 30 days after the last watering was carried out;
• during the formation of fruits and their active growth, it is also recommended to make intensive watering of the bush.

Of course, feeding is also worth mentioning. Nutrients must be added throughout the growing season. For example, in the spring, gardeners apply mineral fertilizers and organic matter. In the summer, plants are in great need of support with fertilizers that contain high levels of phosphorus and potassium and, of course, nitrogen-containing fertilizers. In the fall, it is necessary to reintroduce organic matter and mineral mixtures under the bush, as they will allow the bush to get stronger faster and it is easier to endure winter frosts and temperature changes. However, the gardener should remember that you should not overuse fertilizing in the very first year after the Japanese quince was planted in open ground. There will be enough nutrients and additives that were introduced by the gardener when preparing the soil for planting the bush. Young animals generally have enough of this until their next life season and cycle.

Today, there are several ways in which the Japanese quince multiplies: seeds, cuttings or root suckers. Each of the methods has its own distinctive features, properties and characteristics.

If the gardener has decided to propagate the Japanese quince with seeds, then for him it will be one of the simplest and most effective ways. Although, many do not like it due to the fact that seed cultivation takes too much time. You will need those seeds that have been cleaned after the fruits are fully ripe, and they are extracted from the very core. The seeds are dried, sown directly into the soil before the onset of winter. In the spring, the gardener will be able to see young growth, and it does not matter what composition of the soil the soil in which the seeds were planted.

Cuttings are best cooked in early June, in the very morning hours. So, on each quince branch there should be at least several internodes with last year's wood that will protect them. In order for this event to go even more efficiently, the cuttings must be placed in a root-forming preparation, and after that they must be moved into the soil, which will consist of river sand and peat.

Japanese quince: photo of a bush

If we are talking about reproduction with the help of root shoots, then the gardeners themselves emphasize that for them it is a sheer pleasure, but it is worth knowing that this method also has some drawbacks. The most important thing is that the first fruits will be very small in size, and extremely odorless, not suitable for human consumption. But the next fruits will be really tasty, and at the same time the gardener will also remember the process of preparing the plant and planting it with pleasure.

In order for the Japanese quince not to get sick with various fungi or necrosis, it must be periodically treated with a solution of copper sulfate, which is prepared in accordance with the instructions on the package. If we are talking about traditional methods of prevention and treatment, then here we will single out a solution that is prepared on the basis of water and onion husks. Before spraying, it should be infused for several days and then filtered. Thus, the Japanese quince will become not only a decoration of the site, but also give fruits that have a large number of useful properties and trace elements. A gardener should not spend a large amount of personal physical and material resources in order to get a noble and grateful plant that is generous in fruits.