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Chaenomeles, also known as Japanese quince, is known to Russian gardeners mainly as an ornamental flowering plant. However, its fruits are also edible, like those of a regular crop. They are good for health and are widely used in folk medicine. Therefore, it is not recommended to neglect “apples”. But you need to know when fruits ripen, how to harvest and why the tree does not bear fruit.
When does quince bear fruit?
The quince harvest is one of the last to ripen. Fruits are harvested in the second ten days of October. And if autumn turns out to be warm and dry, you can postpone it even until early November.
Chaenomeles is practically the last thing that a gardener collects before “preserving” the site for the winter
When and in what year does quince begin to bear fruit after planting?
Japanese quince is a fast-growing crop. The tree, subject to proper care and the right choice of location, bears fruit within 3-4 seasons after the seedling is planted in the ground. A harvest of small (50-70 g), bright yellow “apples” is harvested from it.
When and in what month should you collect Japanese quince fruits?
It is impossible to indicate a specific harvest time for Japanese quince. Every year, fruits are harvested, taking into account the varietal characteristics of the plant, climatic conditions in a particular region and the weather in spring and summer.
If the tree bears fruit not for the first time, you can determine that it is time to pick the “apples”, focusing on their appearance:
- there is practically no “hairy” coating left on them (the ovaries are covered with it very thickly; while the fruits ripen, it gradually thins out);
- the skin has completely changed color to yellow (sometimes, even if chaenomeles ripens, “spotty” green spots remain on it), the fruits emit a light aroma;
- if you press on the fruit, the pulp slightly moves under your fingers, and the characteristic “woodiness” disappears.
When chaenomeles ripens, individual fruits fall to the ground: this is another sign that it is time to harvest
When does quince ripen in Russia?
In their homeland, most Chaenomeles varieties bear fruit at approximately the same time. But in Russia the harvest does not ripen at the same time. This is due to significant climatic differences in the regions:
- In central Russia, the approximate ripening period for Japanese quince fruits is the second half of September. If the end of summer and beginning of autumn are warm enough - in the first ten days of October.
- In the southern regions, chaenomeles bears fruit later. The harvest is harvested in the last ten days of October. You can delay this until the end of the first ten days of November. Even if the fruits on Japanese quince ripen completely, most of them do not fall off and remain securely on the branches.
- In the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East, exclusively cold-resistant varieties are cultivated. They bear fruit early, the fruits are harvested already in the first half of September.
Japanese quince, which still needs to ripen, is very sour and astringent in the mouth
How to properly collect and store fruits
With proper care, Japanese quince bears fruit regularly. The harvest is harvested according to several general rules:
- No special equipment is needed for this. When chaenomeles ripens, the fruits are removed from the branches exclusively by hand, along with the stalk, and carefully placed in a bucket or other container. Shaking them off the tree or throwing them on the ground is a bad idea.
- You can't pick fruit if it's raining. And you need to wait for the dew to dry.
- During the process, the harvest is sorted, rejecting specimens with mechanical damage, traces of disease, and pests. You can immediately throw away small fruits - they are most often very sour and dry (they do not ripen during storage and the taste does not improve).
- If you are prone to allergies, it is recommended to use personal protective equipment for the eyes, mouth and nose when going to harvest. Even when chaenomeles is fully ripe, a “lint” remains on the skin, which can irritate the mucous membrane.
The pulp of even ripe Chaenomeles remains hard, but this does not mean that the fruit is not susceptible to mechanical damage.
When fresh, chaenomeles lasts quite a long time. The fruits ripen, maintaining the density, even the hardness of the pulp. But we need to provide them with optimal or close to optimal conditions:
- temperature 6-10 °C;
- air humidity 80-90%;
- lack of light;
- good ventilation in the room.
In such conditions, especially if you wrap each fruit in paper or “isolate” them from each other in cardboard boxes, wooden boxes, sprinkled with sawdust, sand, wood shavings, scraps of newsprint, straw, Japanese quince will last 4-6 months. Chaenomeles are stored in the same way as apples and pears.
You can also treat Japanese quince fruits with wax or lubricate them with any vegetable oil before storing them. But then you will have to wash them very thoroughly before eating them.
In the refrigerator, if you put fruits in plastic bags or wrap them in cling film, they will last half as long (2.5-3 months). At room temperature, Japanese quince is stored for a maximum of 2-3 days - if you leave the fruit indoors, the tree, one might say, bears fruit in vain.
Japanese quince is stored frozen for the longest time (about a year). To do this, wash the fruits thoroughly, peel them, and remove the seeds. The pulp is cut into slices or cubes, placed in small portions in zip-lock bags with airtight fasteners and put in the freezer.
Why doesn't Japanese quince bear fruit?
Japanese quince may not bear fruit for various reasons.In most cases, the gardener himself is to blame for choosing the wrong place for planting or making gross mistakes when caring for the plant. Chaenomeles cannot be called a capricious culture, but even it has minimum “requirements”.
Sometimes Japanese quince does not bloom at all. It is logical that in this case there is no need to harvest the crop in the fall. The most common reasons for this phenomenon:
- Planting in a shaded place. If Japanese quince does not have enough light, the tree grows and develops much more slowly than usual. The process of formation of flower buds is disrupted, and gradually budding stops completely. During the first few seasons, it is still possible to harvest from Chaenomeles, albeit a meager one; after that, it does not bear fruit at all.
- Unsuitable soil. Japanese quince prefers nutritious, but water- and breathable soil. Otherwise, the roots of the plant suffer, which negatively affects the entire process of its development. The root system cannot provide the tree with nutrients in the required amount, so it does not bear fruit.
- Excessively abundant watering. When overwatered, the root system almost inevitably rots. The tree may even die, not to mention the ability to collect fruit from it.
- Excess nitrogen-containing fertilizers. They stimulate Japanese quince to actively increase green mass. Such a tree will not bear fruit - it simply does not have enough nutrients for the harvest to ripen.
Japanese quince needs nitrogen in moderation and only at the beginning of the active growing season.
The tree really does not like vegetation in the tree trunk circle. This can also cause a lack of flowering and fruiting in Japanese quince.It needs to be weeded regularly; this is not a suitable place for planting lawn grass or ornamental ground cover plants.
Japanese quince begins to bear fruit a year or two later than it blooms. This is normal for a tree. However, if after this time the crop still does not ripen, the reasons may be as follows:
- Lack of pollinators. Most varieties of Japanese quince are self-sterile. To regularly collect fruits, you must first provide the tree with “neighbors” by planting 2-3 more Chaenomeles specimens nearby. Only in this case, after flowering, fruits will begin to set en masse.
- Freezing of fruit ovaries. In regions with a climate that is not very suitable for gardening, chaenomeles may be subject to return frosts after flowering. They destroy the ovaries; this season, Japanese quince cannot be expected to ripen.
- Incorrect and/or untimely pruning. Most of the buds are concentrated on branches that are 3-4 years old. Then you have to collect fruit from them. Also, Japanese quince stops blooming and bearing fruit if sanitary pruning is neglected (unnecessary “ballast” takes too much strength from the tree). It is also strongly not recommended to get rid of healthy shoots during the summer, when the plant has already bloomed and is forming fruit ovaries.
- Pathogenic microflora. Japanese quince has fairly good immunity. However, if a gardener neglects to care for chaenomeles, he may well get sick. Some fungi (for example, moniliosis) affect fruits - they rot, dry out, and fall from the tree without having time to ripen.
Some varieties of chaenomeles are intended solely for decoration of the site
Conclusion
Japanese quince, which decorates a garden plot in the spring, bears fruit in the fall, providing the gardener with a harvest of small “apples.” They ripen quite late, so you need to learn to determine when it is time to harvest. There are also important nuances regarding exactly how to pick the fruits and store them in the future; you also need to know about them in advance.
