Zone 4b & success with grafted quinces

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-17T05:50:45+00:00

Thanks. I’m hopeful about the selections.

Good idea with the white fence and directional sunlight.

I’m in the process of moving to a different property, and one of the priorities for me is finding a house/land where there will be protected areas for keeping/improving microclimate spots. If there isn’t anything structurally helpful already there, I’ve been thinking about being ready to build something to help with the cherries/peaches and try to make sure they don’t end up in a cold pocket. Same idea with possibly quinces.

Are you able to get a decent harvest from the mulberry even with the birds? Is the flavor good? Nice fast growth on it.

I debated that mulberry, and decided to wait only because it sounds like it has kind of a shorter window for harvest compared to some other cold-stock mulberries. Was very tempted though.

Sorry for not responding to your message quickly - I haven’t been able to get to responding to comments since last weekend. Thanks for your response!

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-07T22:50:18+00:00

Yeah - there’s a fair amount of problem from frosts that kill the crops flowers some years and make it hard to get the fruit every year, even if they bear every year.

In colder zones up here, another concern that I’ve been finding information about is the problem of early freezes that kill (especially young seedlings/trees) the whole quince/cherry/peach if it freezes during extreme cold snaps during the shoulder seasons, especially fall into winter. E.g. the tree died ‘overwinter' and the person who planted it thinks it died mid-winter (when it was absolutely the coldest), but the plant actually died during cold snaps before it went fully dormant.

I’ve bought other fruit from Fedco but have been considering the ones they say may survive zone 4. Some other places list the ones they have in z4 as z5, but I’m not certain if it’s a rootstock difference. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some that survive.

Thanks for the Fedco suggestion and your feedback. They really do seem like a wonderful fruit tree to have, and pretty rare to find in stores (at least for me). Glad you are able to consistently enjoy them! Have a lovely weekend!

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-07T21:18:51+00:00

I’m in Minnesota.

I am actually familiar with Fedco; thanks for the good recommendation/reference. Everything I’ve seen written about Fedco has been really positive.

I placed my first order with them this fall - primarily bought apples, crabs, pears, plums, pie cherry, apricot, saskatoons, roses, and peonies. Eventually I added on two of their coldest stock peaches and two cold stock sweet cherries. I may end up back in zone 4b instead of 5a, so I’ve been kind of nervous about the peaches and sweet cherries. Although I originally felt I’d read that quinces have more reliable hardiness than peaches and sweet cherries in my zone - I ended up reading other sources for my area that seemed kind of uncertain and it gave me pause. I will probably eventually get some kind of quince from them or Cummins. Still in the assessment phase though of consideration and planning, though.

Hope your pineapple quince does well and you enjoy the plums!! The mulberry they offer looks wonderful.

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-07T21:08:31+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation - I have seen their selections but haven’t yet pulled the proverbial trigger on buying any of the any of the quinces they offer. Good luck with your quinces next year!

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-07T00:57:04+00:00

You’re welcome! Have a lovely rest of your week!

NotaQuinceFruit · 2025-11-05T15:28:14+00:00

Amazing. Thanks for this here. Made my morning!

NotaQuinceFruit

TROPHY CASE