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Silver Creek Nursery Ltd.

Quince of Portugal

Quince of Portugal

History: The history of Quince of Portugal is largely unknown aside from the fact that it was introduced to England in the early 1600s. 

Why We Grow It: This quince is often considered to have the best flavour of all quinces. On top of that, the impressive fruits of this variety can weigh up to 1 lb and are juicier than most other cultivars. When ripe, this quince cooks to a lovely crimson coloured puree. It is best to store the fruit indoors for a couple weeks before eating it. 

        Fruit Specs

        Recommended Use: Baking, cooking

        Fruit Size: Large

        Storage: Keeps for a couple months when stored in cool, humid conditions

        Harvest: September - Late

        Growing Specs

        Canadian Hardiness Zone: 5b

        Soil Preference: Self-pollinating, these seedlings will produce fruit without a quince of a different variety but will produce more and better fruit if one is present

        Bloom Colour: Pale-pink to white

        Pollination Requirements: Self-pollinating, these seedlings will produce fruit without a quince of a different variety but will produce more and better fruit if one is present

        Sun/Shade Requirements:

        Full sun (approx. 8-10 hours of sun daily)

        General Growth Habits:

        Hardy, slow to start bearing fruit. Somewhat susceptible to fireblight, leaf blight, and coddling moth.

        Shipping vs. Pick Up

        CLICK HERE to see how shipping compares to pick up.

        Shipping: Every year we ship thousands of trees across Canada (except BC due to CFIA regulations). We carefully bag roots in damp sawdust, then box them and send them out via courrier. CLICK HERE to see our shipping policy.

        Pick-up: We also have thousands of trees picked up from our nursery each year. The pick-up options is free, though you must wait until you have been emailed a confirmation that your order is ready to pick up, which will have further information such as hours, locations, etc. We really appreciate if you can make an appointment to pick up, then we can be as organized as possible during our busy season.

        Size at Purchase

        Our grafted fruit trees are graded into three categories, and the size includes the rootstock:

        • 50-80cm whip: may have some minor branching, this grade is like a "b-grade" size tree in industry standards; we include in this price category trees that are over 1m but have some scarring or mild crookedness.
        • 1m+ whip: may have some minor branching, aka feathering. This is like a typical one-year whip in industry standards. 
        • 1m+ branched: these trees must be over a meter and have 3 or more branches 30cm or longer, as well as a central leader. They are essentially a two-year tree in industry standards. 
        • For stone fruits only - 1m+ whip/branched: We have combined these grades based on the way these trees grow and are grafted. Plums, apricots, cherries, and peaches naturally tend to grow more vigorously compared to apples and are more likely to form larger trees with more branches. However, we only chip bud them so they are a one-year old tree by industry standards. Apples and pears are partially bench grafted, and using the knip-boom method the grading becomes more complicated, hence the reason they are split into different grades.
        grafted tree grades at silver creek nursery
        Please keep in mind, bareroot trees appear small if you are unfamiliar with them. Size can vary year to year due to weather conditions and every single variety has a unique amount of vigor (some varieties naturally are smaller and some bigger, much like humans -and when you propagate hundreds of varieties, there certainly is variation). While we remain competitive in our plant size, it's also worth noting we don't use synthetic chemicals to push vegetative growth, therefore you may find conventional nursery stock larger in some instances comparatively. 
        Why plant small? It's best to transplant a tree when it's young so it can establish its roots before it has a lot of vegetative growth. This is much less stressful on it and bareroot trees tend to catch up and even surpass larger potted trees planted at the same time, after a few years.

        Orders that are cancelled last minute due to size (being "to small"), will still incur the applicable cancellation fees if the trees are true to our grading standards as per the agreement of sale when the order was placed.

        Rootstock
        Size
        Regular price $55.00 CAD
        Regular price Sale price $55.00 CAD
        Sale Sold out
        Shipping calculated at checkout.
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