Can this quince tree be saved?

[passerby]

Or, put it a different way, is quince rust a death sentence for a quince tree?

I've planted this quince tree 5 years ago, ordered online from some nursery I cannot remember the name of. The next year the rust started to appear. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the actual quince rust "in bloom" so to speak, but these pictures I'm posting represent what it actually does to the tree.

[IMG]'ve been cutting the affected branches very aggressively for the last 4 years and it resulted in a rather deformed tree. I have also dumped what much be close to 20 gallons (4-5 1G applications per year) of fungicide on it.

Last year before dropping leaves in the fall it looked as if I was able to cut off any branch with rust but this year, as soon as the tree bloomed, the rust had reappeared and attacked the young fruits and subsequently the branches so aggressively that I'm ready to give up on it.

So, I'd like to hear the collective wisdom of this esteemed group of people: is quince rust even curable? What remedies do you think work, if any? Severe pruning, some special kind of fungicide, a very strict fungicide application schedule, anything else?

I'd appreciate any advise or comment!

[gregz]

?

[gregz]

!

[David Hare-Scott]

Bravo! Insight! Perspicacity! The encore was even better than the main piece.

D

[Pat Kiewicz]

The "in bloom" comment makes me think this might be cedar-quince rust. If it *is* cedar-quince rust, you need to find and treat/remove the alternate hosts (typically junipers or red cedars) and not just the quince.

It may be best just to give up on this tree.

[passerby]

Thank you for your comment, Pat. Yes, I did read about this strange inter-species rust and most likely this is what it is. But we don't have cedars here (and likely within a mile or so) for sure and any junipers on my property (the ground cover, low growing ones) look healthy, there are only three of them, anyway, and rather far away from the quince. Honestly, I don't know what to look for in a juniper - does the rust growth , the bright orange that looks like flickers of flame, look the same on cedars and junipers?

That said, there are other types of trees in the development around my property that show the very same type of rust. Best I can tell those are flowering varieties of plums or cherries (for some reason not crab apples which would make more sense). Those trees are on the common areas of the development and I can't do anything about them. So, I think it's almost a guarantee that some amount of spores will always be around. You recommend just cutting the tree?

I'm wondering if there are any rust resistant quince varieties? My guess is that I should avoid planting an apple in that spot, what else may be in danger if this rust persists in the environment?

Thank you again for your input!

[Steve Peek]

It looks a great deal like fire3 blight to me. Your last pruning cut will likely be at ground level. Sorry

[Pat Kiewicz]

It's far more subtle on the junipers--much of the time it might look only like a slight swelling or mild canker, nothing like the dramatic orange flares you see on the quince. It will only show orange during times when the fungus is actively producing infective spores (generally during a moist period in spring).

Unless you like swimming against the current or beating your head on walls, yes.

The site below lists apple, crabapple, pears, quince, hawthorn, serviceberry, mountain-ash, flowering quince, cotoneaster, chokecherry, and photinia as vulnerable. (This disease was fresh in my mind as I'd recently seen it on a hawthorn at a nursery.)

or

A quick search turned up Juniper, hawthorn, apple and crabapple cultivars with resistence, but no mention of quince.

[passerby]

Pat, Steve, thank you for your comments! Yeah, the tree's gotta go. It's a real shame but you are absolutely right, no good reason to swim against the current: we have pretty much every species you've mentioned (not sure what photinia is tho) either in the wild (seem healthy) or planted around the development (many are infected), so my chances to kill the spores locally are slim to none. Perhaps a cherry in this spot will be more resilient (I'd love to have a tree that bears fruit there).

Thanks again!