Author Topic: Mespilus germanica  (Read 3811 times)

stuartdaly88

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Mespilus germanica
« on: July 08, 2015, 07:21:27 AM »
Does anyone grow Medlar?
It apparently needs to be bletted but then has a delicious apple butter cinnamon taste if properly ripe:)
Im interested to try this tree in a cool part of my garden. It is very hardy and attractive plant.
The fruit is not the prettiest but its not boring and taste is the most important thing at the end of the day!
pear and hawthornes can be used as root stock apparantly.

Here are some pics I found on google:








http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/376/

http://www.leereich.com/2013/12/ugly-but-tasty-old-fruit.html
« Last Edit: July 09, 2015, 08:13:29 AM by stuartdaly88 »
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

TriangleJohn

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2015, 01:30:21 PM »
I have one here in North Carolina (zone 7b). The fruit was not very tasty but maybe I didn't blet it properly. It is a pretty small tree and worth growing as an ornamental.

stuartdaly88

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2015, 02:21:06 AM »
I have one here in North Carolina (zone 7b). The fruit was not very tasty but maybe I didn't blet it properly. It is a pretty small tree and worth growing as an ornamental.
It is such a beautiful tree! 7b that means its pretty hardy:)
Yeah apparently to blet properly it takes a few weeks and must become dark brown mush to be good, probably why it isnt popular commercially but it was very often in medieval and even up to Victorian times.
I read that the after products like jams and jellies are excellent if you dont like the actual fruit. 
It has a massive pectin content so good to add to any leathers or preserves :)
Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Delvi83

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2015, 09:48:45 AM »
Here I talk about it :) with many photos...

http://ilgustodellanatura-blog.blogspot.it/2014/11/nespolo-comune-o-di-germania-mespilus.html

It's very cold-hard tree...I think it could survive even in USDA 5 or less

TriangleJohn

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #4 on: July 20, 2015, 02:43:35 PM »
I see that my small tree does show signs of Cedar-Quince Rust on a few of the fruits so this plant is not as disease free as sometimes claimed. The forest around my property has a few Eastern Red Cedar or juniper trees and the list of fruiting plants that suffer from one of the many forms of Rust disease keeps growing. I've seen Cedar-Apple Rust, Cedar-Quince Rust and Cedar-Hawthorn Rust so far and it affects pears, serviceberries and now medlar. Some plants only show a little damage but others are killed by it.

Triloba Tracker

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #5 on: July 20, 2015, 04:23:02 PM »
I see that my small tree does show signs of Cedar-Quince Rust on a few of the fruits so this plant is not as disease free as sometimes claimed. The forest around my property has a few Eastern Red Cedar or juniper trees and the list of fruiting plants that suffer from one of the many forms of Rust disease keeps growing. I've seen Cedar-Apple Rust, Cedar-Quince Rust and Cedar-Hawthorn Rust so far and it affects pears, serviceberries and now medlar. Some plants only show a little damage but others are killed by it.

That stinks. Any cures?

TriangleJohn

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2015, 07:50:54 AM »
No cures that I know of. You're supposed to remove all Juniper species within a mile or more radius (impossible if you don't own all the land). Some years the damage is slight but other years it overwhelms the infected plant. In my garden infected plants have always come back the next spring but they often seem weaker and it definitely slows down growth. Most often it ruins the fruit, which is the reason I grow the plant in the first place, so every year I end up removing more and more of the oddball fruiting trees and bushes and planting more of the common stuff that either has immunity or isn't affected by Rust. They will tell you that growing fruit in the Southeast or Mid Atlantic region can be difficult because of the disease pressure. They aren't lying.

paradisenursery

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Re: Mespilus germanica
« Reply #7 on: August 08, 2015, 01:03:37 AM »
We grow it at http://www.paradisenursery.com/. In southern california, they do especially very well by the coast and more humid conditions when fruit is ripening "blotting"