Despite harsh winter, Dobele horticulture institute harvests good quince crop
The Institute of Horticulture in Dobele has harvested around four tonnes of flowering quince fruit this year despite severe winter frosts damaging part of its plantings. The institute also plans to submit a new variety for registration.
The Institute of Horticulture in Dobele has wrapped up this year's flowering quince (Japanese quince) harvest, gathering roughly four tonnes of fruit. Leading researcher Dr. Edīte Kaufmane says the result can be considered good, even though the yield could have been higher were it not for last winter's extreme cold.
Last winter, temperatures in Dobele and elsewhere in Latvia dropped below minus 25 degrees Celsius, at times approaching minus 30. This damaged many garden crops, particularly the parts of plants that stood above the snow line. The institute's quince plantings suffered the same fate — the upper parts of branches froze and had to be pruned in spring. However, the sections of the shrubs that remained under snow during the deep freeze survived well and produced an excellent yield. Kaufmane notes that in a milder winter, the harvest would have been considerably larger.
The prolonged frost affected not only flowering quince but also plums, apple trees and other fruit crops, damaging even long-proven, cold-hardy varieties. In Dobele, where winters are typically milder than in the rest of Latvia, this year's frost caused fairly serious damage to fruit trees.
New variety headed for registration
Breeding flowering quince is a lengthy process — it typically takes 20 to 25 years from the initial cross to a registered variety. Over the past three years, the institute has registered one new variety annually, and this year it plans to submit another hybrid for registration, currently identified only by a number. The registration decision requires careful consideration since the process is costly, but this particular hybrid has proven hardy and productive even after the harsh winter.
Latvia currently has six officially registered flowering quince varieties: 'Rasa', registered in 2012; 'Rondo' and 'Darius', registered in 2018; and the newest ones, 'Jānis', 'Silvija' and 'Ada', with the latter two still undergoing testing. The institute additionally grows about three thousand different hybrids, or genotypes, at various stages of development, showing wide variation in color, shape and size — from tiny fruit to specimens weighing over 100 grams. Some hybrids still display thorns, a trait breeders have been trying to eliminate for about twenty years, so such specimens are culled.
