What's happening to my quince?

My small quince is losing all its leaves: they go brown and fall off. I've now taken off the remaining leaves and removed as well as those that had already fallen them from the garden. We only got the house last September, and it didn't happen last summer but I don't know if it is a regular feature. It's easy to blame the exceptionally wet weather in Devon this summer, but I don't know. Any advice welcome!

 

That, to me, looks like a classic case of ' quince leaf blight', it's caused by a fungus and it is (more likely than not) due to the prolonged wet.

You might well find that the amount of fruit you get will be severely limited, or it could be mis-shapen and spotted in a similar way to the leaves, and some of the tips of the shoots could die back too.

Regularly rake up the fallen leaves and burn them (if you can) but don't put them on the compost. It will help if you can spray now with a copper based fungicide, and then spray it again next year (and each successive year) as the leaf buds begin to open.

One you've sprayed, there isn't a lot else you can do until the winter when you should prune out any dead shoots and burn (or 'thoughtfully' dispose of!) them. Feeding the tree will help. If the tree is quite mature, it'll probably have been through this before and with a bit of TLC will bounce back.

 

Thanks for that. I was thinking about quince leaf blight, but there were no orange spots to start with, just brown spreading over the leaf as shown in the photo. The tree is quite young, perhaps 5-6 years, about 7-8 feet tall. No fruit this year nor last. Am wondering if it is struggling in Devon clay with grass growing all around it, up to the trunk. Should perhaps clear away the grass in a circle and feed it?

 

Clearing the grass away from the base of the tree will certainly help, mainly because it'll make it a lot easier to feed the poor thing! The RHS website says "In February apply a general fertiliser, Growmore for example, at 100g per sq m (3oz per sq yd). In late March apply sulphate of ammonia at 35g per sq m (1oz per sq yd). Mulch in early spring with well-rotted farmyard manure or compost."

If your tree is only about 5-6 years old then it's quite young and is only just coming to the age when you might expect it to start bearing fruit - that said, ours was getting on for 9 before it eventually got the idea!

 

My little quince looks exactly the same, but has new growth at the end of some branches which so far is clear, and the leaves are not falling. Mine is nearly 10 years old but still hasn't had any fruit: mind you it's in a large pot and I probably don't feed it enough.
Does yours blossom? I love the combination of pale green leaves and very pale pink flowers. As it is in a pot does everyone think it is blight or starvation from being in a pot?

 

yes, it blossoms - mind you, I've only seen it in blossom twice, in 2011 when we were buying the house and this spring. More flowers in 2011... but the summer of 2011 wasn't great and this isn't going to be any better for ripening wood, is it?

 

Thanks, Liz!

I will make a more serious attempt than last year at clearing the area around the base (am commuting monthly until October, when I shall retire, so haven't doen much in the way of proper gardening yet).