Yes, fireblight can be horrendous. It was for me and I removed my quince. You can also have big problems with the standard apple pests, codling moth in particular. Fireblight is very sporadic, its not like codling moth which will surely eventually come; its possible to get lucky and avoid firelight for some time.

Scott

Thanks ScottFSmith. How about rust? Any thoughts on the habit of the tree? Should I try to maintain a traditional fruit tree shape?

Aromatnaya is supposed to be resistant to fireblight (though not immune). Scott, did you end up trying that variety? I recall that you've tried a lot and culled them all, due to disease issues.

If you let it grow as a bush, perhaps it would grow enough branches from the base to replace any pruned from fireblight. Then again, perhaps a tree form would have better airflow. I'm in WI, I can't really comment on growing them in the South.

Yes, I tried Aromatnaya. It was the only one that was completely killed by FB.

Quince rust proved to be horrendous as well. That was actually what finally led me to pull the trees. Its much worse than cedar apple rust in that it ruins all the fruits once it gets going. It can be sprayed for (myclobutanil) so its overall not as bad as fireblight if you are willing to spray synthetics.

Quince is somewhere between apple and pear in terms of growth habit, it can be trained to any of the standard apple and pear shapes. It will have only one trunk, its your standard fruit tree.

BTW I have some new quince, they are experimental FB resistant varieties from Bulgaria. They already are showing some FB signs so I am not super optimistic but they may be tolerant enough to keep.

Scott

Scott F Smith(6B/7A MD)

how is your Quince tree doing (one from Bulgaria), any fruit yet