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Quince is one of those few fruit crops for which both vegetative propagation and seed propagation are acceptable. To a novice gardener who first decided to plant this useful tree with delicious fruits, it may seem that propagating quince with seeds is a troublesome and hopeless process. In fact, growing quince from seeds is no more difficult than growing from cuttings or root offspring. It is about these three simple ways of propagating quince that will be discussed in the article.
Reproduction by seeds
Inside each quince fruit there are many (more than a dozen) small brown seeds, like an apple, which, unlike the latter, germinate well. 
True, for this, before planting, they must be subjected to a long (up to 2 months) stratification – keeping in the cold. Planting seeds for seedlings can be done in spring or autumn. Autumn planting is more preferable for several reasons:
- allows you to sow seeds without stratification – during the winter this process will occur in natural conditions;
- by the time of germination, in spring, the plants will already have sufficiently developed roots;
- the emerging seedlings will be strong and healthy (only high-quality seed can withstand natural winter conditions), and therefore the trees will grow strong and bear fruit well.
Planting seeds in the fall is carried out immediately in open ground around the end of October. You should not immediately get seeds from the fruit, let the quince, after being removed from the tree, lie down for 1 month, ripen, and the seeds will become dense and brown. After that, they are removed from the fetus, washed from mucus and pulp, and slightly dried for autumn planting. If planting is planned in the spring, then the seeds must be well dried and stored until sowing in a linen bag.
During spring planting, the material must be subjected to a 2-3-month stratification, which is started in December for sowing in pots, and in February for sowing in open ground. February seeds will be ready for planting in late April – early May. If you want to already have sprouted seedlings in the spring, then it is advisable to start sowing in the middle of winter in peat pots.
Stratification of quince seeds is not just keeping them in the cold, but also in a wet sandy substrate. Before starting stratification, the seeds must be soaked for 5-6 hours in warm water.
Then take coarse-grained river sand (3 parts of sand per 1 part of seeds), rinse it well, dry it a little. The sand in which the seeds will be placed should be moderately wet. Pour the prepared substrate into boxes, mix with seeds, and place in a cool place where a constant temperature is kept at 3-4 ° C. Once a week, the sand mixture must be mixed.
Stratified seeds are sown in pots, containers or open ground. Seedlings require nutrients to germinate effectively. If you sow seeds directly into the ground, then you should take care of its fertility. In soil with insufficient humus, compost or rotted manure (6-8 kg / 1 sq. M) must be added, dug up and leveled. In the prepared bed, make furrows 3 cm deep at a distance of 20 cm from each other, and sow seeds at the rate of 70-100 pieces per 1 linear meter. Then fill the furrows with earth, and water the crops well. When seedlings appear and get a little stronger, they are thinned out, leaving a distance of 8-10 cm between plants.
When planting seeds in a pot, you can prepare the soil yourself, or buy a ready-made substrate. 2-4 seeds are planted in each pot (quince germination is 50%). The soil mixture, consisting of peat, dries quickly, so it is necessary to monitor the maintenance of moisture. Seedlings grown in pots must be hardened off before planting in the ground. Transplanting from a pot is carried out no earlier than 5-6 true leaves are formed in the seedling. After planting in open ground, young seedlings grow for another 1,5-2 years, and only after that they are transplanted to a permanent place.
Video “Reproduction”
From the video you will learn how to propagate fruit trees.
Reproduction by cuttings
Cuttings are used when it is necessary to preserve all the varietal characteristics of the mother plant. For example, decorative Japanese quince with beautiful double flowers is often propagated in this way, during the reproduction of which one really wants to preserve these varietal features. Growing quince by cuttings is a fairly effective way to achieve high rooting. Planting material can be planted anywhere: in greenhouses, greenhouses, open ground or pots. In any case, subject to the technology, the cuttings successfully take root within a month, after which they can be transplanted to the right place.
For harvesting cuttings, young green shoots are more often used, less often stiff. You can apply branches after pruning, or young root shoots. The survival rate of cuttings depends on many factors: the quality of planting material, soil moisture and temperature, and other external and natural factors. As for the quality of the cuttings, they should be cut correctly. Each piece 15-20 cm long (4-5 buds) is cut with a sharp pruner. The lower cut is made at an acute angle below the kidney, and the upper one is above the kidney.
Before the blanks are planted in a moist substrate, they must be placed for a day in a solution that stimulates root formation. Then, under a slight slope, deepen into pre-moistened soil, consisting of sand and peat in a ratio of 3: 1. If the seedlings are not grown in a greenhouse, then for the first time it is better to cover them with a transparent material, for example, a cut plastic bottle – this will help maintain the desired humidity and temperature. After the buds form and germinate on the cuttings, we can assume that the rooting process was successful. Transplantation of seedlings to a permanent place is carried out the next year, and fruiting is possible for 3-4 years of the tree’s life.
With the help of root suckers
Root offspring are nothing more than shoots that a tree regularly gives. Growing to a certain size (height 12-15 cm and thickness 0,5-1 cm), it becomes full-fledged seedlings that can be separated from the mother bush and transplanted to a permanent place of growth. Propagation of quince by offspring is considered the easiest and least laborious way, since the gardener only needs to separate the seedlings and transplant them. A considerable advantage is the fact that such plants quickly and almost 100% take root, because they already have developed roots.
It is possible to plant offspring from the mother bush both in spring and autumn, however, spring planting is desirable for a cold climate.
Technically, this is very simple to do: you need to separate the offspring, trying not to damage the root system, then plant them in pre-prepared planting holes at a distance of 1-1,5 m (depending on the variety).
After planting, seedlings should be well watered and mulched with organic material. Until they take root in a new place and grow, it is necessary to maintain constant soil moisture.
Video “Reproduction by the root method”
From the video you will learn how to propagate a tree using root offspring.
