Lucky_p, Thanks for that link! It has great information. I took a look at Peruque. I seem to find conflicting information about scab resistence. Clearly for wildlife I'm in a zero input environment so that is a great place to start. I'll take a look at those varieties for shell thickness. insteng, I'm dong a bunch of tree planting as well. I started a bunch of Dunstan chestnuts from nuts over the winter under lights. We planted about 150 last year and another 180 this year. It will be a while before they produce but as you say, they will be around for a long time. We have native american persimmons growing on the property. Once I realized you can graft productive female scions to any tree and get fruit in the third leaf, I've fallen in love with grafting them. Last year I started over 500 persimmons from seed and planted them in the fall on our farm. Because I started them so late, I had a very low succes rate. I'm guessing 10%-20% right now. I started earlier this year and hope to plant more seedlings this week. These will be future root stock for grafting. We have a few Keifer pear trees that we planted a few years ago and I'm experimenting with Jujube. The key for wildife in my opinion is low maintenance. A few high maintenance trees like domestic apples can be great attractants, but in order to get production they need a lot of care and feeding. You can't afford to maintain enough trees to have a positive impact on the habitat. So my primary objective is to use trees that require near zero maintenance once established. That lets me support the volumes required to make a difference.

If a new trunk branch would fill a void in the overall tree structure, you can keep that, but having a cluster of trunks probably means the tree is pretty dense already. It may help to remove some of the trunks if this is just resulting in a lot of interwoven branches up higher. All of the trunk base and distant suckers should be cut off. The distant suckers are attached to the main tree roots and should not be dug out unless they are way outside the tree drip line. Weather during bloom time affects the fruit set. The crop size may be limited by the natural self-fertility that varies a lot from tree to tree. So you could have a light crop in great weather or a big crop in poor weather depending on the tree's nature. Nothing you can do about that. A few quince go a long way for most people unless you are into juicing, saucing, and donating.

This may be true or it may be a bogus claim from a competitor. One of Willis's competitors has been caught numerous times making just this type of claim, falsely. One red flag is that Joynme appears to have just joined Gardenweb and probably solely for the purpose of posting this claim. I would take this with a HUGE grain of salt (about the size of one of those salt licks they use for cattle). I'm in no way recommending Willis Orchard Company. I don't really know whether they are good or bad, overall. But, it is a shame that one of their competitors spends so much time trying to make Willis look bad when they really need to be spending time trying to straighten out their own mess that is generally considered to be the worst mail-order business in existence. I do know that the owner of Willis nursery does appear to care about their business. They have posted on Gardenweb a number of times (sometimes in response to a false negative statement like this thread possibly represents). From what I've seen over the last few years and trying to take many things into consideration, I'd guess Willis is probably somewhere around "average" for quality, customer service, etc. Their competitor just down the road, on the other hand, appears to be dishonest and the lowest scum in the nursery business.

I'll add your recipe to my long file of Quince Recipes. You specifically asked for Perserves: Quince Preserves 2 to 3 large quinces, peeled, quartered and cored 2 cups sugar 2 to 3 whole cardamon pods, lightly crushed (I would consider this optional) juice of one small lemon Slice the quinces into 1/3 inch vertical slices or grate them using the wide holes of a cheese grater. In a large non-reactive pot, combine quinces, water (I don't see that listed), sugar and cardamon pods, and bring to a boil. Wrap the pot lid in a kitchen towel to absorb any steam and cover the pot. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. When preserves are done, they will have a beautiful rosy colot. Add the lemon juice to taste, though the preserves should have a sweet flavor. Spoon the preserves into a clean jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator. These could be processed in a boiling water bath in half-pints jars for 10 minutes. Have you made preserves before, or do you need more instructions for processing?  There are ornamental quince bushes in my neighborhood. I have picked the quince from them, but I have only made jelly with them. The ornamental quince are quite small and it would be a real hassle to try to peel and core them. Quince Preserves Daisy 1kg quinces (2lb) 1 1/2 cups water 4 cups sugar 1/4 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds or 1 cinnamon stick 2 tablespoons lemon juice  Cut quinces in quarters and remove cores. Slice into 1cm strips. Wash and drain. Place quince and water in a saucepan. Bring to boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla (or cardamom or cinnamon). Place clean dish towel over pan and cover firmly with lid. Simmer over low heat for 1 hour. Add lemon juice, cover and simmer for 1 hour more over low heat, stirring occasionally, until syrup has thickened and quince has turned red. Allow to cool. Fill sterilized jars and seal. ___________________________________________________________ I also have the following recipes in my data base. I will post those that you specifically want. If you want them all you can email me and I'll email them back to you since I doubt everyone wants all of them. English Quince Marmalade Quince Preserves. Quince Perserves. Mostarda di Venezia Cranberry-Quince Chutney Quince Jelly, Vanilla Scent. Quince Jam. Quince Curd. Baked Quinces Quince "Honey" II Quince and Cranbery Jelly Quince Chutney Quince Marmalade Quince Jelly. Turkish baked Quince Tip for Quince Jelly Quittenspeck. Quince "Honey" I Celestial Jelly - Quince No-strain Quince Jelly Quince, Ginger, & Pecan Conserv Quince Vodka Quince Vodka Ginger Quince Butter