For starters, have a look at the long-running discussion thread from this very forum, linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Just say 'no' to medlars

Thank you Lucky - those are really beautiful trees. But I am still interested in knowing whether medlars will grow and produce here - zone 5, Nebraska, what type of soil. Piegirl

Zone 5 is about their upper limit. Any soil with good drainage should be OK. They are self-pollinating so one variety is all you need. If you have fireblight problems there they seem to be quite susceptible to that, and the moths that like apples also like them. They are not very tall trees. I have no problems keeping my tree pruned to 8' tall. In terms of vigor, they are about like an apple on a highly dwarfing rootstock such as M9.

Scott

Hi all. The latest issue of Fruit Gardener has a few really in-depth articles on medlars. Paul.

they should grow and produce in your area, considering both soil and weather. In terms of weather, I can tell you that medlars must be quite cold-hardy; my two medlars REFUSED to lose their leaves, my smaller one did first, and only just a few days ago did the taller one lose all its leaves - there's actually still one clinging on. And we've had the ground COVERED with ice here - we've repeatedly had weather around 30 degrees and below, at least twice where it went into the teens.

from what I've read, medlar trees seem to be relatively tough trees with few if any pest/disease problems - though they are susceptible to fireblight. I just planted my two this summer and I haven't seen any problems yet.

Don't use a dwarfing rootstock or the tree will never grow bigger than a shrub - the tree just refuses to grow big. Use pear as a rootstock for your heavy soil - I've got pear seeds stratifying in the fridge right now to make rootstocks to make more trees.

Planting different varieties will NOT help increase fruit yield. Every single flower will become a fruit, and the tree even has a strong tendency for parthenocarpy if there's no pollination - there is indeed a seedless variety.

You could plant your trees on a little mound like I did for drainage, so even if your entire property flood, there will be at least a FEW roots in the mound that will survive.

The tree doesn't bear fruit to heavily. And you need to let the fruit "blet" before eating it. Just leave it sitting indoors for a week or two until they become dark and wrinkly. For eating, peel some of the skin and suck the flesh out, spitting out the seeds. The taste is OK, not amazing, but good. Not too sweet, not too sour.

The fruits usually aren't very big, so go for a big fruited variety like breda giant. There is apparently a variety called "large russian" that has fruits the size of a tangerine (very big for a medlar), and user idogcow has one - I still haven't contacted him yet.

Do not amend individual planting holes as it does not produce an improved result. There may be a case for amending entire beds, although with a long-term plant like a tree or shrub there is still the problem of the amendments decomposing and disappearing while the plant is still present. Amending of beds makes more sense with short-term, small plants like vegetables and annual flowers. It is also more natural for these to be growing in recently disturbed soils with high nutrient levels. Trees and shrubs are not as adept at readily making use of high levels of fertility.