How to Treat And Cure Quince Leaf Blight Infection (Diplocarpon mespili)
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Quince trees (Cydonia oblonga) and their fruits can fall foul of a fungus called Diplocarpon mespili, which causes a disease known as quince leaf blight, also known as Entomosporium leaf spot.
In this video, I'll show you what's wrong with your quince tree, the symptoms of quince leaf blight, and two simple methods to prevent and reduce quince leaf blight infection in future years. As with all plant diseases, prevention is better than a cure!
Infection from the fungus Diplocarpon mespili causes many small, chestnut-brown spots on the leaves. As infection progresses, the spots on the quince leaves may change to a silvery-grey colour.
Over the year, these spots of infection can merge together to form ugly, large brown patches on quince leaves. This leads to extensive premature (or early) leaf drop and poor quince fruit development.
It's worth noting that the fungus Diplocarpon mespili can infect a number of plants in the apple sub-family, Pomoideae. This family includes quince trees, as well as other plants such as pears, photinia, amelanchier, hawthorn, and pyracantha.
Why do I love quince? Quince trees are fully hardy, even in the far north of Scotland. What's more, quince trees (Cydonia oblonga) are beautiful and productive small trees. The rather plain quince fruit looks like a cross between a lumpy apple and a pear, with a soft, downy or furry surface.
But when they ripen, quince fruits turn a beautiful golden yellow and have the most incredible aroma - perfect for quince crumbles, jellies, and pies.
After you watch this video, you'll learn about the problems of quince trees and quince leaf blight treatment - and how to pick resistant quince tree varieties.
⌚ Timestamps:
00:11 Should quince leaf blight worry you?
00:37 What does quince leaf blight infection look like?
01:32 Symptoms of quince leaf blight infection on a quince leaf
02:52 Does quince leaf blight infection harm fruit production?
03:26 How to treat quince leaf blight
05:44 How to choose a resistant quince tree
I hope watching this video will help you grow healthy quince trees!
Thank you for for presentation and analysis.
Greetings from Melbourne Australia
Harry
Thank you, Harry! We thought that creating a video on Quince trees in November was going to be a bit off-season, but of course for folks in Australia, it's probably just the right time!
Are fire blight and leaf blight same disease ??????????
@@raajgan2895 hello Raaj, fireblight and leaf blight are not the same disease. Fireblight is caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora and leads to browning and die-back of whole shoot tips. In the case of quince trees, the leaf blight is caused by a fungus (Diplocarpon mespili) and leads to brown spots and blotches on individual leaves, and leaf drop. Hope that helps! 🌸
Not helpful at all. I want to know how to treat my infected tree now, end of May not how to rake up infected leaves later. How to choose a resistant tree is irrelevant to my present problem.
What fungicide can I use?
Would bouillie bordelaise (copper sulphate and chalk) be effective?
I’m sorry you found the video unhelpful, gardening is a year to year process and often the best control measures are season dependent.
Bordeaux mixture was widely used in the past for the control of a range of different bacterial and fungal diseases. However, copper based fungicides were found to be harmful to soil microbes and earthworms and hence they were withdrawn for almost all uses across the EU and UK. This has created a gap in the market and there are now no fungicides I can legally recommend gardeners use on their fruit trees. You will need to check with a local professional to confirm which plant protection products are available in your locality. 🌸
I've noticed Quince Leaf Blight on a number of quince trees this summer (2023). You can easily spot the blight even from a distance, when you see premature leaf fall. Hope my video helps you grow in-quincable quinces! 😁🌷
What about fungicides?
In the UK there are no fungicides available for use by home gardeners on fruit trees. However, if you employ a gardener with the correct professional spray certification (usually PA1 and PA6) then they have a wider choice of fungicides legally available for them to safely use. Spraying as soon as buds/leaves break in the spring is usually the most effective measure for fungicide control of quince leave blight.
In the UK there aren’t any fungicides available for home gardeners to use on fruit trees. However if you have a spray license or employ a professional with a spray license then there are a few more options. The best option for control of quince leaf blight is to spray at bud break before the fungus has a chance to become a established 🌸