Medlar: plant, care & propagate

The medlar is rarely found in our gardens these days. We introduce you to the best medlar varieties and provide tips and tricks for planting and caring for medlars.

the medlar (Mespilus germanica), also known as real or common medlar or stone apple, was widespread in Europe in the Middle Ages. In recent centuries, however, it has been increasingly forgotten and is only rarely found in our gardens. Wild fruit is found even more frequently in meadow orchards or at the edges of fields and roads.

Medlar: flower, origin and properties

The medlar belongs to the pome fruit plant family (Pyrinae) in the rose family (Rosaceae). Contrary to what its Latin name might suggest, it does not originally come from Europe, but from western Asia and the Caucasus. From there, the Romans brought it to Central and Southern Europe. While the hardy fruit tree was very widespread and popular in the Middle Ages, hardly anyone is familiar with it today. The medlar has a high ornamental value and forms very aromatic, apple-like fruits that can be processed into tasty products such as jams, jellies or chutneys.

The common loquat should not be confused with the Japanese loquat, an evergreen, not hardy tree with yellow, sour-tasting fruits, or with the mistletoe, a tree parasite whose branches are used as Christmas decorations.
Also the cotoneaster (cotoneaster) is not with Mespilus germanica to confuse. Although it also belongs to the pome fruit family, it bears little resemblance to the common medlar and is also poisonous.

The medlar is a robust and easy-care fruit tree and grows as a large shrub or small tree. It reaches heights between 3 and 6 meters. Its light gray trunk grows slightly twisted and is irregularly shaped. The young twigs are gray and have woolly hairs. Over the years, the numerous shoots form a sprawling, heavily branched, almost round crown. As a result, the medlar usually appears wider than tall. Their roots are also highly branched and flat. The elliptical, slightly pointed leaves are finely toothed and hairy tomentose. Their upper side is dark green, from below they are a little lighter.

After the leaves have sprout in spring, between May and June, white to pink flowers bloom on the tips of the short shoots, which are very similar to apple blossoms. With a diameter of 3 to 5 centimetres, however, they are much larger. The medlar is self-fertile. Over the summer, the flowers develop into round, hard fruits with a diameter of about 4 centimeters. The dried sepals stand together at the end of the fruit like a crown. The skin of the fruit is rough and golden brown in colour. In line with this, the decorative leaves turn golden yellow to orange in autumn. Inside the fruit there are five seeds and the light flesh, which only becomes darker, crumbly and sweet after the effects of frost. In this overripe state, the fruit is ready for harvest.

The question remains: are medlars poisonous? The fruits of Mespilus germanica are edible and non-toxic. When unripe, however, the fruits are hard and taste bitter. They should therefore only be eaten when they are overripe. Like the seeds of some other rose plants, the seeds of the medlar contain hydrocyanic acid and should not be consumed in large quantities.

tip: The medlar is considered alongside other trees climate tree designated. You can find out what this is all about in our special article.

The most popular varieties of medlar

In addition to the wild form of Mespilus germanica there are a number of cultivars that differ in growth vigor and the size of the fruit.

• One of the most popular medlar varieties is the 'Dutch Large Fruity'. This is a very old, high-yielding and large-fruited variety with particularly large and heavy, top-shaped fruits. It is very vigorous and can be recognized by its characteristic laurel-like leaves.
• The 'Macrocarpa' variety is also particularly large-fruited. It reaches a height of 1.5 to 4 meters. The high-yielding variety 'Krim', which was first cultivated in Crimea in 1870, has very large fruits with a sweet and sour taste. These ripen at the end of September.
• The 'Royal' variety forms slightly smaller fruits. The fruits are oblong-round and have a good taste. The growth of the plant is rather medium strong and shrub-like.
• The newer variety 'Kurpfalzmispel' is a chance seedling from Heidelberg that was discovered in the 1960s and produces particularly sweet fruits. They contain fewer tannins and are therefore already "fresh", i.e. can be eaten before the first frost.

plant medlar

The medlar prefers a sheltered, sunny location. But she also feels comfortable in partial shade. The soil should be permeable and slightly acidic, the lime content should be rather low. Bare-rooted trees should be planted in late autumn or winter so that they can form many strong roots and grow well by next spring. You can also plant medlars in the plant container at another time, for example in spring or summer. If you want to plant several medlars to create a hedge, you should keep a planting distance of 1 m. The advantage of a hedge is that the plants support each other and are therefore less sensitive to wind. You can support a single young medlar tree by attaching it to a wooden stake driven into the ground. The medlar is only suitable to a limited extent as a container plant. In order for the roots to develop well, the plant needs a lot of space and may only be planted in a pot of appropriate size. In this case, a peat-free, nutrient-rich potting soil, such as ours, is suitable as a substrate Plantura organic universal soil.

Medlar care: You should pay attention to this

The medlar is an extremely robust and easy-care fruit and ornamental tree. If it feels comfortable in its location, it will thrive and live for many decades.

Fertilize and water medlar

After planting, the medlar needs regular watering. The soil should never dry out completely in newly planted trees or shrubs. In order to enable the young plants to grow vigorously, a small amount of fertilizer should be given about 2 to 3 months after planting. For example, our primarily organic is suitable for this Plantura organic universal fertilizer with long-term effect. Alternatively, horn shavings or the like can also be used. Older trees that have established themselves at their site have low nutrient requirements and usually do not require fertilizer. They also no longer need to be watered regularly. During longer periods of drought, however, the medlar should occasionally be given a little water.

cutting medlar

After the training pruning to create a beautiful growth habit with a trunk and an even crown, the medlar tree does not have to be pruned regularly. Only strongly drooping and protruding branches should be cut back a little in the winter months. The commercially offered medlars are mostly on a growing rootstock (e.g. quince or hawthorn) refined. Sometimes it happens that the rootstock sprout. In this case, the shoots should be removed.

Even young medlar trees bear a lot of fruit very quickly. So that the energy-intensive fruit formation does not affect the development of the young plant, you should pinch off the small fruits in the summer during the first few years.

Is the medlar hardy?

The medlar thrives very well in the temperature conditions prevailing in Central Europe. It is hardy and frost-resistant. However, young medlars are still sensitive and should be painted with a special white lime paint in the first few years at the beginning of winter. The white reflects the sun's rays and prevents cracks in the tree bark. Because without painting, the morning sun that follows night frosts usually causes the bark to heat up too quickly on the side exposed to the sun, while the side facing away from the sun is still frozen. This often leads to strain injuries.

multiply medlar

The medlar can be propagated in various ways. For one thing, their seeds can be sown. After you have removed the seeds from the fruit and freed them from the pulp, you can use them either sow directly outdoors or indoors in seed pots at temperatures between 15 and 20 °C prefer. Because the medlar a cold germinator is, the seeds need a cold stimulus to be stimulated to germinate (stratification). For this purpose, the seeds can be placed in the refrigerator at around 5 °C for a few days to stratify them. Then fill the vessels with substrate and place the seeds about 2 cm deep. Our peat-free, for example, is a suitable substrate Plantura Organic Herb & Seed Soil very good. Always keep the soil moist.

The process leading up to the development of the first fruits is very lengthy. Vegetative propagation via cuttings is faster and safer than generative propagation. To do this, cut off approximately 10-15 cm long, one-year-old and still slightly woody shoots from the medlar and remove the leaves in the lower area except for the upper pair of leaves. The cuttings are cut at an angle so that the area where new roots are to form is as large as possible, and pricked into containers with seed soil. Keep the soil moist and place the pots in a bright spot, but out of direct sunlight. When the cuttings have re-rooted, you can plant them in larger pots or outdoors in spring. Since the cultivars offered on the market are usually grafted onto growing rootstocks, it is possible that the plants propagated by seeds or cuttings will develop smaller fruits.

tip: The vegetative propagation of medlar from cuttings is more reliable and faster than propagation from seeds.

Medlar: harvest and use

In addition to vitamin C and other ingredients, the fruits of the medlar tree contain many tannins, which are responsible for the bitter taste of the unripe medlar. With the first frosts in late autumn, the medlars become soft and sweet like sloes. Now they can be harvested. Alternatively, you can also harvest the fruit unripe and put it in the freezer for a day. This also triggers the ripening process.

The overripe, crumbly medlars can be processed into delicious jellies, jams and juices. An aromatic fruit leather can also be made from the medlars. In addition, cakes, dumplings and other desserts can be refined with medlar compote. However, if you love birds, when you're harvesting the medlar you should always remember to leave some fruit for your feathered garden dwellers. But the medlar does not only provide food for birds. Their flowers are a valuable food source for bees and other insects.

Tip: When medlars are ready to be eaten, then it's time to get to work Harvest sloes and by the way also to the harvesting of rosehips. What all these fruits have in common is that after the effects of frost, they are directly affected by the destruction of the cell walls of the fruit ripening go into fermentation - this greatly increases their sweetness, but it also makes the fruit very susceptible to spoilage.

If you want to know what other plants you should plant in your garden to keep birds To provide suitable food sources, we recommend our special article on more bird-friendly Garden: The 10 best plants for songbirds.