I completed grafting my pear tree today. It turned into quite a job. I spent three evenings after work cutting down the top and dragging it to the brush pile. The more I worked on it the bigger every thing looked. When I started on it I thought it was maybe 20 feet tall . I took some small lateral branches off of it that were almost that long. I was going to cut it off about four feet high but it ended up just under six feet tall. I bark grafted eight kinds of pears onto the side branches. The two main trunks were kind of high to get to easily.
I hope that works. Looks good!! Those babies will blast out of the starting gate if they take. Be ready to support so they don’t blow out.
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I hope you keep the thread updated on how these go. I’d enjoy seeing how they progress.
Thank u fruit nut! I am really excited to see how these turn out. It was so much bigger looking after u cut it down. The pile of brush I made is huge. I measured the main trunk about a foot above the ground and it was 36 inches in circumference . Here is a shot of a graft closer up. I will take ur advice and stake if they take
Sure muddy, I plan on it. If I can just one of the sixteen grafts to take I will be happy. I also grafted an apple tree this week. Though it was much smaller than this pear tree.
Thanks for sharing your project with us.
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It’s just nice to have place like this where everyone is so helpful and interested in growing fruit. Where I work most people are into playing golf or who won what basketball game( no offense sports lovers😊)
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I’m going to do a lot of large stump grafting soon. What do you think about using duct tape to secure support dowels to the understock? Whatever tape I use has to be pretty strong as the scion growth will be rank.
What an impressive job! 8 varieties - it will be great to harvest them and compare.
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Oh, that is nice of you to say. I am looking forware to picking the fruit. Maybe counting my chick’s before they hatch! I am really most excited to see if the grafts take. I tried to graft peaches last spring but it was too cool when I first tried it and when I tried later when the scion was pushing green. All failed for obvious reasons. The people here have been so informative that I feel I have a real shot this time.
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Derby
This is what your pear tree will look like in 3 to 4 yrs.
Tony
The 8 varieties you got were from this 16 varieties bark grafted on a Giant Cleveland Flowering Pear tree.
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Wow, very impressive! Temps r supposed to be warm here this week so I hope it helps the grafts take
Derby,
Those grafts look professional. I’m sure they will take off like a rocket. I did some grafting on pomes yesterday.
One thing you might consider is that you will either need to graft the main trunks, or let suckers regrow at the cut-off point. It’s hard for trunks that large to callus (such a big area to heal) without growing something at the wound site.
Also, it works well to graft scions about every 1-1/2" around the trunks because with just two opposing scions, sometimes the bark will die in between the scions. The bark sort of dies in vertical strips between the scions because there is nothing to keep it alive (unless you allow suckers to grow in between the grafts for a while). Once those vertical bark strips die, it’s really hard for the wound to heal.
Pears will readily send up suckers at the heading site (i.e. where the tree is lopped off) but peaches are much less likely to do that.
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Thank u olpea, i have high hopes! Good notes on the after care. I was such a large tree I can see where healing will be an issue. Those are some pretty big wounds. I tried to seal up the main trunks but I will take ur advice on allowing some suckers to help with healing. I had enough room for a lot more grafts!
Jason
Looking good. Remember to take photos weekly and update Us.
Tony
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Nice! Keep an eye on that bud and take care that it isn’t a flower forming, as you don’t really want the scion diverting that kind of energy away from growth. But don’t worry- even if it is a flower bud the rest of the buds are alive and should start pushing shortly. Nice, healthy looking scion there.
Pear graft update. It’s been two weeks and most of the scions are starting to green up. A few do have flower buds trying to open. Should I pinch it off? Here are a few photos .
Yes. Just let the grafts grow Jason. You don’t want to stunt the growth.
Tony