I have a few new pear trees I did not get a chance to graft last year and they are real monsters now. Callery pears grow like weeds. I’ve also decided I’m going to top work a few older trees over because I’ve simply got to much of some fruits. These large tree’s I’m talking about are not fruiting yet and I plan to use the variety as an interstem before they start to fruit. My plan is to graft a few very high quality fruit to those older trees. Last year was an excellent year for growth due to the rainy weather and cold spring. Normally wet weather would be concerning but last year the temperatures were simply to low for fireblight to be a concern. The storms broke off many grafts but overall it was a good year to increase pear trees.
This tree I grafted over to Douglas will mostly likely set fruit not next year but the following year. It may get 1 or 2 pears next year. That will make 4 Douglas pear trees which seems like a lot to me. I top worked a mature improved kieffer about 10-12 feet off the ground early this year with many risky varieties such as forelle. Douglas will produce on two of my trees this year and give me an idea how good they are at my farm. Three of the Douglas bloomed this year so this one I top worked will be producing before I know it. The three douglas I believe would have set a very heavy crop were it not for the weather damaging the flowers this spring.
Here is an update on this pear i top worked. It’s about 12-15’ and clefts are nearly healed over now! Next year would be awfully soon for it to fruit but it could happen. I’ve given it very little care since time did not allow for any time for this pear. Smaller pears that were fighting weeds, insect or disease attacked , rabbits and deer attacked etc. took precedence.
Thought I would post an update of those cleft grafts in the first picture since they are nearly healed over. Made a lot of grafts on that tree to get a couple to stay on there. Between wind and incompatibility I didn’t like my odds much as you can see from the first picture. At least it’s a Douglas pear now. In another year it will be hard to see the graft. Who knows I may be picking pears next year.
If anyone is not familiar with Douglas pear like the one I grafted over a year ago in this thread you may want to look at this link Douglas Pear.
Nice work there. We have a few acres in the front that are left to nature and the birds have been busy planting bradfords on them. So far, the ones I have done look great 2 years on with a scion we took from a neighbor’s favorite pear.
I’m wondering if they will help with fireblight? I wanted to try Shipova on bradford too.I put it on a Bartlett tree 2 years ago and it never came back the next spring, even though it grew a good foot in 1 year.
Blight seems more likely than winter kill.
and I do Wish those birds would learn to poop in a row.
Thank you! I would use fireblight resistant stock only if I were you to graft to your wild callery but I don’t always take my own advise http://www.growingfruit.org/t/pear-tree-fireblight-research-so-you-dont-have-to/2744. Having a wild patch like that is incredibly useful because you could grow a pear like harrow delight and be eating pears in 2 years! Fireblight problems would end and you would have more fruit than you could imagine!
Great review of top-working your pear. Love all the photos and the followup!
Thank you! Should anyone be curious odly i’ve eaten pears so far from duchess d’ angoulme only so far out of that group that i grafted in this thread. There were loads of pears from it last year! Douglas would normally be producing by now though tbe unique genetics of the seedling slowed it down. Clara frijs always takes it time. All trees i grafted in this thread are healthy and thriving no doubt going to produce pears for the next 100 years or so.
I was contemplating top working a pear here that’s never produced fruit worth eating. Reading through some of your threads has been informative.
I’m still torn on the idea, we do get cedar rust pretty bad. Last year those pears were pretty well covered in it. If the tree grew decent pears, it would be worth trying to fight it.
Rust is ever present in areas where cedar is a problem. Harrow delight pears and others are not susceptible.
Thanks for that info ! It never crossed my mind that some may be more rust resistant. Would you recommend any other varieties for 8a in northeast Texas ? I’m on the edge between humid south and hot dry southwest. The weather can be any combination of both!
This might be something to do at the parent’s house. They have an out of control Bosc pear that needs major trimming, and a useless (in my opinion) crabapple. I ought to cut 'em back low and put maybe 3 cultivars on each!
Persimmons??
Tennosoui, Southern King and Acres Home are all from Texas. Chilling won’t be as big an issue at 8a as it is in my 8b. For you late freezes and desiccation may be bigger issues. Tennoui, Orient, Scarlett all act like late bloomers. As a group Asian type pairs tend to be late blooming. Check my Southern Pear thread. I evaluate my thoughts on all my varieties there. I really like Baldwin, Goldenboy and Acres Home. But they are all early bloomers with low chill.
When growing pears or apples in a Zone 8 climate there are two things to consider. If you are in a humid climate you need to first consider disease resistance, especially to fireblight in the case of pears. But just as importantly you should consider the number of chilling hours. The first thing I recommend is pay attention to when pears break dormancy in your area. Don’t feel shy about asking around. Then go online and find out how many chilling hours you can usually count on for your area. That’s the number of hours between 48F and 32 F. Since pears and plums begin seriously breaking dormancy by Feb 20th, I usually go the weather data calculator at the University of Georgia website an look up the number of chilling hours between October 1 and feb 20th. Look it up for the past ten years and get an average. How many do you get 8 out of 10 years. I would not bother with a fruit tree for which your areas does not meet the chilling requirement less than 80% of the time. Realize that temps are generally getting warmer. So maybe give yourself a 100 hour buffer, especially if you only have space for a couple of varieties, and you want to make sure that the ones you plant will work.
Are any of these rust resistant?