@Palmer, that’s an interesting idea. Reading your post, I searched on “Pear cottoneaster” and found this article from Arnold Arboretum. The article describes a number of techniques and is fun to read. The article is older than I am! @Zombiefruit that article also mentions bark inversion.
@ClarkInKs, I didn’t know what Aronia was. Again, searched. They have some at Raintree (I will check other nurseries too) seedlings for under $10 so I could try those. 5 foot tall is ideal.
Thanks for these replies. I will ponder these and any other responses. My minidwarf fruit garden will be around 30 feet x 50 feet fenced professionally and very tall to keep deer out, I hope much better than what I have been doing. It will also have a water tap so no hauling heavy hoses. I don’t need 100s of pears on a tree - 20 would be more than enough.
This could lead to an experiment. Graft one variety onto Aronia, one onto Cotoneaster (maybe on a pear rootstock), one onto Craetagus, one onto Amelanchier, and compare the results. Maybe try two or three varieties on same rootstock. I have about six pear and six Asian pear varieties to choose from in my orchard. I want to move most on them onto rootstocks that will make miniature trees / bushes.
Plus maybe I should just try Amelanchier and Aronia to see if I like them. Lots to ponder.
Edit. I found a research paper regarding Pear grafted to Amelanchier. If Im reading correctly, ere was good survival for most of the handful of species they tried. There was a difference in productivity. Looks like there was fireblight for some. It looks like these are quite precocious too. I admit I a not good at reading these papers. Also there was a post on growingfruit regarding pear on Aronia. Im not sure what the result was after a few years. The pear stems had much greater girth, early on, than the aronia, at least early on,