@Grapevine
Here are a few threads worth viewing. I wont claim to be an expert on zone 5 growing like @smsmith @snowflake but i do grow harbin pears and have grown asian pears on harbin.
I’ve seen many posts recently inquiring about Harbin pears which are commonly sold for orchardists in the North. Many people want very large pears but in warmer zones I’d suggest BET rootstocks for larger pears Pear Decline | USU
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Pear decline is caused by Candidatus Phytoplasma pyri transmitted by pear psylla. Grafting and budding can also transmit this phytoplasma. Decline is much more prevalent on trees with rootstocks of Pyrus ussuriensis or P. pyrifolia than …
Someone has no doubt told me before but if @alan or @Lucky_P could remind me how big Asian pears get on harbin I would appreciate it. I’m guessing 20-30 feet. Anyone else have experience with them. Yes I’m growing them and trying to remember how big my ladder is going to need to be when they are full grown.
Harbin is another pear rootstock that is rarely used but the defunct Bear Creek nursery used to use for Asian pears because of it’s high level of cold tolerance. I have a nice Korean Giant I ordered from them over 25 years ago on it and it is the nicest Asian pear tree in form and vigor I have anywhere.
Betula is my second pick for A pear roostock after Harbin. I’ve heard from nurserymen that there is a wide range of hardiness in various strains of Bet. but trees I order on it have never s…
The weather is cool so I see no reason not to use it to my advantage while we have it. This is a BET rootstock and I love these trees! There is very few rootstocks that do better than callery and BET and the hybrids of the two types. Harbin are more difficult for me to work with. Sometimes harbin grow really slow here in Kansas so i really never know what to expect from them. It sounds really bad but it’s my opinion these BET are better to graft after they are considered a little to big. Whe…
Things you should know
I’m far from an expert on cold hardy pears but for starters we know the pears you mentioned are hybrids of Pyrus ussuriensis x Pyrus communis. Some nurseries specialize in cold hardy pears such as http://www.sln.potsdam.ny.us/pears.html . SLN nursery uses two rootstocks which they state “The rootstocks we use for our pear varieties are Pyrus communis (for European-type pears) and Pyrus ussuriensis (for ussuriensis crosses)” . Your zone is very cold at times in the winter so I suspect it would …
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