Thanks for the info. I have been following your posts for a long time.
On your advise I bought 2 Drippin Honey trees from Gurneys. I didn’t know it when I purchased but it turns out these are on Callery rootstock. They are doing very well in the worst soil on my property. (wet clay) I planted other asian pears at the same site on ohxf87 and they all died.
I am guessing the big guys like Gurney’s clonally propagate callery but I don’t know for sure.
4 Likes
@ribs1,
Thank you Im sure they do as well , cloning callery makes sense. Callery and BET rootstocks are much hardier than ohxf trees. Drippin’ honey is an excellent pear.
1 Like
It would be very interesting if some of your callery seedlings produce trees with less vigour.
Imagine the known benefits of callery roots with a dwarfing tree.
1 Like
I will let you know what happens with the callery experiment. 2 pears are dwarf on callery but i’m not sure if its the scion or the roots that caused the effect. Many experiments i’m doing will take a couple of more years.
3 Likes
I have 3 pear trees on callery rootstocks that are doing well
1 Like
I have hundreds of callery and bet but i have half a dozen very interesting types. Im very interested in cloning this highly incompatible pear Will fall-budded buds swell at the same time as the tree budded to?. Note the growth. Additionally i’m making new crosses. These are going to be next level.
1 Like
How dwarfing was the ohxf87 rootstock on your pear varieties as to height?
It varies quite a bit. I have two Warren pear trees on OHxF 87, I grafted both of them and planted them next to each other, both at the same time. In two seasons, one tree grew to about 6 ft, while the other one to about 9 ft and it looks much more vigorous. One thing I can say for sure — Asian pears do not have enough vigor on OHxF 87.
2 Likes
Would it be fair to say that the order of dwarfing from most to least would be 1. QuinceA 2. OHxF33 3. OHxF87?
333 and 87 will not have a real noticeable difference. 87 is newer and could be assumed to be better. Quince reaches a more compact 10-15 feet in height. I have all three and a few more.
1 Like
Robert,
So in your experience, how do you rate the precociousness, vigor, productivity and disease resistance between Quince A, ohxf333 and ohxf87?
I see different reports, most saying OHxF333 is more dwarfing that the large semi-dwarf OHcF87 but I have seen a few reports that OHxF333 is not much different than OHxF87 in vigor and tree size.
Thanks!
In truth other than black leaf issues I have not had any problems with any pears. I’m not really a good one to ask advice as I usually gravitate toward the largest rootstocks. From what I have seen the more standard the rootstock the less problems in general. The dwarfing stocks I put in just to fruit early while I waited for the larger trees to start fruiting. That is really the important thing in apples and pears. If you want quick results with small crops go dwarf. Larger rootstocks make you wait longer, but they have larger crops.
1 Like
I have had problems getting Euro pears to produce so I am a major Quince A fan. They are also much better for a pedestrian orchard, as pears want to reach for the skies. If you are doing a ladder orchard you might be better off with larger stocks and waiting a bit longer for the crop. The main downside I have had with quince is rootstock sprouts - I am continually having to trim them back. More dwarfing trees often don’t live as long, but I don’t know about quince on that count.
No big experience with OHxF87 here, I did have a few but no longer. 333 has been fine for me. I have many 513’s, they have been the worst as it seems like they are taking even longer than my seedling stocks to bear. Maybe that is why 513 is not common any more.
… I looked around to see if there were any reports on Quince longevity, I’m not really sure it will be any worse as quince trees live a very long time (maybe not as long as pears, but 50+ years will keep you in the pear business for life). In the process I found this report from Australia where they report on quince vs some other stocks and conclude their pear industry should switch over to quince. https://www.horticulture.com.au/globalassets/laserfiche/assets/project-reports/ap10016/ap10016-final-report-133.pdf.
I would recommend quince for anyone whose winter temps are warm enough for it to be hardy.
5 Likes
thanks very much!
One nursery here in middle Tenn. (McMinnville) said they stopped growing pears on the OHxF series because they did not do well in their soil.
So, is there much difference between Quince A vs. Quince Provence (BA-29) as to fire blight resistance?? I read Quince BA-29 was more fire blight resistant, etc.
Also, is there a comprehensive list of pear varieties incompatible with quince?
Blessings,
Frank
1 Like
I have been asking that question for a while now. Think I agree with your assessment. Quince do have long lives. Makes sense the graft would have equal life. I have several on quince and they are not really small trees. Mine are all near 15 feet. Just not as wide as others. I agree the suckers are annoying. No matter what you do they do not go away.
To the poster. Pears take a long time to start producing and quince really cuts into that time to fruit. I put in mostly more standard rootstocks, but put several on quince to get the ball rolling early. If you only have a small amount of space I would recommend the quince. If you have plenty of room do a mix like I did.
3 Likes
It’s probably already been mentioned, but many pear varieties aren’t graft compatible with Quince. I suppose you could use an interstem in that case.
2 Likes
I wish there was a readily available list of pear varieties that were compatible with Quince rootstock as well as those that are not.
I am not aware of such a list. There are sooo many pear varieties and incompatibility not always is shown immediately. With some varities they will grow on quince rootstock for some years and then loose vigor or even decline/die. Because of that I will always use an interstem grafting pear onto quince. To me that seems to be the easiest solution. You can do your graft and the interstem at the same time.
This year I am starting to collect some more varieties. Doyenne du Comice (or comice) and Beurre Hardy are suitable as an interstem. I will use comice since that is a quality pear anyways and I definately will plant it. I already collected scions of it. Some of them will be my interstems.
Do you have certain varieties in mind? If they are grown in europe too I might find information about their compatability to quince. Asian pear for instance seems to be incompatible to Quince rootstock in the long run. Thats what I read. I did a direct graft of asian pear onto Quince A last year. It does not show any issue so far. Now that I am aware of a possible incompatibility I will save that variety and do another graft using comice as an interstem.
By the way, did you see this post from clarkinks?
I have done many quince grafts where I do two grafts in one go. For example, wedge graft the scion to the interstem scionwood, then one minute later bark, cleft, or whatever the now two-variety scion into the quince stock. These seem to take nearly as well as direct grafts (i.e. they nearly all work). Make sure to remove all buds from the interstem so it is not tempted to sprout ahead of time.
2 Likes
Pear cultivars which appear to be compatible with quince (list from POMONA, 1985)
Abbe Fetel (Abate Fetel)
Alexandrine Douillard
Ananas de Courtrais
Aurora
Bartlett (Williams)
(French and Swiss compatible only)
Bloodgood
Beirschmitt
Belle Guerandaise
Beth
Beurre Alexandre Lucas
Beurre Anjou
Beurre Capiaumont
Beurre d’Amalis
Beurre Diel
Beurre Dubuisson
Beurre Gifford
Beurre Hardy
Beurre Superfin
Butira Precoce Morettini
California
Clara Frijs
Colette
Concorde
Conference
Dabney
Dawn
Devoe
Doyenne du Comice
Doyenne Gris
Dr. Desportes
Duchesse Bronzee
Duchess d’Angouleme
Durondeau
Early Seckel
Easter Beurre (Doyenne d’Hiver)
Fique d’Alencon
Emile d’Heyst
Flemish Beauty
Fondante d’Automne (Seigneur)
Fondante de Moulins-Lille
General Leclerc
Glou Morceau (Beurre d’Hardenpont)
Gorham
Grand Champion
Graf von Moltke
Harrow Delight (HW603)
Harvest Queen (HW602)
Highland
Howell
Jeanne d’Arc
Josephine de Malines
Kieffer
Laxton’s Superb
Louise Bonne de Jersey
Louis Pasteur
Magness
Maxine (Stark’s Delicious)
Old Home
Olivier de Serres
Onward
Passe Crassane
Pierre Corneille
Rogue Red
Santa Claus
St. Andre
Sierra
Sirrine
Sucree de Montlucon
Thompson’s
Tyson
Urbaniste
Vicar of Winkfield (Cure)
White Doyenne
Warren
4 Likes