I’ve seen this claim now for quite some time and I don’t understand it. Do we Swiss and the French have a slightly different sport of Williams that is quince compatible or do we have different quince rootstock? And if yes, why don’t other countries import this compatible plant material?
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Yes, you do. This is the study: https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/sites/agscid7/files/horticulture/osu-nursery-greenhouse-and-christmas-trees/onn011103.pdf.
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Thank you!
When transplanting trees from the nursery bed to the orchard this spring I found the roots of trees on OHxF333 to be brittle and I lost more of the root system on those trees than I did when transplanting the trees on OHxF97. The trees on 333 seemed to have more transplant shock than those on 97 as well. So I’m wondering if perhaps OHxF333 isn’t the best root stock to use if trees are being started in a nursery bed and moved to their permanent location. This is purely anecdotal. I haven’t completed moving the 333 trees, and I still have to move trees on OHxF87. I hope to move the remaining pear trees this fall. It will be interesting to compare the 333 and 87 to see if the 87 is more forgiving when transplanted. I also have 7 out of 10 remaining trees on Quince, grafted in 2018 that are doing surprisingly well in my climate. (Yes, these trees have been in the nursery bed too long, it took longer to get the orchard site cleared than originally anticipated).
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THanks for your observations.
Those pears in my orchard on OHxF333 are low vigor and slow growing, and I am going to focus on using OHxF87.
I have also seen my pears on quince grow well.
Happy growing,
Frank
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That could be a good thing for takes-forever-to-produce varieties, like Warren. I ordered a Warren on OHxF333 for next spring.
I like the 87 and 97. Have several on quince and they look great, but must be staked or they fall over. Not a fan. Also noticed that not all varieties fruit quick on quince.
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Thanks for the tip! I bought an orchard with around a hundred pear trees, mostly on OHxF 87, but I’m interested in trying some on Quince. I’m in Zone 4b Minnesota. Do you know the hardiness of Quince A, Provence, or other quince?
I picked a lot of pears from grafts made in April 2020 this summer…all gone already. To a seedling callery I cut the top out of … it had been 12 feet tall and over 3" caliper…I butchered it pretty good, and got splendid results.
Has
6 varieties
on it…4 fruited already.
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I don’t think any quince is hardy to zone 4. If you want smaller trees you might want to try OHxF 333.
Okay, well, wish me luck then - I have 8 young quinces that have made it though 2 winters so far. The tops die back somewhat but the rootstocks have been fine so far.
I’ll stick with OHxF for my pears. There were a few here on Usuriensis(?) and they did not do well.
Good luck with your quince trees. I see you have over 100 pears trees. I hope they are all doing well.
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Quince supposedly, from what I have read, is suspectible to winter injury, which you would plenty of opportunities for that in Minnesota 
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Quince does not work well for us here in Kansas in my experience.
How does a low vigor rootstock work well with Warren that takes unusually long time to fruit?
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I am not an expert, but here is my understanding: Many trees/varieties are naturally programmed to grow to maturity or close to maturity before they start producing fruit. For certain varieties on full vigor rootstocks that can take 7-8 years or even more. On the other hand, with low vigor rootstocks, that period can be shortened to 3-5 years (because for the latter the mature tree size is significantly smaller than for the former).
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Thanks.
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I have read that a lack of cold hardiness is one of the drawbacks of grafting pears on quince in cold areas.
Wanted to remind you that in the past i used that small yellow pear frequently as an interstem on problematic Pyrus calleryana aka callery rootstocks. If you need an interstem for something to conquer incompatability that is the perfect pear for that.
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