Grafted Bradford/Callery Pear w/ Edible Pear Experiment - Pruning Advice

In February '24 we cleared a small field in southern Ohio overrun by those invasive ornamental bradford/callery pear trees , and I decided to keep several stumps to practice grafting for my very first time.
[P.s. I am a new poster, so I can only attach 1 image per post, and will try to post them in the threads below]

I utilized a handful of ~8" day-old scion harvested from a edible pear tree we planted when I was a child. I don’t know the variety but it looks similar to a comice pear. Several lower limbs were left on each host rootstock to encourage “sap flow” and not overly shock the trees (I think they appreciated this, and they handled the topping very well)

Anyways, I utilized the bark graft and a single cleft graft .
The single cleft graft failed and slid out of its slit several days after grafting, I believe due to poor structural connection.

I used flexible grafting tape and pulled electrical tape tightly to anchor the joints; and Bonide Garden Rich Pruning Sealer to seal the grafts and most stump tops.

(1: See photo in next posts)

All trees were caged, scions where bagged, and small plastic caging was adding to some for structural support and facilitate bagging. I removed the bagging once I saw small leaves emerge from the buds. All but maybe one or two scions took.

(2.1: See photo in next posts)
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Over the months, these grafts grew very quickly and tall. I lost some big branches to wind and some pesky deer reaching over the cages and pulling on the branches. In the future, I’d like to do more to prevent wind damage by either splinting the branches or perhaps limiting growth via summer pruning so that they don’t catch so much wind.

I did some light hand pruning to the roostock branch growth and suckers, but saved the major pruning of these branches until the following winter 12/24. I suppose I could have done a more extreme pruning over the summer but the grafts were growing great so I saw no reason to disrupt that.

I removed the tape later in the seasons once I was confident the joint was secure. The grafts had actually grown through the tight tape, making it hard to remove some wraps — hopefully this doesn’t cause issues in the future.

(3: See photo in next posts)

Fast forward to 12/24, I did a drastic pruning of the roostock vegetation (not the scions), and in the photos you can see how much growth occurred on this in just 10 months. I don’t know if this is typical or not, but I was very impressed by this growth. Below you can see what these grafts look like now.

(4.1: See photo in next posts)
(4.2: See photo in next posts)
(4.3: See photo in next posts)

BUT, now I need pruning advice please! I’m not sure what shape to try to encourage for each of these grafts. I’d like to keep the pear tree low if possible, but I know this will likely be a full size tree because of the bradford/callery rootstock. I was planning to prune late winter / early spring. Below you can see the scions with their outlined profiles. Any ideas and advice would be appreciated!

(5.1: See photo in next posts)
(5.2: See photo in next posts)
(5.3: See photo in next posts)

Thanks

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@jpeubel

Welcome to the forum! I think you might enjoy these old threads

My techniques got better over the years and this method gets me excellent results

Nice job @jpeubel i can’t wait to see your follow up photos! Those pears will taste wonderful! The problems you had with rapid growth are very normal. Hopefully you can pick up some valuable information from those threads.

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@jpeubel … I have been working a pear project myself… similar to yours.

I will show you below how mine has gone.


In Jan 2023… I transplanted callery pear out into my orchard. In March 2023… I did bark graft (images above) adding improved kiefer scion to the callery rootstock.


Near the end of 2023 growing season it lookes like that… very nice growth.

Notice what the graft union looked like…

It had not completely healed over that top flat spot on the callery… but it had made some good progress…

Each of the 2 scions had sent up 2 shoots that grew quite tall.

The next late winter I pruned it. I selected one of those 4 shoots to be the central leader. I pruned 2 of those shoots (one on each side) off.

So I had my central leader… and one other shoot left… and they were on different scions … that one other I pruned it back significantly.

I wanted that one other to continue to grow some and remain alive so it could assist with healing the top of that bark graft.

Once that top is completely healed… i will remove it… leaving only the central leader that becomes my pear tree.

At the end of 2024 growing season this is what it looked like. That is what that one shoot… my central leader… turned into last year.

I did some limb bending and managed to get a few limbs to go out horizontal.

Needs more work this year.

Hope this helps.

TNHunter

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You did a nice job on that bradford pear, the blossoms stink. Looks like you took good care of the stench.

If you dont mind could you elaborate a little on the twigs?

Thanks

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I was wondering the same thing. My guess is it’s to press the bark against the scions.

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Exaxtly @Fishsauce … to push that callery bark tight against the scion.

Cant take credit for that… saw a guy on youtube do that.

TNHunter

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@TNHunter Wow those were some successful, symmetric grafts!
You’re orientation of the scion, placing those lower buds outwards, seems by design. Bud placement was not something I considered when making my grafts.

Thanks for walking me through your experience; that plan made a lot of sense!

I’m curious, was your central leader one of the inner buds?
Did you do any summer pruning the first year? Your buds grew so tall and straight, whereas I had a lot of branches by the end of the year.

Good eye @JesusisLordandChrist, I didn’t notice that technique!

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Those two outside buds/shoots got pruned off.

The two inside buds/shoots… I kept.

The one on the left became my central leader.

The one on the right i pruned off about 1.5 ft long… just using it to help that graft union heal.

I did no summer pruning that first season… but all 4 of those shoots grew so tall… I probably could have and might have made more progress sooner on getting scaffold branches started sooner.

TNHunter

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That was my second year grafting… and I have learned a thing or two since then.

For example now… by mid summer I will choose a central leader and prune the other shoots off shorter… they are still supporting the tree growth but not competing with the central leader.

When that central leader gets to be 5.5 ft tall… I will tip prune it. Then it sends out several branches… the start of scaffold branches.

That is the top of a H63A persimmon I grafted last spring… and shows how it developed by the end of the first growing season.

I think if you can get them that far along the first season… that is working pretty good.

TNHunter

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