Hi All,
I read an article stating that Asian pear scionwood can be grafted to a Euro pear but not vise versa.
I decided to ask Scott and Tony. Scott has only done A on E. Tony has success both ways.
What is your experience? Have your E. pear scionwood grows well on A pear tree like Tony’s?
My Asians on Seckel grew OK for a number of yrs but have slowly failed over the past 5 yrs. It’s not a lot of experience. But the Asians just slowly died back while the Comice and Bosc also grafted on the same tree continued to look good.
I have multigrafted asian pear on European pear. Five years now,asian pear does not grow much.It looks like is declining
I have an Asian grafted onto European for over 5 years. The Asian grows a little slower and this is possibly why it is thought to be declining. I think what you have is similar to grafting Bud9 on top of M111 root. The Bud9 would naturally grow slower than M111 but it would be compatible. My Asian pear limb is located high on the truck to help compensate for it’s lower vigor. This spring I added Harrow Sweet and Blakes Pride scions to my Asian pear and both are growing well.
My Moonglow graft on Nijiseiki looks normal. This is the 9th year.
Thank you everyone for your responses. Fruitnut, Annie and Bill’s experiences are with Asian on Euro (as the article stated) but seem to have some kind of issue (grafting compatibility?) over time.
Z9 and Tony appear to have success with Euro on Asian (opposite to the article’s warning).
It’s very interesting. I’ve love to hear more.
I have more E. pear scionwood and not enough E pear trees to graft on. I am thinking about grafting those E pear scionwood on my A. pear trees but have been hesitant due to the article. Tony gives me some hope and more input from your guys are welcome.
I have a twenty year old standard European rootstock that I top worked last year. I put four European and four Asian pear varieties on it. I had two scions of each variety and of the sixteen grafts I think fourteen took. They all grew very well but the Asian pears grew more than the European. The Korean giant just looked super, big leaves and sturdy branches. The Korean giant and shinseiki both bloomed and have little green pears on them this spring. I hope I can get a couple through the summer and get to taste them. I grafted, hood , magness, and Clara frijs. I was running a little short on grafting spots on the tree so I put one scion of Clare frijs on the shinseiki. It has been suggested that Clara frijs my be more compatible than other types of pears so I guess I will find out if it can grow on an Asian pear.
How would you classify the old home series? Are those not considered euro pear? If so I know a lot of people including myself have used those to support Asian pear.
Right or wrong I have always assumed that if two varieties are compatible it does not matter which order they are grafted other than the typical dwarfing effect from the lower one being less vigorous. My 4-5 year Asian on European looks perfectly healthy and loaded with small fruit.
The Ussurian or Harbin Pear rootstock (Pyrus ussuriensis) can be used as a rootstock for Asian pears but can cause decline in European pears. Pyrus calleryana are typically used for European pears but some are used with Asian pears as a rootstock. Technically speaking calleryana aka callery is actually an Asian pear but there are several kinds of callery pears. They might not always be compatible. The Wild Callery sometimes are hybridized with Pyrus betulifolia which makes them more compatible with Asian pears in my experience when this happens. Some wild callery are not compatible with much of anything and for these I have had the best luck with grafting douglas, clara frijs , and kieffer scions to those. Pyrus betulifolia is frequently used for Asian pears but not European because there will be to much growth. Pyrus communis rootstock is used for European pears and sometimes asians. Pyrus communis are pears such as Bartlett etc. which are known as common pears. OHxF 87 and OHxF 97 are used for both Asian and european because they push enough growth for an Asian pear to grow and are also nice for European pears. Old home and Farmingdale rootstocks were discovered when they were looking for fireblight resistant rootstocks. Quince rootstock is compatible with certain European pears and interstems of Beurre Hardy or ohxf are used to make it work with others. Pyrus pyrifolia or Asian pear is what pears such as Korean giant, hosui etc are. So you might wonder why some people say European pears such as Kieffer are more graft compatible with Asian pears? The reason is pears such as Kieffer are hybrids of Pyrus communis x Pyrus pyrifolia which is also what gives those pears some of their fireblight resistance. For a list of some of the hybrids of Pyrus communis x Pyrus pyrifolia grown for fruit and fireblight resistance see this list http://www.ars.usda.gov/SP2UserFiles/Place/20721500/catalogs/pyrhybrid.html
I have a keiffer that I planned to graft some euros along with korean giant. May think twice about that now.
They should do fine Speedster I added a KG to kieffer this year. Like I was saying Kieffer is a hybrid.
They will do great.
I love the way my Korean giant looks, I wish I had a tree dedicated to it. I have an ohxf 87 in the ground that I think will get a kg on it next spring if all goes as planned.
That sounds like a great plan!
OHxF 513 is supposedly compatible with both Euro and Asian pears, without pear decline issues with the Asians. Makes a semi-dwarf tree, about 75% of standard.
For a number of years now, I’ve been using 8-10" pieces of 513 as an interstem between callery rootstock and most pears I’ve been grafting - whether Asian or Euro. I can’t tell that it’s providing any dwarfing whatsoever; the interstem trees seem to be easily as vigorous - if not more so than the trees on clonal OHxF 513 rootstocks.
I would and have grafted onto Kieffer.
I still can. And will. I haven’t grafted any pears yet
I just took a photo of my Bartlett Euros pear that I Bark grafted on my Korean Giant 6 years ago. It took about three to fruit but it load with fruits every year.
Tony
Great post clark in ks. Lots of good info.
John S
PDX OR
