This is a Seckel Pear on ohxf87. I plan on cutting the two bigger limbs down short, cutting off all the other smaller branches close then graft AC Harrow Sweet to the central leader where its highlighted in blue. Would this be an okay move? or would I be causing the young tree too much stress? This spring it will be starting its second season in ground. Thanks
I graft to wild persimmon rootstocks about that size often here and they do very well.
I cut off all side branches and graft to the CL normally in the 24-44 inch height range.
I grafted H63A on at 44 inches on a nice stout rootstock.. and it fruited in year 2.
Below the graft… You will need to rub off any rootstock growth that happens.. or it will slow down the progress of your graft.
Good Luck !
TNHunter
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O persimmons are cool. I recently bought a prok variety for my property in bear country.
Id ideally like for the seckel pear to branch out like its pictured below. So there are 4 scaffolding branches of seckel on the bottom with a 2-3ft gap in the middle then ac harrow variety on top. A modified central leader is what I think im going for.
I want the seckel pear to branch out and ideally look like this picture with the green limbs. Then the rest become ac harrow sweet. Thats the goal to promote bottom branching of seckel and top work it with another variety.
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I will bet you that if you head it that high the next bud will just grow to continue the upward growth.
You need to head it off way lower
But you can also try notching the buds.
Notching to Increase Branching - General Fruit Growing - Growing Fruit
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Could i keep graft up high where i want it but just knock off the seckel buds 12"s below the graft? (highlighted in red) and notch under the graft.
*edit i think im going to graft up high, remove buds a foot under graft. Keep two new branches that are south and west facing ideally. If they start to surpass the graft ill tie down.
I would graft to one of the lower branches and notch the central leader. otherwise your asking the tree to grow branches below the graft which is a huge wound while also growing replacement branches it things will take over for the wound.
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I often graft a new leader and have a tier or 2 of scaffold branches eventually coming off of it. If you want to have branches where you drew the red lines then that’s fine, but you really don’t have to cut them at all at this point. You want the tree to focus on growing and pruning of young trees is dwarfing. So if you are creating a modified central leader, that is a 2 or three tier tree with 4’ between tiers your strategy is fine.
The most important thing when grafting a trunk change is never put a more vigorous variety on top of a less vigorous one. Putting a less vigorous one on top is actually a way to engineer a much better tree- a fact that surprises me that I had to discover for myself… from error. I’ve never read a thing about that besides my own comments. It is always about matching vigor of scaffolds on 3 in 1 trees.
The problem of managing central leader trees is that the top branches always have a tendency to dominate the lower ones, and for many varieties this imbalance can only be controlled via pruning existing branches for so long. After a few years one must cycle upper scaffolds in and out, replacing them when their diameter is great enough to inspire far too much vegetative growth when pruned back vigorously. Ultimately, with very mature trees, it usually becomes most practical to change them over to open center trees.
If you have grafted the upper tiers to preferred varieties you may instead decide to train the tree to a weep.
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About 5 years ago I grafted a somewhat similar pear tree and it is doing well. The lower level is Korean Giant and I added a Dripping Honey on top. I got lucky in that the KG has been more vigorous than the DH. These Asian pears are fairly easy to control the height at about 7 feet. This tree is smaller but I have been getting about 50 KG pears and 50 DH for the last 2-3 years. Good luck with your tree.
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Thank you the update I appreciate it.
From what I can tell seckel is just as vigorous as ac harrow sweet. I know my sisters seckel on standard rootstock is the biggest and heaviest producer in the garden. Online says seckel is small and rounded but from what ive seen it is vigorous upright and the bottom branches spread a lot and it’ll get 25 ft on standard rootstock after a couple decades untrimmed. I like the weeping idea. If it gets too top heavy. Or just turning into delayed open center depending on how it grows out. I appreciate your thoughts. Your comment made me think, do some research and learn so thanks for that
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Harrow Sweet is less vigorous than Seckel for me, so you are good to go with that combination. Harrow Sweet is usually slowed down by producing so much fruit.
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