Nature Hills is expensive and I can say that the only fruit trees that did not come out of dormancy so far from last year is my persimmon which are late bloomers anyway, my Comice pear tree from Nature Hills and my Sweetheart apricot from Stark Bros. I did a scratch test on both my sweetheart apricot and my Comice pear I got last fall from Nature Hills and Stark Bros. Both dead as a rock. I am wondering if I should do a scratch test on my persimmon but I do feel I see bud swell so am resistant to doing so.
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I would not recommend Nature Hill after reading the review in the garden’s watchdog. Too many negatives.
https://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/3047/#b.
Reviewers inDave’s Garden calls this nursery a scam nursery.
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The prices everywhere are giving me sticker shock
Starkbros did not have warren but as an example ayers is nearly $100
Going to graft a dozen or more warren and karls favorite this year.
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The best price for Warren pear tree is Century Farm Orchards ($21), shipped in fall or spring. The next best price, I think, is Mehrabyan ($25). They’re sold out now but are available for fall (Century Farm) or next spring.
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I got a Warren pear scion from 39th Parallel for $4.31 and grafted it to a callery the birds planted for free. Hard to beat that price!
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I got a scion for free from one member of this forum… jk.
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Bay Laurel has Warren listed for 32.95. Shipping starts at 30 something dollars where I live but stays that way. Buy 5 trees from Bay Laurel and get a 5% discount for buying in bulk. 10 trees gets you 10% discount and 10 trees is not hard to buy if just starting out let alone 5. Raintree is known for its price increases. People go to Raintree for their rootstocks and the fact you can buy things you cannot get many other places like the Zee sweet pluot or the raspberry red nectarine for cultivars or getting things like ST Julian A rootstock. There is a reason pretty much every tree I have bought from Raintree is surviving and that is because they have rootstock that fit where I live. Stark Bros is overpriced and I have not had good luck with their plants. I could honestly have made claims on their 125% warranty on almost all my plants I bought from them. I bought a Seckle pear, purple passion asparagus, 2 Zestar! apple, I forget the plum name from them a September Wonder Fuji, American cranberry, 3 Golden Saturn Peaches, A sweetheart apricot and 2 Starking Saturn Peaches from them. The purple passion asparagus has yet to come up this year if it will, the sweetheart apricot is dead, the plum had spots on the roots when it came and died quickly, the 3 Golden Saturn Peaches came so small wildlife made short work of them, the September Wonder Fuji came up with some problem that made the trunk darken, the American cranberry all died. Needless to say when you spend hundreds and all you have a year to 3 years later is a Standard Seckle which was 35 dollars with shipping 2 Zestar! apples and 2 Starking Donut Peaches after Stark Bros is not the example to fallow either. If I made a claim and so did everyone else losing their plants made a claim on everything I lost at Stark Bros they would not have a choice but to remove their warranty. I have never shopped at Gurneys because of their high prices and the fact that they do not ship stone fruit to CO.
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Thanks Clark for this thread, I think I might grow a Warren Pear this coming year, however, I checked both Tree of Antiquity and Bay Laurel Nursery, they both have 0x333 rootstock, is that good?
I found lots of suckers from my Chojuro which I bought from Bay Laurel, but no information online what kind of rootstock they have for this tree, it’s a standard.
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I bought mine from Trees of Antiquity. $45 I believe. I’ve had nothing but good experiences with this company.
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The ohxf333 i grow here in my clay loam stays very small and grows slowly. That is really nice in places i’m tight on room like beside my driveway. Ohxf87 or ohxf97 is more vigorous than ohxf333 but makes a larger tree. Think of ohxf333 like the better behaved little brother that requires extra care. It needs more water because it’s more of a dwarf. Ohxf333 causes fruiting faster but the fruit is smaller the first couple of years. In my experience the fruit does not taste good here the first 2 years on ohxf333 which means i just throw it away. Finally the thing is about warren is it needs proper pollination which in my case i grafted half the tree to karls favorite aka ewart which works fantastic! Magness warrens sibling is pollen sterile, but warren can pollinate other trees just fine. All that said eating warren pears is a heavinly experience. Like its parent comice i find the fruit very high quality. Expect it to be a light producer but that has never bothered me given the quality of the fruit. The warren i have is well behaved on callery rootstock. It is not overly large or fast growing. Highly recommend you go with a vigorous rootstock like ohxf87 or 97 if you want a larger tree. This is a 20 foot tall magness on ohxf97 just inside my orchard fence. They look and grow the same. The magness and warren are nearly identical twins. The fruit ripens around the same time, looks the same, and tastes identical. It would be very easy to keep that 20 foot tall tree at 12 feet.
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Thanks @clarkinks, what about the Rootstock from Gurneys, what kind of rootstock do they have for this pear, I’m unable to find this information online. I would like to get a Warren pear, then graft other Asian pears to it. But I can’t do the opposite. I have 5 Asian pears and only one Hood pear.
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They might use anything. The last standards i got from them looked like they were on BET but that was a long time ago. Grafting asian on Euro is no problem.
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What is your experience grafting European pears to Asian pear trees? I grafted a Seuri Asian pear tree (We didn’t like the Juicy Fruit Gum taste!) to multiple varieties starting in 2011 and now have a 20-foot tree. The rootstock is calleryana. So why do some people say not to graft European pears to Asian pears? Is it because pear decline due to psylla infection is worse on some Asian rootstocks? But if the Asian pear is grafted to a resistant rootstock, then it should not be a problem. That said, CA folks say calleryana is not resistant to decline.
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Some say Euro dont do well on asian but thats not always true. Decline impacts things like harbin rootstock yes. They say that because some euros dont grow well on hybrids or asian.
Would you say Euro on Callery is proven compatible or is jury still out?
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Euro works on callery but like with most rootstocks sometimes an interstem is needed. Asian works with callery but the same applies.
Thanks. I’ve done a dozen or so Euro on straight Callery in my locale, will see how they do. They sure take off like gangbusters. A Harrow Sweet I put on a friend’s Callery spring of '22 now has pears and looks like a four year old tree.
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That is because the harrow pears often have old home genetics. The one you grafted does for sure. Highly compatible! 25 Harrow pear varieties
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Interesting! Is there a list somewhere of Euro pears with some Asian in them?
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Any Hybrid (European x Asian) Cultivar are part asian. Here is a list
https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/20721500/catalogs/pyrhybrid.html
Ohxf rootstock are really ohxb (old home x bartlett). Now look at the harrow pears again they are like a rootstock in compatability but taste good.
Harrow sweet, harrow delight are actually 1 tree away from being a really great rootstock. That means they graft to anything. Keep in mind some harrow trees are protected by patents and trademarks. Harrow delight as an example is available from the USDA ars grin program and many nurseries now.
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