My Orchard Projects

Looks like good grafting root-stock. It looks like the Callery seedlings growing all over my area.

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This front field where these 2 trees are has overgrown some but just so many years ago I use to mow it… I am thinking of starting to clean it up again and mow around a lot of the trees that have grown up there and maybe take a few out here and there and turn that whole area into orchard! I have paths mowed in it now so I can walk around in it but I think in a years time of mowing again it can be turned into a very nice area for planting some fruit trees. It is also a much bigger area than where my orchard is now and since I have it for the most part filled up with stuff, I was planning on expanding my growing area anyways. The apple trees I may plant closer to where the ones by my driveway are but a pear orchard up there (with a few other things mixed in maybe) would be very nice :blush:

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They do look very much like callery. The last couple of tests to know for sure is a photo of leaves under the tree and look for any dried up fruits. The fruits will look similar to my posts of those callery in this thread OHxF 333 Pear Rootstock?. Most callery fruit look like these
small%20callery

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I will check them out :+1: suppose to rain the next couple days so it may be weekend before I can get back to them. Thinking I may have seen something like that on the one by the driveway before and I am sure that the leaves of it look like that. Really hope that these pan out and I can top work both of them! Thanks :blush:

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@Auburn and @clarkinks Since I may be grafting to these 2 trees, what varieties might be best to graft to them? Auburn knows what type of varieties I am going to be getting and I have read that both of you use callery as rootstock and figured best to get a game plan now! Also anyone else that uses this type as rootstock is also more than welcome to chime in. I have read a lot on here about them and know for sure you both have had luck with them. Seems like I also remember reading that @39thparallel has also grafted to these :+1: Thanks for any and all input!

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Yes many people, maybe even most use callery as rootstock or ohxf in this area . @Derby42 , @tonyOmahaz5, @Olpea etc. Can also give advice using these as rootstock. The callery or bet is by far the best rootstock on my property in Kansas. In nearby states of Missouri , oklahoma, and Nebraska the callery is one of the best rootstocks. This thread and others i posted explain the wild callery response to grafting very well Wild callery pear rootstocks. We have top worked hundreds of the large wild callery.

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Good to know that others are using this and having great results as well! Thanks for linking others as well :+1:

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There probably are a few incompatible varieties with Callery but I haven’t run across any yet. I grafted two about thirty years ago at my nephews house and they are still doing well. My most recent grafts to them have been through an unknown dwarf inter-stems. All these appear to be compatable.

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Ok. So the interstem (from what I have read here) is a piece of scion that is more compatible with the root stock whilst also being compatible with what variety you are wnsting to graft but the graft scion isn’t as compatible with the rootstock. Correct? Thus making you be able to graft to a different rootstock than what normally would be compatible with it?

Thanks for the reply @Auburn :+1:

Glad to hear it is very compatible as well, I have been reading about some Asian pears not being compatible. That is why I was making sure of what might or might not work… :relaxed:

My primary reason for using the interstem is to slow the overall tree growth and aid in keeping the tree to a manageable size. I don’t think many people use the interstem. The interstem would be a big problem if it was incompatible with either the root or scion.

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I haven’t directly grafted from callery to asian. Clark might be able to help with that question.

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Good to know that it makes the growth rate slower or faster depending on the choice of interstem. I am kind of blown away by all if this as it seems kike it can get a bit complicated but at the same time can be simple :+1:

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I have not seen any comparability issues on the few perry pears and Euro fresh market pears I grafted on Callery.

I prefer colonial Pear rootstock because I know exactly what it will do and seems to produce bearing trees faster than Callery. Wild Callery rootstock is widely diverse in vigor. I would only chose Callery if I was trying to grow a tree in an area subject to flooding, drought or if there were wild pears growing that I could graft over. I hear it is often used in the south as a rootstock where they have extreme Fireblight pressure.

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Thanks for replying. I am hoping I can top work these 2 and will look for more. There vigor is pretty good because I was mowing this as a field just 6 or 7 years ago. It just became more work than what it was worth at the time and I started out mowing around small trees that came up and sort of just let it go after that. Only maintaining a few paths in it. I am gonna try to reclaim this if i can use it for fruit trees though :+1:

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When top working would it be best to prune the tree heavy now before it has broken bud or wait til time to graft? Or does it even matter?

I am watching a YouTube video on top working a pear.

EDIT Nevermind :man_facepalming: he went straight into grafting after pruning it :+1:

I have grafted several different varieties of asian to callery without any compatibility issues.

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Thank you very much for that reply @mvfd801 :+1: I am not sure what I will try to graft to these 2 but I am going to try for a couple varieties on each and want to make sure what my options are before starting!

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Well I went to a few places yesterday evening and also ended up at Lowe’s … I bought a couple grapevines. A Red Flame Seedless and a Thompson Seedless. I am thinking of putting these close to the house by my Concord Seedless. Anyone have any thoughts on how the Red Flames taste? I have eaten plenty of Thompson Seedless and if they taste similar to store bought (hopefully better from my own vines) then I should be pretty happy with them.

I also went on advice here and bought some Immunox Fungicide for Black Rot as I do lose some every year to that and I hope to save as many grapes as I can :+1:

Concord seedless is highly resistant to black rot, its usually not seedless unless your weather is perfect. Concord seedless i grow here spray free now and i had black rot for years. I cured it up using cultural practices and immunox and captan mixed and used evefy 2 weeks. I pruned the grapes down to the main trunk and a few uninfected branches and sprayed frequently for 2 years after which there was never blackrot
Some grapes such as red canadice attract black rot. I actually received a red canadicd plant from a nursery that showed the brown dots on the leaves within a day of planting. I thought i would lose my battle with blackrot but chuckle now looking back on it. Thompson grape is a zone 7 grape which is not hardy in many areas and i suspect it will die in winter there. I know nothing of the other grape.

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I am hoping that I can rid myself of the Black Rot after a couple years of spraying as well. I have never had the weather for Concord seedless to ever be seedless either :man_shrugging: I pruned heavy this year and am hoping that with spraying it will way improve my grapes. Canadice and Himrod have always had a problem getting started here for some reason. Going to move 1 each of those to a different spot this year and see if they do any better. I also have some Niagara grapes that the rabbits love to clip off every time they get to growing. Catawba is back and forth as well with me and I have some Black rot on those as well. Hoping a good spray scheldule will alleviate it this year for me and I will only have to spray for a couple years before it is gone. I am going to try the Thompson seedless and see how it will go. Hoping it and the Red Flame both do well but you just never know.