I have many older trees and I will need help with IDs in the coming years. I thank you in advance for your patience. I should start a running game with tally and prizes because there’ll be so many…
Tree 1 Questions:
- What is this pear rootstock? I would like to graft on to this and want to pick something that is likely to do well.
- How to graft? The rootstock had grown four “large” (approx 3in) trunks. My plan was to cut these, let them grow shoots, then graft to those. I cut each trunk back to a different height (6ft, 4ft, 3ft, 1ft) and removed all the root suckers (many grew back). I now have shoots coming out of each of those heights. I wasn’t sure what height I should graft at b/c deer pressure so wanted to give myself choices. I’ll take any suggestions or advice here!
The grafted tree is still alive in there. It’s about 20’ tall and doesn’t look too healthy. Approx 10-15 years old. No pears produced by it in last 2 years (as long as I’ve had the property).
I thought the rootstock was BET because of the thorns but the leaves (in picture below) look different from what I’ve seen. The bark of the roootstock has an interesting look (in picture below). Also, my soil is alkaline if that helps.
Tree 2: Pear ID? It is likely 25-30 years old - so likely a pear that was popular at that time. It produced some pears in mid August that came off when tilted (zone 6b VA - I seem to be on a schedule ~1-2 weeks ahead of Clark). Unfortunately, I cannot tell you much about the fruit other than show you this one fruit I took a picture of. I got covid shortly after and things got crazy.
Pear is about 2.25" across (my hands are small).
As an aside: This tree is huge (35ft tall, 40inch circumfrence at chest height). There is a can that had some sort of whirly that has grown into it. It took me the better part of a day to prune it and remove brush from around it and I should do more.
