I am getting 87 and 333 pear rootstocks from Copenhaven. They have the best prices I have seen and aren’t sold out yet.
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They sell nice rootstocks!
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Some of you may not have ever seen BET grown out but its what I do with them before I graft them over. Make sure you know the things your planting. The grafts take better if you plant the rootstocks out and come back in a couple of years and graft them. These BET were completely ignored and left in deer country to fend for themselves. I will need to prune them up and shape them but they will work out great long term
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Wow that’s nuts! I never knew they’d be so thorny. Those look like a very hardy rootstock in every sense.
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That hardiness is why I get them the deer and other varmints typically learn to leave them alone. They are excellent Asian pear rootstocks.
What about European pears on Bet. .?
Compatability , ?
Longevity ,?
Productivity ,?
I know they are supposed to be good for Asians .
But what about euros on Bet.?
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Euros on BET are absolutely and perfectly fine. That’s what they use in Europe.
Dax
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They typically make a very large tree but like Dax @Barkslip said they work great. Some European pears such as harrow sweet, harrow delight etc. can reduce the height of the tree. They are more suited for Asian pears because Asian pears reduce the height. I’m not sure any of us live long enough to access how a pear really does long term but you won’t have to worry about it again in your lifetime. Napoleans army had no idea these pears they planted and grafted would still be there Napoleon’s army planted pear trees fact or fiction?. In a good location a hundred years is not much to a pear. BET are hardy and those good roots = higher pear production and bigger fruits in some cases. The reason why people say dwarfs have smaller fruits is because the dwarf lacks the super long roots and aggressive growing behavior of BET that get the fruits all the water and nutrients they need to get large. The things that make bet desirable are also what gets it the axe. As people age they get tired of climbing ladders and shooting spray straight up trying to reach the top of the tree.
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Today i checked on the babies from the order that were 6". Some were 15 feet now. Have largely ignord these trees since a beaver pruned them for me. A post yesterday made me think to go check them.
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I like to prune my trees and let the branches fall where they will. When I get a burn pile going, I’ll collect the bigger stuff and throw it on.
Smaller stuff gets mulched by the riding mower. Sometimes I worry about puncturing my tires from citrus, plum, and some other thorny stuff. But those look like guaranteed flats. Wow.
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The deer dont touch them. The rabbits go around them. Only a beaver took some down. In a remote orchard you dont have time to manage at the moment they are perfect.
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Just a reminder to those who dont know this rootstock the thorns are wicked! They are a fantastic rootstock.
Any idea what is the natural proliferation rate of BET vs Callery?
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Callery outgrows BET at first and ohxf outgrows both for the first year. In my area everything out grows harbin. Ohxf97 grows 30% faster than ohxf333 by the 2nd year. Ohxf87 is similar growth to ohxf97 but slightly behind it by maybe 10%. Callery overtakes ohxf by the 3rd year and outgrows it sometimes by double by the fifth year. BET will be at least 30 -50% ahead of BET by the 5th year. In good soil a BET hits 18 feet by the 5th - 7th year and Callery will be at 12 - 15 feet depending on variety. There are hybrids of both! Many bartlett seedling rootstocks are fantastic well behaved rootstocks but the rabbits , deer , and fireblight for starters are all problems with them. Ohxf333 does not have much steam which makes it a fantastic dwarf in heavy clay. It still grows big if you let it but very slowly after 5 years. That delayed growth is concerning long term. It will likely run out of steam very early on and BET will be around in 100 years with plenty of vigor.
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I meant more of the self-planting rate, but your post was very interesting nonetheless.
I have definitely seen Callery trees compete with grass and grow so well without any babying. I see Callery all over the place, especially in ditches. I also have OHxF that nearly died (maybe deer pressure) but it is rebounding. BET definitely out grows OHxF (even when OHxF had another year in ground). After 3 OHxF died, I only planted BET, and am experimenting with grafting on seeding Calleries.
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BET does not self seed here i dont let it. Im afraid of a field full of those thorny trees. Had one bloom this year!
I’m wondering BET would be competitive to Callery. Both have tiny fruit that I assume same bird species could disperse. Perhaps we only hear of invasiveness of Calleries because of it’s ubiquity in ornamental landscaping. Perhaps BET could be invasive as well.
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