That latest map shows none in my county in TN… but they are here for sure. I planted one in 2002 that has seedlings poping up all along my roadside and field edges.
I am transplanting 2 of those to graft to this spring.
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I’m sure there’s a lack of reporting for many areas, and it’s safe to assume it’s present in any county within the broader range where it’s known to have spread. I think there might even be a way to report sightings so they get added to that map?
Hi all. I’d like to bump this topic.
I recently learned of callery bans growing in several states, and in my area the calleries thrive while apples/pears I plant on their accepted rootstocks fail frequently. Peaches and plums seem to thrive, though. Pears I’ve grafted to calleries thrive and grow amazingly so I’ve been doing that a lot in the past few years… until now it’s going to become illegal to “work” with them! Although I have noticed some callery trees seem to have some delayed incompatibility with some of the scions which die a year or two later.
I’ve tried the OHxF 87 and 333 rootstocks, and they seem to fail miserably in my silt/clay loam type soil… but these calleries pop up in soil that seems to be pure clay and rocks! I’ve read a lot of @clarkinks comments on here, and it seems my area is similar to his (zone 6, heavy soil, windy)… so I was leaning toward BET for pears and M111 (probably more so than B118) for apples in this area.
However I recently learned BET can hybridize with calleryana (Resistance to Fire Blight among Flowering Pears and Quince, HortScience Vol. 40(2) April 2005), which puts this whole callery ban in a pickle. The laws don’t specifically seem to talk about what happens with these hybridizations. I want to be able to propagate my own rootstock, perhaps have a small local nursery on the side, distribute plants to others, and whatnot, but if BET gets put into question too, then all I have left are seedling pears which are not guaranteed to be FB resistant and the OHxF line which don’t seem to thrive here well…
What are your guys’ experiences/thoughts on BET possibly being next on the chopping block? And is it guaranteed that if you buy BET rootstock that it is “pure” BET and not hybridized with calleryana?
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I like the sound callery makes when I run over them with the bushhog. Sounds almost as good as autumn olive.
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@radar
BET = Pyrus betulifolia ?
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Yes, Pyrus betulifolia.
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If I wanted to future-proof compliance with a potential betulifolia ban, here’s what I’d suggest.
Find pears that do well for you and save their seeds. You could even do controlled cross pollination if you’d like. You could then grow those out for rootstock & use the best ones. You could also save seeds from those best rootstocks and keep selecting over more generations. When you only let the best set seed, by the third or fourth generation the bulk of that population tends to be adapted. If you want vigorous stock, save from vigorous varieties.
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Bans depend on how your state government operates…but if your government is at least semi-sane I wouldn’t expect a BET ban anytime soon simply because it’s the primary rootstock for Asian pears. Banning BET would mean declaring Asian pear orchards fields of invasive plants. Since callery was never a ubiquitous rootstock, just one nursery item out of many, it was much easier to ban. That isn’t the case with BET. Outside of orcharding and pomology I don’t think anyone’s even heard of betulifolia anyway, so I don’t think it’s a prime target. Not unless the invasive-averse and nativists gain a lot of power in our legislatures like they have in Australia and NZ.
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Long-term I would love to get into amateur breeding for sure (even if it’s for future generations “long-term”, although taking from SkillCult there are methods to expedite that kind of project). On a small scale I have been growing my own fruit/perennial seedlings, selecting for ones that are the most vigorous in my soils despite my benign neglect; the easiest to root from cuttings (ie hardy mulberry seedling lines for potential future rootstock), and hardiest over the winter. I’m into Lofthouse-style vegetable landrace / adaptation breeding already, but fruit would be awesome to get into as well.
That makes sense!
Hopefully not!
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Joseph’s getting into it himself.
I’ve adopted his ideas for my plants generally, he’s one of those gardeners who found some underlying principles and started sharing them.
I just need more land to do all the work long term because I can’t grow hundreds of trees in my yard. It all started with attempting to stabilize a F1 tomato, which we promptly abandoned once we got F2 fruits that were way better. That’s what showed me the power in seeds.
I floated rootstock breeding to you since I myself want to breed my own Euro pear seedlings rootstock, so I already had the process in mind. Even if I don’t get a great rootstock population I could get some good pears, which I want anyway. BET won’t do that without a wider cross.
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Pyrus calleryana is also capable of hybridizing with European pear (P. communis). While the scientific literature has not yet formally recognized or described any confirmed P. communis × P. calleryana hybrids, they absolutely exist. I am currently growing seedlings from seed collected from an overgrown European pear rootstock. There were no other European pears in the vicinity, but numerous P. calleryana trees were present. The resulting seedlings exhibit morphological traits consistent with partial P. calleryana parentage. Additionally, there are many photographs on this site and elsewhere that appear to represent this hybrid combination, although most researchers tend to attribute large-fruited callery-like hybrids to introgression from P. ussuriensis or P. pyrifolia rather than P. communis.
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There are so many callery hybrids in this area that I have started a collection of them. One of my favorites is just east of Scottboro Alabama on the side of hwy 35 just as it starts up the mountain after crossing the Tennessee river. It produces fruit about 7/8 inch diameter and literally makes ropes of fruit on the branches.
What makes them interesting? Callery trees are better adapted to growing in poor soil, rocky soil, clay soil, or just about any situation where the soil is less than perfect. IMO, a breeding program could combine traits to enhance production of edible fruits.
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I’m trying crosses of BET x callery. Callery are band that is true but are trees that are 10 - 30% callery and don’t look like it? It might be interesting to you to know BET doesn’t produce tons of seed like callery. There is almost 0% chance of BET being banned. They have wicked thorns and strong growth making callery look weak. They are not as resistant to fireblight and that is a shame. BET quickly succumb to fireblight if left unchecked. Make sure you graft them over to fireblight resistant trees. If you interstem with pears like orient , kieffer, pineapple etc. It should be ok. If you want to know more check out this thread
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