Not surprised. They are particularly thick around mile 108 in KY on I-75…but actually they’re just about in all areas as the birds and animals have distributed the seeds…and they germinate readily, apparently.
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They are pretty easy to spot in the spring time when they are loaded with white flowers.
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Purplish leaves hanging after many trees have become bare in November is another good ID-ing method.
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I drove by an area recently with hundreds of relatively large callery seedlings, most 10-20 ft tall. There were many with several dead shoots from fire blight, but I did not see a single fruit. Maybe they were so tiny I missed them, but I really don’t think there were any. Since these are obviously seedlings that grew up along a cleared area next to the entrance to a parkway, you would think most would be cross-compatible. The lack of fruit on a non-native, invasive tree is not really a bad thing, but it does seem a bit weird.
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Aaaaa…but the birds may already have scattered them in the next clearing long the road! 
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Mine produces fruits about the size of a Hass avocado seed.
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Clark, this may be a silly question, but could Callery pears be used as a disease resistant semi-dwarf rootstock for apples?
This post seems to infer it has been done before with Bartlett/seedlings on a large scale. Apples grafted onto pear rootstock for cider in old days
If so is there a good reason why this practice has ceased and apple rootstocks are more prevalent? I could see a happy disease free Callery being a superior option for both apples and pears in most circumstances.
An additional question - has anyone tried rooting cuttings from Callery?
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No, haven’t. But I’d try “root cuttings” before “rooting cuttings” if I didn’t plan to do grafting or seed planting.
Your question can be answered easily but it may not be the answers you want to hear. Many have thought as you of grafting apples to pears. Many more have believed they were successful. There are what are known as interspecific hybrids some of one tree and another. There are some apples such as winter banana more compatible with pears than other apples. There are many who have tried to graft apples to pears with success @Auburn @39thparallel and many others. All of this said in my opinion I’m not sure it should be done. I question if such as orchard even if grafted using interstems could ever be fully productive. It’s my opinion it would be difficult to find a working combination which would take time. Many times I’ve grafted winter banana and many times it’s died of fireblight. Perhaps others will have suggestions and experience different from mine. After all consider I’m partial to pears so my opinion is biased for that reason as well. You can easily take cuttings and root them. Most times when apples are grafted to pears they grow poorly and die after several years. You might like this topic Interstem aka interstock Pear Grafting and this one Compatibility grafting? - #3 by clarkinks
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When I used Winter Banana to graft onto pear trees it was only for a short interstem which I think helps with avoiding FB. With that said I moved on to look at other combinations. I used Yates and Bud9 on an unknown Asian pear and the union looked pretty good. I do these graft combinations for my entertainment and to show others but I think it would take much longer to even consider these graft combinations as a serious alternative. Do it for fun only.
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I started this thread in May of 2021. I finally got the wild callery pears trees next door grafted. I wanted to share some pictures.
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I wanted to update on the grafts I installed in late March, and early April. I am very happy with the success of this project. I did not have any issues with incompatibility of attaching the scions to the callery pear trees. I have all ready had to go back and prune some of the scions, and cut back the growth from the original trees. I used over 20 different varieties of pear scions for this project.
I have started trimming back some trees for the 2023 season (attaching photos) I also grafted some pears scions to some callery rootstocks I dug up, on the side of the road. I hope to plant them next spring. When I grafted, I started most of the grafts, about 4 feet high to keep the deer from eating them.
trees prepared for 2023 grafting season
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Great work! If you can’t beat 'em, graft 'em.
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I want to update this thread which I created in May of 2021. My first grafts were in the spring of 22, and this is my second year grafting in my next door neighbors back yard.
It has helped with my grafting skills. My first year I grafted too far out on the limbs making the limbs weak from too much weight. I pruned them way back last week, and I going to let them grow out, and take the scions from them. I will use the scions, for next springs grafting. This year, I grafted closer to the trunk of the tree. I have all ready cleared some areas out for next season. I am going to use some of the trees I grafted as a nursery.
2023 grafts
pears grafted on callery rootstock I dug up from down the street.
Pears graft on Barlett seedlings to be planted on back hill
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Next door on the Callery trees, about 25 different kind of pears. I get a order from 39th parallel and Maple Valley each year. I cut some of the scions off of my trees and use some of them also.
Pears in pots
Reddy Robin - 2 each (cut scions off the tree I planted in 2022 from Raintree.
Lazy J - 2 each ( from 39th parallel - I seen this variety on this forum, and I emailed Mike and I got 3 scions from him- I don’t have very much information on this pear!
Magness
Gem
Rescue
I plant 9 trees on the back hill, that were grafted to callery rootstock in the fall last year, and only 4 survived. They all look good in the fall. I dug up the trees and the rootstocks were good, but the died above the graft. I don’t know why. My favorite tree on top of the hill survived - Drippin honey!
I will fill in the spaces with the trees in the pots. I am going to try and lift the trees up with mulch as you see in the pictures. It is very wet on the hill.
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Might be a compatability issue on the trees that failed. Try harrow delight that grafts very easy to the problematic trees. It is the old home genetics that make it graft well. Looks like really good work you did!
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Thank for the compliments. I think you are right about the compatibility issue! I think it is better to graft to trees that are all ready in their location. When I dug up the rootstocks, I had to cut the tap root. I was really hard digging them up. I would not think small trees, the size of one your finger would have some many roots.
Next door, I grafted on the trees and didn’t have to dig them up. I grafted about 8 trees that where about 1/2 in diameter. Some pictures below. I hope the deer don’t eat them.
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