Not very picky, but prefer low cost. Have room to a couple of Asian pear trees. Do not like the high shipping cost. May hit Lowe’s if I do not find anything more reasonable through mail order…
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15 years ago I bought a multigraft Asian pear through Raintree. That one has done very well.
5 years ago I bought a Hosui pear tree at Home Depot. That one has done equally well. I have grafted the 3 varieties from the old one, onto this newer one, so I can have a bunch of each type. They pollinate each other and ripen at different times.
If you buy two trees, I recommend you get 2 varieties if possible, of find someone with a second variety and ask for some scion in late winter, so you get more fruit production.
I think the big box store ones are OK. There was a long thread on trees from big box stores with a variety of opinions. My success has been good, Lowes and Home Depot both.
For those who are interested, Ison has some Asian pears on sale! I would have bought some if I have room 
For very few trees, shipping is always an issue. If you add the shipping cost, there is not much saving from buying bare root trees. Bear root vs container is another story… But I can always make things work…
Shipping is always the killer when trees are shipped in containers. Not many vendors ship fruit trees in containers these days, though you can still find a few. Those who sell tropical.
the ones Ison has on clearance are bare rooted 
I meant to say, if you add the shipping cost to (2-3) bare root trees, then the price is not that attractive to container trees you can buy from local nursery.
true! However, sometimes local nurseries do not have them We have a local nurseries selling columnar apples for almost $200! Mind you they are nice and big trees but for that price, I will pass
The local Asian pear trees in local nursery sell for $22 to $35 a pot. I still need to find the variety I want. If I buy 10 trees total, it makes more sense to buy the bare root in the mail…
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that I must say is a good price! Which variety are you after and why that variety?
I already have 4 Asian pears. But I’d like to add Korean Giant and maybe another bronze skined pear tree.
Variety and rootstock are the unknowns when you buy from a big box. But, I’m not sure that rootstock will matter that much for Asian pears. As for variety, why not just graft on the ones you want? I think I’ve still got some Korean Giant scionwood if you can’t find a tree.
i dont have Korean Giant I am hoping to have a go at bud grafting this summer with apples. I bought Maxie and Hosui this year. Growing in pots and if they survive, I can offer scions in the near future.
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BobVance, what time of the yr do you graft your Asian pears? I heard that it is in late summer. also what type of graft tape do you use? thanks
I did most of my pear grafting (Asians and Euros) in the last week. I’ve got a few left to go, but should be done with the first batch next week (same for apples). I’ll re-graft a month from now for any which didn’t take.
I use green garden tape to hold them together and parafilm to keep the moisture in. I’ve been having good success with cleft grafting in spring. The summer grafting you are referring to is either chip or T budding. I’ve tried both, but haven’t had much success yet. It is also harder to get budwood during the summer than scionwood during the winter/spring.
Yes, I am referring to chip/bud grafting. I have never tried it and have tried grafting mulberry in Feb but it went kaput using parafilm, but I dont like it.
I bought a bud grafted Asia pear and vendor uses a tape that is very film like. I asked vendor and was sent to Amazon for parafilm which I have. I was then directed to another site that has chip bud tape. I didnt buy cos it did not look like the one on my pear tree. I eventually bought one roll from ebay but will take sometime to receive it. Looks that the one I am after but can’t be sure till I get it. I personally do not like the parafilm as I do not think it holds moisture, the one that is on my pear seems better. This summer I will have a go at chip grafting apple trees.
“in the last wk”, do you mean last wk?
I generally space my trees at least 17’ apart. So there should be enough room for most rootstocks. The trees from my local nurseries have growers’ names on them. So I can still call them and ask them for the type of rootstock.
Grafting is a good option. But here i just want to add another tree and get more yield.
I’ve found parafilm pretty effective. Are you making sure the entire scion is covered, as well as the graft union?
I’ve tried chip budding quite a lot (maybe 2 dozen grafts) and have finally had 2 take this spring. For whatever reason, it seems much trickier to me than spring grafting. I had 90+ percent success with apples and pears last spring using cleft grafts.
They are similar, but “in the last week” means during the last 7 days, while “last week” indicates the last completed 7 day period ending on a Saturday (US) or Sunday (international). The two phases can mean the same thing if spoken at exactly the correct time and with the correct end-of-week assumption (Sat vs Sun).
I don’t like that ambiguity, so I used the “in the last week”, to indicate that I had done it in the last 7 days. If I said “last week” in my post on 4/26, I could have meant either during the April 19-25 week (assuming the US standard of Saturday ending the week) or 13-19 (international standard of week ending on Sunday), since the current week of 20-26 was still going on and would be referred to as “this week”.
I know this sounds very nit-picky, but I deal with computers and precision can be important. In fact, when using Oracle (a database), I often cast times into “IW” format (International Week). It can cause data confusion when comparing the reports with info from a group which uses Sat-Sun weeks.
@BobVance thanks for the clarification. I did not cover the entire length of the scion, if that is what you meant. I covered 3inches above and below the main branch and 2inches of the scion wood. Say if the scion is 6inches, 4 inches from the tip of the scion would be exposed. Maybe that is why mine when kaput! I am going to have a go a bud/chip grafting. I will post a picture of the chip bud tape when I get it. May take up to June for me to receive it.