Do interstems typically work in both directions? IE: if a variety is a good interstem to put pear on quince, would it also be a good interstem to put that quince on that pear?
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Interstems work in one direction. Pear on quince is normally fine unless its not compatible with quince hence see the list above. In all instances where i tried quince on pear i failed.
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So you can’t use quince as a dwarfing interstem?
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It is very interesting topic. I am planning on grafting quince on unknown pear seedling. I don’t have any other closer quince’s relatives that I can graft onto except the pear tree. I don’t think I want whole lot of quince fruits just few branchesful of quince fruits are more than enough to satisfy my need. However, I have heard the incompatible issue of quince on pears. In attempt to resolve this issue, I grafted a section of ohfx333 rootstock onto the pear seedling (not sure the pear seedling likes this or not yet). I did some reading that the ohfx333 has some quince blood, hopefully it will compatible with the pear seedling on one end and compatible with the quince on the other end. I want to know if anyone here had tried this approach and what was the outcome??
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Unfortunately the whole article at that link is not available. If you dig up a dwarfing stock you will see the roots themselves are much smaller than a full sized stock, so there is no way that an interstem will make a pear on quince act like a pear on a normal pear stock. My guess is what the article is calling “vigorous” is relative to other cultivars on quince it is more vigorous; they still are very dwarfing compared to e.g. seedling pears.
In other words, for a backyard grower any pear interstem compatible with quince should be fine. I have just grabbed random things, this year it was Urbaniste it looks like.
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The bulgarian quince that developed rust in this post Who's growing Quince? later proved incompatible grafted to pear and died. Delayed failure is to be expected with quince grafted to pear
Thanks that was very helpful, I should have considered the context that article was written in.
Has anyone on the list ever grown a quince tree (made root stock) from seed? I didn’t read every post so I may have missed something about that. I picked a few varieties from NCGR Corv and I’m wondering if sprouting some seeds is a worthwhile project?
I don’t have the patience since they grow so well as trees from cuttings. I’m already pretty old, so decades out is pretty iffy.
John S
PDX OR
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A very good updated link from ars grin on quince compatability NCGR-Corvallis: Pyrus Catalog
Remember i usually graft my interstem and graft my top scion at the same time. I’m getting a lot of questions on that lately. Here is an interstem from 2017 i grafted and posted photos of in 2018 just to show how i graft both
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Mentioned this on another thread but seems more relevant here. An old book of mine stated that Duchess “does well” specifically on the Provence quince rootstock. Info is from 1978 so not sure about the accuracy
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In Kansas I abandoned my quince projects. Quince roots do not get deep enough to handle droughts in my area. Additionally rust is a big problem with quince that I feel is growing quickly. Quince might become a problem so close to my pear orchard. Quince rust is to be avoided as it effects fruit. Quince gets fireblight and becomes a problem.
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Cydonia oblonga is what’s usually used as a rootstock. Has anyone here tried grafting on C.speciosa, (Japanese Flowering Quince)? I’m going to try grafting a few pears to it, maybe even apples. It would probably have even lower vigor , more suckers and less disease issues.
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I have grafted pears onto both Japanese flowering quince and aronia. Aronia worked better and doesn’t have painful thorns.
We don’t have fireblight here or the extreme droughts and drying winds that one might find in Kansas. I manage rust with compost tea.
John S
PDX OR
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Does anyone have any experience grafting pear to Quince C rootstock?
I have the following choices of pear cultivars (compatible with quince) available for grafting to Quince C this spring:
Concorde
Conference
Comice
Magness
Sierra
I’m curious about forum members opinions on which of the above choices might be the best as an interstock or as a single variety to grow on Quince C?
Which would be the most vigorous of the above varieties?
Which would be the most precocious of the above varieties?
These trees will likely be espaliered, if that makes any difference.
Perhaps our resident pear expert @clarkinks might have some insights on this subject. Any comments or feedback greatly appreciated.
Maybe @scottfsmith might have some extra insight. My opinion would be Quince A and Quince c rootstocks should be similar in terms of compatibility. See that list above.
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Do you have any idea of Concorde, Conference
Comice, or Sierra which might bear the earliest?
I know Magness is slow to come into production.
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My experience has been magness is much faster to produce than those you mentioned. I dont know about Sierra fruiting, but i do grow all the others at this time. If you want a fast producing good tasting pear try harrow sweet.
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Hard to source the Harrow series of pear trees in BC. Our provincial govt doesn’t make it easy to import many varieties. Apples even have restrictions on shipping within BC.
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