Its not possible to remove them all. I would love to do that with Autumn Olive but itll be back. Sometimes it makes sense to knock it back until desirable species can get a jump start. In other cases, turn a bad thing into a good thing!
Frankentree: Plumblee, Dixie Delight, Ayers, 20th Century, Drippin Honey, Harvest Queen, Korean Giant
I like your approach better
Yes! Everyone should be aware that “Ayers” is a beast on callery. It will likely need to be controlled on a multi-varietal tree; if left to its own devices it will out-compete nashi and other lower vigor pears on the stock. A truly delectable summer sugar pear, though, and very disease-resistant. I keep thinking about putting one on OHxF 333 or some other more manageable rootstock . . . . (Edit/Afterthought: maybe an interstem of one of the lower vigor OHxF series on callery would tame wild ones such as Ayers?)
Anyhow, glad to see folks making some good use of calleries. They are an invasive nuisance (and some of the same qualities that make them so, also make them good, durable rootstocks!), but I agree that at this point in time it is an impossibility to eradicate them entirely from North America. Even if possible, the vast quantities of herbicides needed would likely have their own ecological ramifications!
I recently re-parked a local callery volunteer next to “Art’s Bosc,” and will try to make it earn its keep as a host for “Docteur Desportes”!
I didn’t figure much of anything could be controlled on callery without extraordinary effort.
Thank you to @ClothAnnie, @Auburn, @clarkinks, and @thecityman. Two reasons: This was a very helpful post for me to learn about grafting and pears! I have several mystery trees and I was trying to find out about Callery rootstock since I seem to have some. In a few places, the grafted tree has died and the Callery seems to have taken over - and some of my trees are LARGE.
Second reason, this was a great story! I read this post from the beginning and I am so amazed at Annie’s pear tree. I teared up when I read the post where the tree got fruit (I’m not joking at all! I really was so touched by how helpful everyone was and how Annie kept reporting about the tree)! I hope I will have success to report in a few years as well.
You might enjoy this thread if you want to read further on callery Top working Pears weather permitting
You are so welcomed. I think you will really enjoy learning to graft and I can’t imagine an easier or more convenient way to do that than to go around and graft a bunch of your Callery rootstocks/trees. For one, your Callery’s are free and already established and available around your property. For another, pears are among the easiest things there are to graft- success rates are almost always high.
You are almost certainly right in guessing that some of your Callery’s are from a situation where the grafted tree died but the Callery rootstock lived and sort of took over,. Its fairly common. Thorns on the young ones are, of course, a good clue.
Good luck with your new farm! I’d been a City guy all my life until I bought my little mini-farm. I didn’t have a clue what I was doing (still don’t in some ways) but it has been the most fun I’ve ever had
39th Parallel has two varieties of Sekel I think they’re still in stock, you could ask him easily and figure it all out.
If only it was that easy i would do it. @39thparallel and i discuss the many obscure pears at times. It is hard to grow them all , but thats the only way we know for sure.
My old neighbor has two full grown Callery pears in his backyard. I plan to top work them this spring so they can enjoy the harvest for the next 5 or so years before they move.
Some varieties are not compatible, most Asian pears are, and most quince compatible pears are… or so says my research.
I recommend Clara Frijs! The most graft and best interstem variety and the favorite eating pear of Denmark! (In stock at 39th Parallel Nursery)
Good to know! I have mostly Asian pears to graft this year thanks to a couple very generous forum members.
We know Wild Callery pears are all genetically different. Clara frijs is very easy to graft i agree.
Had a bad fireblight strike on clara frijs last year. It took out half a tree. Try harrow delight it is another good interstem. The best is the small yellow pear i grow.
I am planning on eating your Small Yellow Pear once it grows more, but thank you for the reminder about it’s use as an interstem! I had forgotten.
I transplanted this wild callery Jan 26… grafted it (modified cleft) Feb 23… and below is what it looked like on Apr 6.
Kieffer sure is nice to have around! Glad your having good fortune with grafting this year.
Thanks so much for asking! I’ve got lots of blooms!
I actually bought a bunch of different scions and they’re still in my fridge. I’ve tried quickly grafting them on but think I must’ve taken more care five years ago so as nothing I’ve tried in the past few weeks is taking. I guess I may have used a bag or something over the scions to keep in moisture. These recent attempts have not included any plastic bags over them and are just totally drying out! I’ve also wondered if I’m just too late… Basically all of the callery pears have dropped their flowers and are just leafing out.
Be patient with them and dob something on the end of the scion like tar, pruning seal, wax, etc. on the tree so they dont dry out.
Some will likely take. .
