Grafting pear onto mountain ash
- Thread starter Telemark
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chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
Here is what I've come across - https://agsci.oregonstate.edu/sites...greenhouse-and-christmas-trees/ond100203a.pdf
Which my take away would be to try multiple pear varieties on Mt ash and see what takes and survives a few years. I'd do a bark graft on a 2-4" diameter tree. I say that because the graft is easier, and rootstock is well established, and at least with hawthorn, the pear will outgrow the rootstock (pear dia. >> hawthorn dia.) and the pear may eventually break off at the graft union. Based on that old study, you might consider Bosc or Comice as an interstem that you would graft to the Mt. Ash and then later graft other pears onto the interstem. However, you don't know how good their statistics were or how long they monitored the health of the Bosc or Comice grafts.
If you want a bunch of pears, the easier thing is to choose whatever pear rootstock you think will do well for you, grow them out for a year, and then field graft to them. That said, I bench grafted a bunch of pear onto seedling serviceberry and aronia last year. Serviceberry took well but did not grow much - too wet in my nursery beds. The aronia all failed but I attribute that to unhealthy stock i got and the wet conditions.
Which my take away would be to try multiple pear varieties on Mt ash and see what takes and survives a few years. I'd do a bark graft on a 2-4" diameter tree. I say that because the graft is easier, and rootstock is well established, and at least with hawthorn, the pear will outgrow the rootstock (pear dia. >> hawthorn dia.) and the pear may eventually break off at the graft union. Based on that old study, you might consider Bosc or Comice as an interstem that you would graft to the Mt. Ash and then later graft other pears onto the interstem. However, you don't know how good their statistics were or how long they monitored the health of the Bosc or Comice grafts.
If you want a bunch of pears, the easier thing is to choose whatever pear rootstock you think will do well for you, grow them out for a year, and then field graft to them. That said, I bench grafted a bunch of pear onto seedling serviceberry and aronia last year. Serviceberry took well but did not grow much - too wet in my nursery beds. The aronia all failed but I attribute that to unhealthy stock i got and the wet conditions.
Telemark
5 year old buck +
I haven't yet found a source for rootstock, and I don't know if they are sold retail here. There are mountain ash all over the place, and no one seems to use them for anything.
I was wondering if grafting really low on the tree would allow the pear to eventually put its own roots into the soil.
I was wondering if grafting really low on the tree would allow the pear to eventually put its own roots into the soil.
chickenlittle
5 year old buck +
Note that the old Oregon State study linked above showed Old Home did poorly on Mt Ash but good on Hawthorn.
