Ontario Fruit Explorers

["Joe Boles" <jo.bo@rogers.com>]

John:

 

Pears on dwarf rootstock are usually hard to come by.  Quince "A" is the most common rootstock for dwarfing pears and Seckel is not compatible with Quince, so an interested of a compatible variety is needed. I have Harrow Delight pear on quince. I also have pear on hawthorn for dwarfing. Its 3 or 4 years old and seems to be working out. I also have pear on a dwarfing apple rootstock with an interested of "Winter Banana apple". I read somewhere that this will work; time will tell if this works out. For rootstocks try Derry at:  http://derrysorchardandnursery.ca/  If she does not have what you are after she may find it for you.

 

I'm having a good year for figs. Celeste is ripening now; I pick a few each day. I almost had my best grape harvest ever, until the raccoons found them; I didn't get any. I had about 50 to 60 Mount Royal plums; the squirrels got all but the 9 I picked today. There is probably 2 or 3 baskets of Italian plums still on the tree; the critters will turn their attention to them now. The apples and pears are doing very well, at least until the critters finish the plums.

So far I have trapped only one raccoon this summer. Mice have been eating the bait. I also got a skunk in the trap. I've been trapping mice near the raccoon trap and something is eating or at least half eating the mice.

 

I have a couple of potted trees to give away: a dwarf cherry Valentine and a Japanese white fleshed peach An Nong Juicy. Available to anyone that wants to come around and pick them up.

 

    Joe

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: joe calico

To: 'Ontario Fruit Explorers'

Sent: Saturday, September 01, 2007 11:45 PM

Subject: Re: [OFEX] Pears and Apples

John, I can help you with a bit of scion wood for Seckel Pear; probably enough for about 3 or 4 grafts.  If you don’t succeed in your other preferred approaches let me know and I’ll gladly make the scion wood available.

 

Also, I’ve attached the 2005 PICO scionwood/budwood catalogue.  It lists Seckel in there. 

 

Margie Luffman, Curator at the Canadian Clonal Genebank in Harrow can probably provide you with quince or other rootstocks (I remember seeing a catalogue from Agriculture­-Food Canada in Harrow and I believe it contained some rootstock including quince).  Try Margie at luffmanm@agr.gc.ca  

 

Also, I remember an email discussion last year between Biz, Joe B and Bert where in they were talking about exchanging quince whips which are generally acceptable as rootstock for grafting pear.  I think Biz was the source.

 

Joe C.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: labruscagrape-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:labruscagrape-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of John Barbowski
Sent: August 31, 2007 3:43 PM
To: labruscagrape@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [OFEX] Pears and Apples

 

Hello people,

 

I have found a bit more room and wish to expand my jungle a bit.

 

Does anyone here have a source for Seckel Pears or Pixie Crunch Apple? I have been looking for a couple of years - to no avail. Woodwinds used to have a standard seckel - but they are now out of business. (Tom, do you have Sherri's contact info?)

 

Failing young whips, my next choice would be scion wood. Since my grafting experience is limited (only a few splice grafts on apple and cherry), I'd be open to advice both on the grafting and the rootstalk, specifically for the pear. And 2ndly, where can I get the rootstalks - looking for about six M-9 or P-22, and a few dwarfing ones for the pear (what kind?).

 

In spite of the nice summy summer, my figs have been slow to develop. I have only had about 6 that have matured normally. I oiled the larger ones about 2 weeks ago, and now have at least 3 dozen ready for harvest. I have noticed that the size of the oiled ones is smaller than the natural ripes. I'll be tasting this weekend.

 

Still waiting for rain. Minimal amounts in the last two months. More black berries dried up than were eaten. Even though the tomatoes got water, just over half ripened properly; the bottoms are still green.

 

ttfn