North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Erwin Meekers" <erwin.meekers@luc.ac.be>]

George,

I'm living in Belgium, in a climate which is more or less comparable with
that of New York.
I've grafted (actually I used oculation during the summer) my Asian pear
collection on quince (A, C and Adams, the latter is a local Belgian quince
rootstock with vigor between A and C) with an interstem of European pear
(Beurré Hardy or Curé). The Asian pears are of the Japanese type (Pyrus
pyrifolia - like Nijiseiki, Hosui, Seigyoku, etc.) and of the chinese white
pear types (Pyrus bretschneideri, or do we nowadays have to say Pyrus
pyrifolia var sinensis? - like Tse Li and Ya Li). They are planted as
cordons and are doing mostly (the wood of Tse Li is more diseaseprone) fine.
The vigor is quite low, but that could be due to the enormous productivity
of these species or because I've planted them at an interspacing of 30cm (or
1 ft - which is very narrow, but I did have too much cultivars and very
little place to plant them). They are healthy trees for approximately 5
years.
Although it can freeze here quite severe, there is no problem with the pears
(the quince rootstock would be more of problem if the temperature would drop
very low).
So, if your European pear can survive your winters, then I think it will be
successfull.

> Did anybody have success on grafting Asian pears on European pears,
especially in cold climates?
>
> Thanks
> George