North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Mauch1@aol.com]

I have successfully grafted asian pear on OHXF513, it is not overly dwarfing 
here in zone 6b (midAtlantic) - actually rather vigorous.  I have used 333, 
513, and 282 and found them all to be similar from a growth perspective 
(although, in general, I've lost track of which pears are on which rootstock).

Budding will probably work fine, but I'm not that good at it (yet) and have 
always dormant grafted pears.

3 possible negatives: 
1)Some of the dwarfing rootstocks for pear (333?) may reduce fruit size.  I 
don't consider this a huge minus for home growers (w/in reason).

2)From personal experience the only overdwarfing (runting out) I saw were on 
two purchased Asian pears (Stark or Miller) and 1 multigraft E. Pear 
(definitely Miller).  One Asian pears start producing the may slow growth 
dramatically.  If you see them flower too early in their life, you may want 
to strip the flower buds and fertilize to force more growth.

3)Related to 2, you may not see significant dwarfing w/ Asians on the OHxF 
rootstocks.  

As to Swiss Gourmet Apple, it's also known as "Arlet" so you may want to 
search on that.

Good luck and have fun!!!

-- 
Chris Mauchline
SE PA, zone 6
40° 5' N    75° 51'W
~650 ft elevation

<<I have a multi-grafted asian pear with 4 varieties, 
plus bartlett - i.e, scionwood.  I also have several 
pear rootstocks (OHxF 513), and an itchy grafting 
knife.  I believe asian pears are compatible with 
pear rootstock, correct?  Can pears be successfully 
(easily) bud grafted or is regular dormant grafting 
better?  

On a happy note, I think the two pear grafts I did
may be making it!  I was worried as the scionwood had
developed a bit in the fridge.  Two of the apples I
did... well, I'm an optimist.  Among the pears is 
Colette.  This was described glowingly to me, but I 
can't find any good info on the web.  It's
"everbearing", and as I recall didn't need to be 
ripened in cold storage.  What's a good reference 
that describes even such rarities as Colette pear and 
Swiss Gourmet apple?  

Lisa in Ashland Oregon
USDA Zone 7 Sunset Zone 7 1800'
>>