North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lamb Abbey Orchards <lambabbey@gmail.com>]

I'd have to go with Natelson's recommendation for Pyrodwarf.  My orchard is located Zone 5a/Coastal Maine and I had about 250 trees budded onto Pyrodwarf this past August after having looked into a handful of dwarfing pear rootstocks.  The best option for a hardy dwarfing pear rootstock by far looked to be this rootstock.  Check out the following PDF file:  

http://tinyurl.com/dcpo3

It provides not only a good visual comparison between trees on Pyrodwarf vs. Quince EMLA C, but also quantifies fruit weight, relative yield and a few other characteristics.    I'll be planting these new trees in Spring of '07 and another block on Pyrodwarf in Spring of '08, 30 varieties total.   Ask me next Summer and I'll let you know which varieties look to be compatible with the Pyrodwarf.   I'm excited about trying it.

Cheers,

John

* * * * *

Lamb Abbey Orchards
Union, Maine  04862
lambabbey@gmail.com
http://tinyurl.com/7htst
44° 15' 47" N / 69° 18' 42" W

Message: 1
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:25:36 -0600
From: sherwindu <sherwindu@comcast.net>
Subject: [NAFEX] Best Dwarfing Rootstock for Pears?
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Message-ID: <439888B0.F594F2C8@comcast.net">439888B0.F594F2C8@comcast.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I'm trying to determine the best dwarfing rootstock for pears in zone
5.  I have
used Quince EMLA C in the past, with uneven results.  I realize that
there are
compatibility issues with certain varieties of pears, and that
interstems have been used
to solve that.  Just like to get the latest info on what is available.
My objectives would
be the most dwarfing possible, heartiness for zone 5, and compatibility
with pear
varieties (interstems would be acceptable, but not desirable).