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["Lucky.PIttman@murraystate.edu" <Lucky.PIttman@murraystate.edu>]

------- Original Message -------
>From    : K Q[mailto:kumquat@operamail.com]
Sent    : 11/25/2007 4:43:56 PM
To      : nafex@lists.ibiblio.org
Cc      : 
Subject : RE: [NAFEX] Pear on Seedling Apples

 Does anyone know how best to convert yearling apple
seedlings into rootstock for pears? I must have a
hundred of them.

Keith,
Best bet - and I don't know for how many years it'll
hold - is to graft in an interstem of 'Winter Banana'
or 'Superclone' apple between the seedling rootstock
and your pear scion.
WB is reputed to be graft-compatible with a number of
pear varieties, and supposedly forms long-lived unions.

I had a couple of pears that survived 2-5 years on
seedling apple rootstocks (in a bundle of 10,
purchased as P.communis seedlings, 8 were apple.  I
didn't make the connection until I had multiple graft
failures and the rootstocks leafed out - apple.

Lucky Pittman
Hopkinsville KY+