North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>]

The question of whether quince rootstock increases the susceptibilty of 
pear scions to fireblight has been controversial in the Niagara Peninsula.

Expert opinion has concluded that the incidents which aroused concern 
were the result of careless management by large grape growers who didn't 
take the trouble to learn or train their staff about how to manage 
fireblight when they planted dwarf pears.

Although quince itself is highly susceptible to fireblight, quince 
rootstock actually seems to *decrease* pear susceptibilty to fireblight 
here because it eliminates the secondary blossom which is a major route 
for fireblight infection. All the quince that is exposed on a typical 
dwarf tree is a few inches of rootstock between the soil and the pear 
scion or interstem. There are almost never any sprouts from it that 
might produce soft new growth susceptible to fireblight infection, and 
it is not often wounded.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario



Donna &/or Kieran wrote:

[snip]

>     When I asked about the problem of fireblight in quinces for rootstock 
> for pear, Annie Black said  quince has it's problems, but in their location 
> fireblight doesn't seem to be one of them.  They have not only the heat and 
> humidity that I contend with, but also poor air circulation.  

[snip]