North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[derry&bill <wchase@interchange.ubc.ca>]

Hélène,

Quince A is semi-dwarfing, but the reason for interstems on quince when 
grafting European pears is incompatibility between the European pear and 
the quince r/s. Some Asian pears are incompatible too.

I have a list and about half of the pears I graft are compatible with 
quince and the other half are not.

I haven't grafted any Asian pears and P ussuriensis is for Asian pears 
so I don't know anything about compatibility with P ussurienses.

We usually use old Home as an interstem because it is readily available, 
but I have used German Butter as an interstem. The interstem can be as 
short as one bud, but most of us do a 3-bud graft and this gives a 
little more space when grafting the chosen variety on top.

It is possible, if you are precise, to do both grafts at the same time, 
but usually I graft a bunch of quince with Old Home and let them grow 
for a year and then graft the chosen European pear variety on top.

Why do we use quince r/s when interstems are necessary? It is the only 
r/s we have been able to get.

Derry Walsh
South Coastal B.C.

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Hélène Dessureault wrote:

> I am not sure why you mention interstem. Is it to reduce size or for 
> incompatibility between some varieties?