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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Pear Dwarfing Rootstock

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  • From: Douglas Woodard <dwoodard@becon.org>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Pear Dwarfing Rootstock
  • Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:20:05 -0400

Doreen, Quince A rootstock will make a small tree. The official recommendation here for commercial orchards is to plan them at 8 x 12 foor spacing, and about 90% of the fruit can be picked from the ground by a person of average height. I expect that with care one could keep them smaller. Pears on quince need to be staked.

Most pears are not compatible with quince, and need a compatible
interstem. Some compatible cultivars successful as interstems are Anjou, Duchesse d'Angouleme, Beurre Hardy and Old Home. An interstem of 8 inches has been recommended here, although some Europeans use just a sliver. Flemish Beauty and Comice are listed as compatible with quince.
Note that compatibility is though to be a matter of a continuum of variability, not an either/or thing.

Lists of pears compatible with quince are found in these books:

Dwarfed Fruit Trees
H. B. Tukey
Macmillan, 1964

Rootstocks for Fruit Crops
Roy. C. Rom
John Wiley and Sons, 1987

A problem is that Quince A is most unlikely to be cold-hardy with you
unless you have reliable heavy snow cover. The late Isaac Brock Lucas
was successfull with Quince A rootstock in a walled garden at Markdale,
Ontario in a climate probably similar to yours, but that area is
notorious for heavy snow due to being high ground with Lake Huron on one
side and Georgian Bay on the other.

If you don't have burrowing mice or voles and you are up to some fussing
you might try Quince A or Provence Quince with the stem wrapped in
winter with hardware cloth, then a wind barrier, and thick mulch around
the tree and maybe a tarp over the mulch to keep it dry and maintain
its insulation value, and poisoned mouse bait underneath.

Quince rootstock suppresses secondary blossom, which is helpful in
avoiding fireblight here.

Another approach might be to use a small-growing pear cultivar on one of the semi-dwarf Old Home/Farmingdale pear rootstocks. Josephine de Malines, a very high quality winter pear, is reputed one such, though hard to find in the U.S. I don't know how cold-hardy it is.

Doug Woodard
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada


Doreen Howard wrote:
Which pear rootstocks result in the smallest trees? I have a Le Nain Vert that is genetically dwarf, and it hasn't bore fruit. I obviously need another variety to cross pollinate, but I want to keep that tree small, too, due to the tight area in which the pears are planted.
Doreen Howard
IL-WI Border, Zone 4b

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