North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Devin Smith <dvidedevo@yahoo.com>]

I'm new to NAFEX and still figuring things out. I posted this to the google 
group and forum, but it didn't seem like much was happening there. It looks 
like the listserv is a lot more popular, so I thought I'd post it here. Sorry 
if its a repeat for some of you...

I've
 been playing around for a few years with grafting pears onto the many 
hawthorn seedlings coming up in my old hayfield turned orchard. I've 
found that many European pears are compatible (all that I've tried actually) 
, though not all, and all 
asians attempted have been failures. I'm not sure what the mature trees 
will look like exactly, but after 3 years of growth on some, I've observed a 
tendency toward unbranched cordon growth pattern with some varieties 
showing very short inter-nodes. It looks like there will be a pronounced 
dwarfing effect. This year, I'm going to graft a bunch 
with Old Home interstems so I can hopefully then graft asians too. 

Beyond dwarfing, one potential advantage I can see to 
hawthorn as a rootstock is the fact that it is tap-rooted and so less 
prone to drought. I'm particularly smitten with the idea of grafting to 
existing seedlings because it saves so much work up front, survival is 
much higher, and initial investment is nill. I understand that 
compatibility issues sometimes don't occur until later in the game. I may try 
grafting low and burying the graft on some to produce self-rooted trees. 
Still, the allure of a true dwarf pear on free (and already planted!) 
rootstock is hard for me to pass up. I've 
scoured the web and elsewhere looking for info about hawthorn as a pear 
rootstock and have found little beyond casual mention that it can work. The 
Grafter's Handbook mentions in passing that Pyrus and Crataegus form a 
lasting union, but says little more. If this works, why don't more people do 
it? I assume there would be a similar range of compatibilities across various 
hawthorns as found in other types of rootstock. I've read somewhere that 
apomixis is common in hawthorns, though, so maybe I have effectively clonal 
rootstock. FYI, the local landrace of hawthorn seems to be quite shrubby. 
Ancient ones seem to top out at 15 ft. and 6" diameter or so. 

I'm curious if anyone has longer term experience to share and would 
appreciate any information anyone could provide.

thanks,

Devin Smith
Witness Oak Polycultures
Rockingham, VT