Starting fruit trees from seed

I have little pear trees that have germinated in my greenhouse. I was really surprised at how easy it was to start them..

Has anyone here tried to grow their own rootstock and graft on the top? I think I might try to do this.

Also does anyone here ever trade scion wood? Not that I have anything too exciting to trade, I was just wondering how popular it is.

In the old days we did it all the time. Today the specialty rootstocks have advantages. They are developed for resistance to diseases and by being uniform to control the size of the tree.

interesting points. I have done a little reading on this , but hadn't thought about those two things.

The parent pear tree is an unknown variety itself I believe. I haven't noticed it being bothered by any diseases.. We think it started from a seed from old old pear tree that used to live there.

and I really don't mind that the trees might get very large.. Not that I think they will get too large in my lifetime, after doing some reading.. I am probably planting them for another generation.

Hey, KJ - long time, no see.

The old adage was/is "Plant pears, plant for your heirs." - a testament both the the longevity of pear trees, as well as to the fairly lengthy juvenile period a seedling pear would have to grow through before it began producing fruit - probably somewhere between 10 and 20 years.

If you're not concerned about ultimate size - or a lengthy time to bearing, a seedling pear will be fine as a rootstock. I've got a couple of varieties grafted on seedling rootstock(couldn't get any of the clonal selections that year), and it only took 8 years for them to come into bearing.

You can graft on an interstem of one of the dwarfing/semidwarfing OHxF clones, then put your fruiting selection on top of that, if you cared to do something to limit size and shorten interval to fruiting.
I've got 20-30 good fruiting pear varieties, would be glad to send you anything I've got.

That would be so awesome Lucky_P. I haven't learned to graft yet, but have plans to join the nut growers association this Spring. They have a seminar on grafting in May I believe. I am extremely excited about it. When I feel fairly confident I know what I'm doing I would absolutely love to get some different varieties from you.

I have anywhere from 20 - 30 itty - bitty pear trees.. I really didn't believe in myself enough.. Thinking that I would be lucky if any of the seeds sprouted. Instead I have about 30 babies. I put them all in one big flower pot.. I check them daily in my greenhouse. Not sure when I should split them up..

Just curious. Do you have a seckel pear? The pears seeds that I started were from a pear very similar to seckel pear I think.. except that the skin wasn't red.. They turned out to have just a wonderful flavor. It wasn't my tree, but I could send you a couple of limbs of that one if you would like - after I get permission from the owners, of course.

I really kind of like the looks of the larger trees. Another reason for that is when they are larger I would like to graze sheep between the trees.

How far apart do you have your larger trees planted?

KJ,
Pears are probably one of, if not the, easiest things to graft. We often kid that if you throw your pear scions at the understock, they'll take - and it's not much of an exaggeration. MUCH easier than nut trees, I'll guarantee you that; but, if you can graft pecans & walnuts, you can do apples/pears with your eyes closed and one hand tied behind your back.

I've had Seckel planted for about 10 years, but last year was a bad year for fireblight- and unusual timing for it, as well, and my Seckel is all but gone as a result - I did foster a bud or two from the last remaining branches onto the old Keiffer pear for safekeeping, but I suspect I'll have take out what's left of the Seckel - and soon.

Most of the apples,pears, and persimmons in my orchard are on 20 ft spacings. Probably should have cut that to 12 or 15, but I've got plenty of space.

LLP

As far as the spacing is concerned; Will the closer spacing keep the trees growing more vertically as it does with nut trees?

Also.. How do you prepare scion for sharing and mailing?

What types of persimmons do you have?. I have the native variety.. I'm hoping I have a good crop this year and make some marmalade or something..

Pears tend to want to grow straight up, anyway, and I don't have the time to do much in the way of 'training', so I just kinda let 'em do what they wanna do. If they were to fall apart, I'd just build a new one.
Dormant scions - usually collected in Feb or early March, ends sealed with paraffin, kept in the fridge in a ziploc, wrapped in damp paper. They ship just fine, regular mail - the 1-3 days it takes 'em to get anywhere in the US is not a hazard, if they were in deep dormancy when collected. I just wrap 'em in moist paper, enclose in plastic wrap or a ziploc bag, then into a padded envelope or appropriate box.

I've currently got 30+ named American persimmon varieties, 6-8 kaki varieties, and a couple of AmericanXAsian hybrids grafted & growing in the orchard & nursery beds here.

Hi, I'm planting a Bartlet as soon as it warms up. We're lucky to have a friend with a really old tree. Anyone make pear butter? Its similar to apple butter and delicious!

I have made lots of pear butter in the past.

I had several buckets of pears to work up this year. But, I ended up just canning most of them. As these were the little pears , it took lots of time to peel them .

Has anyone come up with a better way to peel pears easier? My friends don't think an apple peeler would work, because pears are so soft.

I only use a peeler. If you get to the pears before they are too soft, it works just fine.