Quince Grafting

First of all, is quince shade resistant, there is some disagreement in the plant f? Second of all, If I grafted an asian pear onto a quince, would it dwarf it and give it shade tolerence to some degree?

For starters, I'm not sure if you can graft those onto each other or not--generally when you graft you use rootstock that is the same genus as the scion. There are some cases where you can do an intergeneric graft, but in many cases it won't work. I don't know anything about grafting these particular plants, so maybe you've already researched it and know these two are compatible, but if you haven't I'd suggest doing that first.

I don't think shade tolerance is an attribute that is conveyed by the rootstock to the grafted part. But if you have a hot summer climate, full sun plants will often prefer a bit of afternoon shade, so if your shady hours are in the late afternoon your pear may do just fine.

And as far as dwarfing...if you look in Plant Files there are some Asian pear cultivars that aren't any taller than a quince, so you'd probably be better off looking for one of those and saving yourself the trouble of grafting (particularly if the intergeneric graft isn't going to work)

I agree with ecrane. I don't think that's going to work, since they are two totally different family and genus. You could try and intergeneric graft but have no idea what the result would be.

I would love to learn to graft. Can you direct me to any good learning sources?
I've been wanting to graft some of my orange azaleas on to my pink ones for a multi-colored shrub. Just thought it would be cool.
Grafting in general is very interesting,...and cool. :)

They are both from the same family (Rosaceae). If they weren't at least in the same family then there's no way it would work, but there are a few cases of intergeneric grafting between plants that are in different genera within the same family. But it's definitely not a sure thing.

3gardeners--most propagation books have a chapter on grafting, so if you have one of those that would be the best place to start. And I'm sure it's probably come up a few times on the propagation forum, so you could look over there too (at the very least you can probably get some questions answered there even if you can't find threads on the subject)

I have been checking out rootstocks because I have learned they control the behavior of whatever has been grafted to the top of them. I know that quince rootstock is used a lot for apples, but I am not sure about for asian pears. Asian pears seem to be grafted on various rootstocks but not Quince that I know of. Look at the rootstocks used by Trees of Antiquity:
http://www.treesofantiquity.com/index.php?main_page=page_6 -- There is a quince rootstock listed but for cherries at least as I read it.
Another online source of descriptions of rootstock is at Raintree nurseries, but the best I am aware of is not online. It is in the Seed Savers' Exchange Fruit and Nut Tree Inventory which is a book which can be purchased and if you are in luck, found in your local library.
I too would love to learn to graft, but I haven't found a teacher. I will be supplying some scion wood to a local wholesale nursery this year and would love an opportunity to watch them at work.
I suggest reading as the best way to learn unless you know someone who does it regularly.
Here is another source of rootstock, but you will have to do some reading if it works for Asian pears as well as European pears.

Check out http://www.baylaurelnursery.com/order/clicksite.cgi?cart_id=&xm=on&ftr=AsianPears&p=Asian_Pears

They name the different rootstocks they use on their Asian pears and they sell the same. you can find similar information at Raintree:

http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/producttype.cfm?producttype=Pears%2DAsian

They, too, sell rootstock.

This message was edited Feb 16, 2008 8:43 PM

This message was edited Feb 16, 2008 8:49 PM

I've done it, but it's been a long, long time. I've been planning on writing and article on this, but I need some time to go back and reread some notes and see if I can remember correctly. One of my neighbors taught me.

I do hope you write it down. I would love to have an Asian pear in my yard. It would be fun to do the grafting myself -- only I have no idea where to get scion wood for Asian pears! It would be a great learning experience!

pajaritomt, there are nurseries that not only sell the scions for grafting, but some offer classes how to do it. It was a dying "art". Until younger more environmentally aware people started getting interested. Pears and apples are fairly easy to graft and are very forgiving. I just need to make sure I know what I'm talking about before I write and article. LOL Not that I can't just talk and talk as you may have noticed. LOL

I did more research, and you can graft pears to quince stock, so maybe it'll work the other way, be worth a try. A lot of the pear varieties are grafted on the quince to control the way they grow. I thought that was interesting. The more I dig the more interesting things I'm learning about the whole process.

Bordo,

Is your quince beginning to show budding?