Forwarded from Going dark 1776
The apple trees have started to bloom and the garlic is coming in nice. Almost time to start turning some soil.
Recent Advances in Research on Japanese Pear Rootstocks.pdf
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I am having trouble finding information about certain pear species that are occasionally used as rootstock, but this review, for the most part, claims that betulifolia and calleryana are similar in that they are fairly tolerant of soils that are quite heavy, wet, or dry. Betulifolia, however, has the advantage when it comes to drought, and calleryana has the advantage when it comes to excess moisture. Neither of them perform better than Pyrus communis (the European pear) in alkaline soil, though.
Betulifolia is an excellent rootstock for Japanese pears, since the latter is naturally precocious and dwarfing, but European pears will generally take a very long time to start producing on it. Calleryana seems to have more disadvantages than betulifolia, and it is extremely invasive in some areas, so I would rather not recommend it for anything. Overall, I wouldn’t use either of them for European pears unless I paired it with a precocious variety, like Harrow Sweet, or if my location literally begged for it.
Betulifolia is an excellent rootstock for Japanese pears, since the latter is naturally precocious and dwarfing, but European pears will generally take a very long time to start producing on it. Calleryana seems to have more disadvantages than betulifolia, and it is extremely invasive in some areas, so I would rather not recommend it for anything. Overall, I wouldn’t use either of them for European pears unless I paired it with a precocious variety, like Harrow Sweet, or if my location literally begged for it.
It was warm enough to start grafting today, so I did a few apricots and European plums. Most of them are going on the dwarfing Krymsk 1 rootstock this year. This isn't something I have really tried with plums yet, but I expect good results due to it's parentage. I think I have trouble with apricots and (especially) peaches because they desiccate in storage much easier than everything else, but there are a number of varieties that aren’t compatible with Krymsk 1, too. I know the OrangeRed apricot is, and I got a few of them to take, but I am pretty much going in blind with the others.
Ethnoflora 🫐🌲🌺
It was warm enough to start grafting today, so I did a few apricots and European plums. Most of them are going on the dwarfing Krymsk 1 rootstock this year. This isn't something I have really tried with plums yet, but I expect good results due to it's parentage.…
I bought a stick or two worth of Spark's Mammoth last year, which is an apricot that can get up to 4 inches in diameter. I did one graft on Krymsk 1 and forgot to put the rest back in storage, so the scionwood was lost. Fortunately, that one graft took and survived the winter, which was surprising to me considering the trouble I have had with this combination. It only grew like 4 inches that season though, but it looks healthy.