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Rootstocks
Most pears are propagated on seedlings collected from open-pollinated seeds of Bartlett fruit. Of all tree fruit rootstocks, these are generally the most tolerant of wet, poorly drained soils. Since they are open-pollinated seedlings, there can be some variability in their growth patterns. These seedlings are fire blight susceptible, so every effort must be made to reduce suckering of the rootstocks.
Some nurseries now offer a group of fire blight resistant stocks selected from Old Home x Farmingdale crosses. These rootstocks are clonally propagated and cost more than seedlings. Besides being resistant to fire blight, they have dwarfing ability, and are earlier bearing. Those showing the most promise are OHxF333 and OHxF51; the former is semidwarf and the latter dwarf. However, OHxF51 reportedly has been hard to establish in orchards and has shown winter injury in Canada. These rootstocks would merit small-scale grower trials.
Quince has been the most common dwarfing rootstock for pears. The three clones available are Quince A, Provence, and Quince C. Pears on Quince A and Quince C are dwarfs, while those on Provence are slightly larger. Orchard performance of most quince rootstocks has been variable. Quince is very susceptible to fire blight and low winter temperatures; it should be planted at only the most favorable sites and in areas with good soil drainage. Certain cultivars, such as Bartlett, Bosc, Seckel, D’Anjou, and Clapp’s Favorite, are incompatible with quince and require an Old Home interstem.
Two new quince clones, Provence Quince (Le Page Series C) and Provence Quince (BA 29-C), may also be available in limited supplies. Reports from France indicate that BA 29-C is a virus-free selection of Provence Quince, Le Page Series C. Both are reported to be precocious and high yielding and produce a tree one-half to two-thirds the size of standards. They are also susceptible to fire blight. Quince rootstocks are not recommended unless they have proven successful in trial plantings in your orchard.
A new series of pear rootstocks are slowly being released to the industry. This line of rootstocks was developed using crosses of Old Home and Bonne Luise at the Geisenheim Research Institute Department of Pomology in Germany. The first to be released was named Pyrodwarf® (Rhenus #1). Trees on Pyrodwarf are reported to be about 50 percent smaller than similar cultivars on OHxF 97 and begin producing in their fifth leaf. Fruit size is maintained with a high-yield efficiency and good anchorage and winter hardiness. It also does not produce root suckers.
A second release, Pyro™ 2-33 (Rhenus #3), is also a Pyrus communis seedling from the same cross as Pyrodwarf. Trees on this rootstock is very precocious with cropping starting in the second leaf and heavy production two years earlier than OHxF clones. Vigor is similar to seedling.
At the present time, we only recommend limited plantings of these two rootstocks since they have not been evaluated in the Mid-Atlantic region.