I've read many people say that pear isn't compatible with hawthorn, but I grafted Orcas and another pear on a hawthorn, because that's what I had. The birds tend to give me hawthorn pretty frequently. It has produced amply for about 10 years with no signs of stopping. I guess we'll see.
John S
PDX OR
I've never heard any claims that pear wouldn't take on hawthorn. Rather, that the hawthorn understock needs to retain some branches in order to have long term success. Are you saying that you've successfully grafted pear on hawthorn and kept it alive long term with ZERO hawthorn branches remaining on the understock?
I had Hosui Asian pear on Hawthorn with an Old Home (I think) interstem for more than 10 years. It was terrible soil, not fertilized and experienced drought. It grew very little and never fruited before the graft eventually died without having produced fruit. It didn't have suckers or hawthorn growth until the graft died.
I think the main problem, beside neglect, was that Asian pears need more vigorous rootstock. I don't think it was a compatibility problem.
Hadn't heard that hawthorn needs some of its own growth, but I don't know much about hawthorn and had hardly heard of it before it was offered to me as a hardy and resilient understock.
Interesting ideas. I do have hawthorn growing underneath, and I remove them. On the Orcas, I have another variety of pear growing on one of the offshoots. I forget what it is, but I keep that one and cut off the other hawthorn offshoots. The graft union on orcas is ugly because the pear side is larger than the hawthorn side.
John S
PDX OR
Idyllwild
simplepress
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Marsha H
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