Playing with roots

17 years ago

Hello,

A couple of my semi-dwarf apple trees aren't doing so well. They are growing very, very slowly, in comparison to their neighbors of the same age. Like, I have a 5-year old sops of wine that's about a foot high. It actually flowers great, but it's just so tiny. (I don't let it fruit for fear it will hurt itself.) I treat it just the same as its friends who have grown up to ten times its size, and I can't figure out other causes for its slow progress than a possible bum let. The other shrimp is a hidden rose apple, maybe 500 feet away. I think its problem is wet feet.

Does it make sense to mound dirt around it above the graft union, so that the standard part roots, to increase their vigor?

While we're discussing tree sizes, I'm looking at the Miller's catalog and noticing that they have standard and dwarf pears, but no semidwarfs. Any idea why? (I'd rather buy from Trees of Antiquity, but they're sold out.)

And last, while I have you here, on an unrelated topic, what pear variety do you recommend for cooking? Something I can't find in the grocery store, please.

--Jonathan

P.S. On this last point, on a recent trip to Paris I had one of the very best desserts of my life at a 3-star restaurant, and asked the waiter if he could find out what variety the pear was. I was so disappointed when he said "Williams" (known in the US as Bartlett).

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plumfan
17 years ago
I would not disturb the stunted trees if they are actively growing, but I would certainly manipulate them next spring before they wake up. You can either move them to better soil or go with a raised bed scheme of some sort.

If you mound dirt over the graft union, the tree will very likely put on its own roots and become a standard size tree, or whatever, for that particular location that it is planted. Maybe that is just the ticket for more vigor, but when a tree is on its own roots, it could be many years before you see a fruit.

Semidwarf pears: when a nursery puts a graft onto a rootstock that gives you a pear that grows 9O% of standard size, they call it semidwarf. The terms dwarf and semidwarf are much mis-used in the nursery trade. If you get a known rootstock on your own, like from raintreenursery.com, you will at least know what you have. Oh, standard size pear trees are gonna be big and uncontrollable eventually, not to mention take many years to bear. Plus most fruit will be unaccessable to people, as they will be 40 to 60 feet over your head!

You will become intimately familiar with branch training and summer pruning in order to keep these monsters in control.

Pyrus calleryana rootstock is highly resistant to fireblight. I am assuming fireblight is a problem on the east coast.

Cooking pears that are fireblight resistant: Thats a tough one for me. What are other folks in your area growing? Maybe family-owned nurseries can tell you what is successful in your area. They might carry the kind of pear you want on the correct rootstock!

Here is a link that might be useful: info on pears
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Playing with roots

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plumfan

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