I'll give simply some guesses. Seedling callerys as rootstock. They are commercially available in volume in a manner that I do not think would be supported by the minor use as edible pear rootstock in the south. I would guess that the ornamental pear trade sustains that rootstock business. The ornamental callerys ("Bradford" and "Cleveland" here) were selected for some highly specific desirable traits. It might not be surprising that some other less-common (and less desirable) traits accompany.

A couple more things I have seen recently: The first has to fo with the Beautyberry bush, Callicarpa americana. I have read in quite a few books and online articles that while this plant will attract birds, it isn't until mid- to late-winter when all other food sources are depleted that birds will turn to the purple berries. But over the past couple of weeks I have watched as Mockingbirds visit my bushes in the mornings and evenings to pick off a few berries. They aren't hungrily gobbling down all the berries, just picking off a few here and there for a snack. So apparently in the case of Mockingbirds, at least, it doesn't have to be the dead of winter for the Beautyberry to 'work'. Though, with the globes of purple mixed in with all the compact foliage (grown in full sun), mine are 'working' even when not attracting birds. Second has to do with a Blue Jay I saw yesterday. I have also read that Blue Jays can be bullies or practical jokers, scaring off other birds from feeders with hawk-like calls and I had seen this behavior around the birdbath. Well yesterday I heard a couple of Red-Shouldered Hawks calling back and forth. One was circling overhead and the other was hiding in an oak behind my house. I was having a hard time spotting the one in the oak, which was odd since the oak is either diseased or stressed and not as fully leaved as others in the area. As I tried moving for different angles to find this hawk, I saw a Blue Jay quickly dart from the oak to another nearby that had more foliage. I smirked a bit and thought, "Now who is scared?" But as I continued to scan for the second hawk, I heard it call again, but now from the other oak. Then the Blue Jay flew from that oak to a pine. And the Red-Shouldered Hawk call followed it. This Blue Jay wasn't just making hawk-like calls, it was perfectly mimicing the call of the Red-Shouldered Hawk which kept the actual hawk circling overhead until it got over searching for the hawk that was encroaching on its territory and flew off. I had to laugh that this Joker Jay had intentionally messed with the hawk. Which it kept doing until a Red-Tailed call came in the distance, at which time the Jay promptly shut up.

Nicholas' book was dated 1937. This is the HMF reference to an abreviated version of the reference. A Rose Odyssey EDIT Book (1937) Page(s) 14. Several years ago there was a discussion in American Rose Society circles about the genuineness of the American stock of General Jacqueminot. I studied the question abroad and found at Reymond's a line of magnificent everblooming General Jacqueminot, descendants of the original stock he had inherited from his Uncle Roussel, the originator. These had been improved almost to the status of a Hybrid Tea (sic) in floriferousness. We acquired enough plants from Reymond to rejuvenate our stock and the General Jacqueminot stock of Jackson and Perkins is of authentic French origin He stated in the book, through propagation in the US, the variety (and many other HPs) ran to rampant, blind growth. Think Dr. Huey suckers with little bloom.

"Turned them into DWC" is an interesting statement. With Kratky the roots have grown down into the nutrients, but have also grown a significant number of specialized roots to pull oxygen from air. How much do you wanna bet that the re-flooding with DWC drowned them out enough to zap the kale and lettuce? I'm glad to hear that the tomatoes are doing well -- I had wanted to try tomatoes that way, but worried they'd die off after the Kratky 60-day period. Did you do anything special to move them from Kratky to DWC? Wash the roots with plain water to deal with salt buildup or anything?