I can see that not only am I unable to spell Citation correctly, my wordsmithery, at least in terms of building a mental picture, stinks. You deciphered enough of the post to understand some of what I'm contemplating: - I am definitely leaving this stock in ground with three to four apricots bark grafted onto four of the larger branches. It's what I do or don't do with the remaining plethora of sturdy branches coming off of the 18" of trunk that led to my initial post. I hate to waste 'em when I've got so many scions to graft. I can always buy stone fruit rootstock (not Citation, however, which grows well here) but if I can better use what I have growing in my own orchard, why not? - I would like to air layer at least 10 remaining largish branches and eventually (probably next spring if the singular estimate I've located of 4-6 months to root a peach branch is accurate) plant them in my orchard. - Some of the largish branches I am going to air layer have smaller side branches that are large enough in their own right to graft to, so I'm wondering if I should try to get a head start by grafting scions to those side branches. There needs to be a canopy above the air layer to provide the nutrition and necessary chemistry to the site where you want roots, so I can't take too much canopy away while grafting scions, but I'm thinking I can sacrifice a small side branch (keep in mind that all 10 of the branches I'm considering air layering are from 6'- 8' tall with multiple side branches of their own) from the main air-layer branch without harming the potential for success...assuming, of course, that I can get the Citation to successfully send roots out, which was actually the poorly stated main thrust of my initial post - has anybody tried air layering a stone fruit or stone fruit rootstock? As for rooting cuttings from the Citation, everything I've read claims that it's nearly impossible to root stone fruit cuttings, so I really never considered that approach. If you know different, Ace, do tell.

I agree with little minnie. The diseases you mention are all associated with humidity and air circulation. I do interplant to increase production in an area, but it is with things that will not increase humidity directly around a plant. For instance I grow lettuce with the tomatoes until the tomatoes are too big and make too much shade. The lettuce is low enough not to increase humidity around the tomato leaves. The thing I have found that helps most with the diseases mentioned is increasing spacing between plants, pruning excess leaves at the bottom of plants, and being sure that there is good air flow around plants, whether in teh high tunnel or outside. Kathy (expecting my first frost next week)

Not with pear, but with a Japanese Maple, I've had success wrapping bonsai wire around the branch I want to layer and twisting it tight enough to restrict the flow of sap. You just tighten until you see the wire start to "bite" into the bark - don't crush the bark/branch. If there are enough branches to try layering, this technique might be worth testing.

aloha candice. ive gotten lucky with a few cuttings, maybe because i didnt know better? i use healthy ones from pruning, put it in my mix, and leave it in a container of water for a day, like plumerias? leave it in partial shade for couple weeks and keep the soil kinda moist. these have grown pretty healthy roots. i kinda like the look. something different from the fat caudex.