I wish that every law-abiding friend would be non-supportive when hearing their friend's plans to take someone else's property, and would offer an alternative plan to achieve the real goal w/o the 'stealing' part. Thanks for the clarifying info. Good for you.....On the grafting strategy, I have grafted on many big and small Bradford branches with various pear varieties using T-bud, bark, and cleft grafts. I wish that every kind of fruit tree was as cooperative as pears. A great grafter here uses a single pear T-bud on the upper area of the central leader on several-year-old Bradfords when converting them to fruiting pears. He says that the emerging shoot will develop into all the upward growing,symmetric branches of the tree's future top. Instead of starting with only 1 bud, I prefer starting with a bark graft also at the upper central leader, the scion having at least 3 buds. We both clip off all the existing unwanted branches so the scion/T-bud can get all the sap.As long as you can see the pear trees currently growing new flowers/leaves/stems, you should find that the bark is slipping and thus ready for T-budding (or bark grafting).Even in summer.Even in hot August. After the trees have been enjoying some rain and the nitrogen that I imagine must be in the drops, they may start a flush of new growth. Time to graft again. When I have grafted pears in 95 degree August, I sure wanted to provide Sun protection for the fragile Parafilm that the scions were pre-wrapped with. I used scissor-cut 5" X 10"strips of thin, white plastic grocery bags to form a Sun shield/ humidity enhancer by Skotchtaping the 10" sides into a long seam and the folding and taping one end into a cul-de-sac. After slipping the loose 'tent' over the scion, I used a single verticle strip of the tape to hold the tent in place so wind would not blow it away.Enough light penetrates that plastic that new tiny leaves can photosynthesize. Once the leaves are big enough to push against the tent sides, the tent comes off for good. When doing paw paw grafting in the same heat, I replace the outgrown tent with yet a bigger tent until the paw paw leaves are bigger........Good luck with your great idea in converting those pears into a very useful source of good eating.

I'm a definite Bradford hater -- if I want to insult something that only has the thinnest shell of superficial appeal but is really very poor I'll often refer to it is as the Bradford pear of sweet potatoes/cars/paintings/etc. -- but even as a Bradford hater, I've frequently noticed the attractive deep red fall color of the invasive callery seedlings in my pasture. There's a photo in the link below (an old thread on this forum) that's very similar, although I don't have quite so many as in the photo. I haven't noticed very nice color on the full grown intentionally planted trees, but maybe it's the same and I just haven't noticed. I'll say the color in the photo above taken in the parking lot looks like the color is tending toward a duller brownish red. That tree/photo doesn't do much for me. It does more for me than the flowers in the spring, though. I think a flowering wild plum or peach or even some wild cherries are much prettier than Bradford pears. I even prefer the gentler beauty of a flowering red maple. One thing I like about callery pears, though, is what handy rootstocks they make for eating pears. If I ever want another pear tree I rarely have to dig any holes or plant or water anything, because callery pears are invasive enough that I can mostly just find a volunteer to let size up for a year and then graft onto (if not one to graft right away.) Here is a link that might be useful: thread with photo of callery seedlings in pasture

Down here in Maryland, the land where the evil Bradford Pear was first developed, they are a real pest. The article "The Coming Plague of Pears" sums up the threat posed by these wretched trees. When I was growing up in southern New Jersey, the streets along my walk to middle school had a bunch of older Bradford Pears line them. These were larger than any I've seen since, yet within 2 years time, nearly all of them had fallen apart - I must have gotten there right at the very end of their life spans. Down here in Maryland, they are even more common, sadly. The center of the local town was lined with them until June, 2002, when we had very serious thunderstorms - it was this group of storms that dropped the Wye Oak on the Eastern Shore, and that white oak will be missed. Most other trees survived except the stupid Bradford Pears in the center of town were all destroyed. The next year they cut them all down and ripped them, replacing them with some other type of tree that is not a pear. Unfortunately, these trees are still pretty common down here and have basically taken over the nursey industry, at least "big box" stores like Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. When you walk in and look for a tree, 2/3 of them or more will be Callery Pears of some type, and the rest are something useful (if you're lucky). Getting a decent oak or maple is like pulling teeth, but everyone wants pears, right? Ugh!

Growth of new roots of cold climate adapted trees and shrubs is prompted by hormones coming from opening winter stem buds at shoot tips in spring. In fall existing roots elongate the most of the whole year - this second main rooting period is initiated by the forming and maturing of winter stem buds. During winter in cold climates trees and shrubs effectively hibernate. These facts are why bare rooted nursery stock dug in November is warehoused and shipped for spring planting, and why fall planting of hardy stock not yet in a dormant condition has become advocated - if this is planted in fall before the roots elongate (and roots are not cut back at planting) then immediate establishment can be accomplished. Spring: main period of new root growth Summer: some root growth Fall: main period of elongation of existing roots (60% of annual total) Winter: little, if any root growth This is the behavior of plants under normal outdoor conditions and not that of propagation material being manipulated with bottom heat or what is seen in other variant situations involving artificial environments. One of the main problems faced when overwintering finished stock in plastic shelters is the warming of these enclosures by the sun, resulting in breaking of dormancy and initiation of growth well ahead of spring planting time.