Any arborist out there?

[jchief]

Got two pear trees in the backyard that have branched off at the ground. One side produces good pears and the other only produces what I call "crab pears" after small crab apples.

Anyone got any ideas?

TIA

[Gerald]

Just a guess....

Lots [most of them] of fruit trees are grafted. Maybe the small ones are crab apples?

Most citrus is grafted from lemon trees. Don't know about pears.

Send an email to:

Turley, Robert M.
E-mail Address(es):
RTurley@agcenter.lsu.edu

Might take a couple days to get a response.

[speck-chaser]

crab apples are alot smaller than that. Most of the time they will graft a certain fruit tree onto a different variety of rootstock because that rootstock is superior to the stock of the fruit they are trying to attain. The rootstock is usually faster growing or less disease resistant or just sturdier etc. Like Gerald said all of your orange trees are grafted. Not sure that most of em are grafted on lemon stock though. They are usually grafted onto trifolia stock,mostly because of the coldhardiness and stregnth of the trifolia.

[eman]

That's 2 different variatys of pears. Google some pics and i bet you can find them.

[speck-chaser]

yep, the small ones actually look like asian pears. If it is,das some sweet pears rite der.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by speck-chaser

crab apples are alot smaller than that. Most of the time they will graft a certain fruit tree onto a different variety of rootstock because that rootstock is superior to the stock of the fruit they are trying to attain. The rootstock is usually faster growing or less disease resistant or just sturdier etc. Like Gerald said all of your orange trees are grafted. Not sure that most of em are grafted on lemon stock though. They are usually grafted onto trifolia stock,mostly because of the coldhardiness and stregnth of the trifolia.

That lemon grafting is what I was told years and years ago......like the internet, it might not be right.

trifolia stock....??? Now I need to do some more studying to learn more.

[Lake Chuck Duck]

The small ones kinda look like those canning pears. If you call or go by the LSU Ag Center in front of the burton coliseum they can probably help you out. When I worked at greengate if we couldnt figure something out we would call them.

[jchief]

Well, I posted it on the Ask the Expert on the LSU Ag Center site, so maybe the can tell me for sure.

I really appreciate yall's help with this.

[speck-chaser]

Originally Posted by Gerald

That lemon grafting is what I was told years and years ago......like the internet, it might not be right.

trifolia stock....??? Now I need to do some more studying to learn more.

My dad and grandpa used to have a citrus nursery,and they budded all of their own trees. THey actually grew their own rootstock,then budded them at the proper times. One advantage of using the lemon stock is the growth rate is very fast,but on the other hand the cold hardiness isnt there. Very succeptible to freezes.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by speck-chaser

My dad and grandpa used to have a citrus nursery,and they budded all of their own trees. THey actually grew their own rootstock,then budded them at the proper times. One advantage of using the lemon stock is the growth rate is very fast,but on the other hand the cold hardiness isnt there. Very succeptible to freezes.

That is very true. My lemon tree has not put out much fruit in the last 2 years now due to cold temp. Last year.....none. Right now only about 20.

A normal year has been 200 to 300 lemons.

[ElectricChicken]

The small ones look like my Asian Pears and the others look like my Anjou Pears.