For Nick Ferguson:

Can you talk me through grafting fruiting pear on top of Bradford pear?

Some Expert calls ago, you suggested repurposing Bradford pears by grafting.

My dad started some Bradford pear on the homestead, thinking of shade. I

think they’re 10-15 years old, trunks about 6-8″ diameter. Now we live here,

and I’m thinking of how to improve them.

Where would you cut to graft new wood? Low on the trunk, or higher on the

branches? I’ve not done grafting before, but would like to learn. 

Transcribed(ish) from the podcast episode:

I can talk you through but I’ll have a link to a video that will make sure you understand what we’re talking about with some pictures on my website.

I would cut low on the trunk if my goal was to pick the fruit, if my goal is to graze underneath and let the animals harvest the dropped pears then I would cut the trunk just above browse height and graft there. That way the animals will keep my trunk pruned of all rootstock suckers leaving all the vigor to be pushed into my scion wood grafted on top.

So let’s assume we’re talking about growing these pears for people and no animals are browsing the lower limbs. I did this for my in-laws last winter. Let my father in law know that I could graft that pear tree for him if he wanted me to. So I busted out my silky saw, a roll of electrical tape, and pruning shears. Disinfected my tools with rubbing alcohol I keep in a little spray bottle for the purpose.

I used my regular everyday carry pocket knife and trimmed the scion to fit. Grafted on top of the stump with a vertical slit cut in the trunk at the top of the stump. Slipped the scion between the inner bark and the lignin part of the wood, taped the graft closed, and just sealed the top with more electrical tape. Not ideal but it worked just fine. Lost one of the grafts because a dog bumped it. The rest of them took off and now their worthless bradford is now a fruit tree that should be fruiting here in a few months.

I have some photos of the progress but had my hands full so I don’t have any shots of actually grafting it. But the video should be better than some still shots. The new growth from this year is probably 8′ tall right now and will bloom this upcoming spring for fruit set the year after I grafted. Pretty slick if you ask me.

Simple, just whack the whole tree top off so it looks like a stump. Open the top with a vertical slit, insert the trimmed scion, tape to hold it in place, more tape or pruning sealant to protect from rain and let it heal.

The link below is to a video by Eliza Greenman who really knows her stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov4jtnXVxZc


Tools and Materials Amazon affiliate links

The knife I carry every day for 20 years and the knife I used to graft that tree – https://amzn.to/3PjFute

Proper Grafting Knife – https://amzn.to/3BPGToq

Pruners I like the best – https://amzn.to/3DEG2rf

Electrical Tape I used – https://amzn.to/3C3xQjD

I absolutely LOVE my silky saw – https://amzn.to/49XMk1d

91% Isopropyl Alcohol for disinfecting pruning shears and saw – https://amzn.to/4j38NOz