Comments from the Heritage & Rare Fruit Network
Neil Barraclough
The graft of the Boho South Christmas Pear is taking off on a quince rootstock. The Boho South Christmas pear was discovered in an old orchard in Boho South by Terry Frewin, it starts ripening just after Christmas and being quince compatible to a fully grown tree 1/4 to 1/5 the size of one on a pear rootstock makes it even more valuable. We need to get a system to handle the "discoveries" that should be coming in from all the searching out of the many old abandoned orchards and other early plantings. I would start with suggesting that we work with groups who make discoveries in their area trying to establish the different varieties in their collections either as single or multigrafts. Then when we have information on the fruit, ripening times, flowering times and such we work on making the varieties available throughout the network. What are your thoughts?
5 October at 22:50 ·
Christine Hobbs
Now you mention it Quinces are not tall trees, so yes that would reduce the height of any other compatible fruit grafted onto it..I was under the impression that quince root stock was user friendly to any of the apples & pears..
5 October at 22:56 ·
Robert Cameron
not all pears and i don't think apples at all. white thorn, cratageous monogyna, can be used for pears, too. i have a pyrus salicifolia on white thorn. it's remained healthy at about 30cm! i took a scion and grafted from there to a pyrus nivalis which i BOUGHT as a salicifolia and now have a 1m salicifolia on 1.5m standard. bliss!
5 October at 23:51 ·
Terry Frewin
I put scion of this pear onto P. calleryana this year Neil and it's off and away - will plant it down in the hedgerow
6 October at 06:56 ·
Neville Burley
I have this as well, having a diverse harvest range is such a bonus.
6 October at 07:26 ·
Ben Waite
Have been sussing out some of the back roads near me and taking note of fruit trees It's a hell of a job trying to catch them at their peak to taste them though (or close enough to know whether they are worth propagating anyway).
14 October at 16:48 ·
Neville Burley
I bring them home anyway and survey their potential when they are given some TLC so they get a fair go then chop out the still bad and share the good
14 October at 18:34 ·
Ben Waite
That's commitment. Might be worth it for orchards - most of the ones I try are roadside trees. I've found a couple I think are OK and am trialling at home but most of them are best suited for pies. Or even better, cider
14 October at 19:23 ·
Ben Waite
I spotted about 20 blossoming roadside apples on the way home. If I tried growing them all I'd be out of space in no time
14 October at 19:28 ·
Neville Burley
I grow mainly roadside trees as the ones I find, several from old orchards. I have three dedicated trees for these to graft on and plenty of space
14 October at 22:09 ·
Ben Waite
I'm a little bit inspired... I drove from Kinglake > Kilmore > Heathcote Bendigo and back today (slightly different routes) and spotted well upwards of 100 roadside apple trees, and a quince or 2 to boot. The are pretty easily spotted at the moment since they are all in bloom. I have space as well but I'm trying not to turn all my paddocks into orchard. I think I might be able to set a small intensive area on precocious rootstock though. Most should fruit in 1-3 years so I guess you can evaluate them pretty fast to decide if they are worth keeping.
15 October at 20:39 ·
Neville Burley
That's what I do, also if you don't use dwarf rootstock they get big fast and make branches and room for more, when you've had enough the wood makes excellent bbq cooking material
16 October at 08:20 ·
Ben Waite I was going to do exactly the opposite Neville I always get lost grafting scion onto a tree once I get past 3 or 4 varieties. That is going to be a problem if I have a whole bunch of unknowns.... I have a heap of MM111/Bud 9 interstem rootstock and was going to set up an intensive cordon system with a frame to tie them too, where I can track them easily
16 October at 15:46 ·
Neville Burley
Tracking is easy, paint a color on the trunk to denote a level, then record like I do externally by compass for that level eg. green North, a/b/c/d left to right, or make it simpler have twelve only on the tree so it's green north is roadside 1. relying on tags doesn't work, after years of this they go missing for so many reasons, best to externally record them
16 October at 17:05 ·
Neil Barraclough
We've got a Boho South Christmas pear and a McMillan pear in our collections that were originally named varieties that have lost their names. The McMillan pear was at Angus McMillan's homestead in Boisdale and likely one of the first fruit trees planted in Gippsland. Some grafts were taken around 25 years ago and the original tree is no longer living. Any others to add to our list of pears from old orchards that are being grown for the valuable characteristics of their fruit but lost their original name? Let's get a list happening.
16 October at 22:05
Neil Barraclough
The graft of the Boho South Christmas Pear is taking off on a quince rootstock. The Boho South Christmas pear was discovered in an old orchard in Boho South by Terry Frewin, it starts ripening just after Christmas and being quince compatible to a fully grown tree 1/4 to 1/5 the size of one on a pear rootstock makes it even more valuable. We need to get a system to handle the "discoveries" that should be coming in from all the searching out of the many old abandoned orchards and other early plantings. I would start with suggesting that we work with groups who make discoveries in their area trying to establish the different varieties in their collections either as single or multigrafts. Then when we have information on the fruit, ripening times, flowering times and such we work on making the varieties available throughout the network. What are your thoughts?
5 October at 22:50 ·
Christine Hobbs
Now you mention it Quinces are not tall trees, so yes that would reduce the height of any other compatible fruit grafted onto it..I was under the impression that quince root stock was user friendly to any of the apples & pears..
5 October at 22:56 ·
Robert Cameron
not all pears and i don't think apples at all. white thorn, cratageous monogyna, can be used for pears, too. i have a pyrus salicifolia on white thorn. it's remained healthy at about 30cm! i took a scion and grafted from there to a pyrus nivalis which i BOUGHT as a salicifolia and now have a 1m salicifolia on 1.5m standard. bliss!
5 October at 23:51 ·
Terry Frewin
I put scion of this pear onto P. calleryana this year Neil and it's off and away - will plant it down in the hedgerow
6 October at 06:56 ·
Neville Burley
I have this as well, having a diverse harvest range is such a bonus.
6 October at 07:26 ·
Ben Waite
Have been sussing out some of the back roads near me and taking note of fruit trees It's a hell of a job trying to catch them at their peak to taste them though (or close enough to know whether they are worth propagating anyway).
14 October at 16:48 ·
Neville Burley
I bring them home anyway and survey their potential when they are given some TLC so they get a fair go then chop out the still bad and share the good
14 October at 18:34 ·
Ben Waite
That's commitment. Might be worth it for orchards - most of the ones I try are roadside trees. I've found a couple I think are OK and am trialling at home but most of them are best suited for pies. Or even better, cider
14 October at 19:23 ·
Ben Waite
I spotted about 20 blossoming roadside apples on the way home. If I tried growing them all I'd be out of space in no time
14 October at 19:28 ·
Neville Burley
I grow mainly roadside trees as the ones I find, several from old orchards. I have three dedicated trees for these to graft on and plenty of space
14 October at 22:09 ·
Ben Waite
I'm a little bit inspired... I drove from Kinglake > Kilmore > Heathcote Bendigo and back today (slightly different routes) and spotted well upwards of 100 roadside apple trees, and a quince or 2 to boot. The are pretty easily spotted at the moment since they are all in bloom. I have space as well but I'm trying not to turn all my paddocks into orchard. I think I might be able to set a small intensive area on precocious rootstock though. Most should fruit in 1-3 years so I guess you can evaluate them pretty fast to decide if they are worth keeping.
15 October at 20:39 ·
Neville Burley
That's what I do, also if you don't use dwarf rootstock they get big fast and make branches and room for more, when you've had enough the wood makes excellent bbq cooking material
16 October at 08:20 ·
Ben Waite I was going to do exactly the opposite Neville I always get lost grafting scion onto a tree once I get past 3 or 4 varieties. That is going to be a problem if I have a whole bunch of unknowns.... I have a heap of MM111/Bud 9 interstem rootstock and was going to set up an intensive cordon system with a frame to tie them too, where I can track them easily
16 October at 15:46 ·
Neville Burley
Tracking is easy, paint a color on the trunk to denote a level, then record like I do externally by compass for that level eg. green North, a/b/c/d left to right, or make it simpler have twelve only on the tree so it's green north is roadside 1. relying on tags doesn't work, after years of this they go missing for so many reasons, best to externally record them
16 October at 17:05 ·
Neil Barraclough
We've got a Boho South Christmas pear and a McMillan pear in our collections that were originally named varieties that have lost their names. The McMillan pear was at Angus McMillan's homestead in Boisdale and likely one of the first fruit trees planted in Gippsland. Some grafts were taken around 25 years ago and the original tree is no longer living. Any others to add to our list of pears from old orchards that are being grown for the valuable characteristics of their fruit but lost their original name? Let's get a list happening.
16 October at 22:05