My wife @justfarmerjulie has been grafting onto the many Bradford pears sprouting up on our property. It's so fulfilling to watch a "weed" turn in a cultivar you want. Thanks for sharing your journey on here! We're in the process of starting a permaculture nursery too, so it's fun to follow along with someone else doing the same!
My wife is in charge of the pears. You could ask her over at @justfarmerjulie, because I'm not sure on the cultivars, but I do know she's doing both European and Asian varieties. I love Asian pears!
Callery pears, the thorny $&@!, are trying to take over my pasture.
Much like you suggested, this year I am topping them and will graft Asian pears onto them.
I also bought a Bushbar, basically a pry with a fulcrum added, and will try to uproot the smaller ones. I don’t know - they have suckers going every where and they are deep.
Excellent piece! It is insane the amount of production that could be had if there was a real effort to thin and topwork all the callery pear we have growing. I have heard that the apple cultivar Winter Banana is graft compatible with callery pear, and could be used as an interstem for other apple cultivars. Planning on giving it a shot this spring!
Let me know if you have any success. We top-worked a few along the fence rows at our house with good success. Went from a nuisance to the potential for food with less than 2 minutes of effort per tree. Thanks for sharing Tim!
There’s still one last profile for next week. After that, onwards and upwards. I was thinking of you when I found that one actually. I think id also enjoy that one as long as there was some bacon or prosciutto or something salty on top. 😋
A lot of people hate the idea but then they are generally the same people proposing I use herbicides to kill them and I just can’t get my head wrapped around that idea. I’d rather take them as a willing participant for rootstock and make food out of my problem.
My wife @justfarmerjulie has been grafting onto the many Bradford pears sprouting up on our property. It's so fulfilling to watch a "weed" turn in a cultivar you want. Thanks for sharing your journey on here! We're in the process of starting a permaculture nursery too, so it's fun to follow along with someone else doing the same!
Yeah man! Sounds like you two have a great plan in place. Any particular cultivars you’re using?
I’m looking forward to following along with your journey gardencoach. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot. Thanks for being here! 🙏🏼
My wife is in charge of the pears. You could ask her over at @justfarmerjulie, because I'm not sure on the cultivars, but I do know she's doing both European and Asian varieties. I love Asian pears!
Callery pears, the thorny $&@!, are trying to take over my pasture.
Much like you suggested, this year I am topping them and will graft Asian pears onto them.
I also bought a Bushbar, basically a pry with a fulcrum added, and will try to uproot the smaller ones. I don’t know - they have suckers going every where and they are deep.
Aha very nice! The farm I work in has one of these that goes by a different name. At least I’m assuming. https://youtube.com/shorts/A8iaR_zyby8?si=qFExPR2ps8hKjBcK
Excellent piece! It is insane the amount of production that could be had if there was a real effort to thin and topwork all the callery pear we have growing. I have heard that the apple cultivar Winter Banana is graft compatible with callery pear, and could be used as an interstem for other apple cultivars. Planning on giving it a shot this spring!
Let me know if you have any success. We top-worked a few along the fence rows at our house with good success. Went from a nuisance to the potential for food with less than 2 minutes of effort per tree. Thanks for sharing Tim!
My wife @justfarmerjulie has mentioned the same and wants to try the interstem as well!
I’d be interested to hear how this project turns out. Keep us updated Laverne. Thanks for sharing! 🙏🏼
Solid post to wrap up the crop profile series! Has me looking forward to more pear tastings.
Oh my goodness that pear goat cheese pizza. Looks riiight up my alley. 😍
There’s still one last profile for next week. After that, onwards and upwards. I was thinking of you when I found that one actually. I think id also enjoy that one as long as there was some bacon or prosciutto or something salty on top. 😋
You didn’t mention prunus Americana. We have several on our acreage and though they produce small fruits they are quite tasty.
The plum post can be found here: https://open.substack.com/pub/backyardberry/p/crop-profile-building-a-sustainable?r=4hapgz&utm_medium=ios
That would be because this is a post about pears.
Pears are in the genus Pyrus while plums, cherries, peaches and apricots are in the Prunus genus.
I did however discuss Prunus Americana in the post I made a few weeks back discussing native plums.
I hope this helps. Thanks for being here Mark.
A lot of people hate the idea but then they are generally the same people proposing I use herbicides to kill them and I just can’t get my head wrapped around that idea. I’d rather take them as a willing participant for rootstock and make food out of my problem.
Thanks brother. I appreciate you. 🙏🏼
Amen brother. Amen! 🙌🏼