David Hare-Scott wrote:


Please check your facts. If you had bothered to do so you would have come
up with quite a few examples of grafting apples on to pear stock or vice
versa, here are just a couple, you could find many more.

http://www.ibiblio.org/ecolandtech/N.../msg04650.html

If you read carefully, these so called 'successful' grafts were less than
that. I quote:

" I have had several pears grafted onto seedling apple rootstocks(they were
purchased as pear seedlings - but some were NOT!) All languished for as along
as 8-9 years, but most have finally died off."


http://web.ukonline.co.uk/suttonelms/apple33.html

You may find references to people who have possibly had some success in
initially
getting a graft to take between apples and pears, but I doubt if any of
these really
turned out to productive trees.


...snip...

You will not have any joy trying to graft widely different species
together,
the only reason apples and pears might work is that they are closely
related.

Yes, they are both fruits. Closely related, I don't think so.

Well I do think so. They are both pome fruits along with quinces, medlars
and others. They are of the family rosaceae which contains (amongst others)
the genera malus (apples) and pyrus (pears).

I think the issue here is viable grafting. You might be able to stretch the
genetics
a bit with certain species to get an apple on a pear or visa versa, but that
tree
will never flourish and probably die off early.



I have pears in my garden that are grafted on to quince rootstock. My
apples are grafted on to apple rootstock. These combinations are common as
it produces the best results NOT because apples and pears cannot be grafted
together.

What you call best, I call viable.

You picked an exceptional example. Quince is an unusual genus which has some

compatibility with pears. It cannot graft well with certain varieties of
pear, so an
interstem of a pear that is compatible with the top scion and the quince
rootstock
must be placed between them to adjust for this. This adds no weight to the
degree
of compatibility between apples and pears.



I think you should sign up for the same class as the OP.

I think you should do some basic research before making rude comments in
public about the ignorance of others.

You may call them rude, but I think this fellow needs a reality check, and
perhaps
you, as well. You portray these few exceptions as the rule, giving the
impression
that anything goes. People tinker with mixing fruit types, but the
people that sell
rootstocks do not mix their apple and pear offerings, for a good reason.
They mostly
don't work and are not practical. Quince is another story, and people
use it because
it is able to dwarf a pear more than the standard pear rootstocks.

Sherwin



David