Can pear branches grow into-

[justhatchin]

Thanks marshallsmyth !! I have this wonderful peach tree ( smack dab in the middle of kansas) that has just had the worst abuse a tree can stand. I'm worried I will loose it and want the same wonderful peaches it has given me over the years. In tree life it is young (I think) not sure think it is probably 10 years. We did not treat it well the first few years( silly newbies ) overweighted branches broke, goats climbing(eating) on it, .. !! Doing better now protecting it but only upper most branches left. I was sure to remove most of the tons of fruit started last year so it is in better shape than before. I started some twigs in outside rooting boxes but not hopeful now of rooting them. I really will try air layering this spring. I hpoe to use this- mikesbackyardnursery.com/2012/05/clam-shell-air-propagator/# . Thanks for the information and keeping it simple. susan

 

[897tgigvib]

Justhatchin, remember, there was a good reason that they grafted your wonderful peach tree onto a specially bed rootstock.

Ya see, tree breeders not only breed trees to have the sweetest most luscious fruits, they also have completely other lines they work on breeding. They might be crossing some tough as nails Peach tree that can tough it out in Minnesota and come back each spring alive, with some Peach tree from Georgia that never gets leaf curl even though all the other Peach trees around it croaked from it. When the tree breeders are breeding for rootstock they don't give the slightest hooey what kind of Peach it makes, or even if anything but a pit with fuzz over it. They just want it for it's healthy roots, and for how well the trees that get grafted on it grow. (There's some more complicated stuff they look for and breed for, but let's not worry about that right now.) So, these rootstocks are pretty special, the way they help the real primadona fruiting tree grafted onto them grow. If rootstocks didn't do such wonderful help, that step of grafting could be skipped, with all the labor and costs of doing it.

>>>Little side note here! ROSES: For decades and decades it was decided that ALL roses benefitted from being grafted. Someone about 10 or more years ago, someone from up north I bet, noticed that up north, like in zone 4 or worse, sometimes an extra cold winter killed the entire top part even of a rose that was supposed to be good for such a cold climate. But then they'd notice, woop! Here comes the rootstock still growing. Now rose rootstocks are still roses! They are usually some kind of runner or climbing rose that's crossed with Hansa or some siberian wild rose. So, northerners, after one of those cold years, would either dig up the rootstock and maybe give or throw it away or something, and just put in another new grafted rose. Wellp, Someone came along and said, SOME OF THESE ROSES DO NOT REALLY EVEN NEED TO BE GRAFTED. That someone's boss trusted him, and it worked!!! Then that someone's boss said, see if you can get a team of breeders to make a whole class of roses that at least look like Hybrid Tea fancy Roses, and breed up a bunch of them good for the north, and make sure that these new roses you develop don't need to be grafted. SO THEY DID!!! That class of Roses is now called BUSH ROSE, and yes, they grow a lot like Hybrid Teas, have some hybrid tea ancestry, and make flowers like Hybrid Tea fancies. And most of them are good for zone 4. Their advantage up there is, since they are not grafted, those extra cold winters that kill them to the roots sprout back up nice and true come spring. <<<

 

[897tgigvib]

What I'm getting at justhatchin is, you'll be planting the primadona that was bred for nice peaches and some other things, but one of those other things it was not bred for was great roots.

It might have decent roots! After all, it is a tree.

There has never been a boxer in my family, but I suppose I could learn to box, but I think I'd have to learn how to lose at it real well!
yea, I have all the parts needed to box, but real boxers have all the best boxing parts!

I vote for giving her a try!!! Might have to baby her along some, give her extra good composty soil, perfect ph and organic nutrients, a setup to keep her from leaning over in the wind.

Who knows though? That particular fruiting variety may be grafted for the precise purpose of keeping the tree small and tidy. She may well make long surface roots and make the tallest Peach tree around!!! Then again, she might grow like a bush with her own roots.

Ya know, i bet someone somewhere has done your variety on her own roots. Maybe it can be googled up.

do try some winter hardwood cuttings
do try some spring soft growth cuttings
do try some air layer cuttings too