Uvascanyon:

Why are you worried about pruning rootstocks? You're going to graft them next spring, right? Otherwise, why plant rootstocks?

When the rootstocks start to wake up and push leaves next spring, take your dead dormant scions, prune down the rootstock to 4-6 inches, and do the graft. Remove everything but the main stem from the established rootstock, and if more rootstock growth appears, prune it off. Presto, you will have a grafted tree.

If you post again, specify your location. It helps.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

Hiya Don. Thanks for the reply.

I don't think I need to graft, at least that is not what I thought. Again, I'm very much a newbie.

I have a Shinko, Shinseki and 20th Century. I bought the Shinko from the Burnt Ridge Nursery and I was under the impression that it was grafted already...

Oh, I'm in Bay Area of CA, zone 9? Thank you.

uvascanyon, Asian pears are called trees. Fruit trees start from buds[scion] from the variety tree grafted onto a desirable rootstock. A serious grower would cut the year old scion down to 30" so as to train the new branch growth. Proper branch growth enhances the trees health. Pears are grown 'open vase' form.

Your trees probably were delivered 5' tall. Leave them unpruned as you will be getting fruit set next season. Thin pears to one per scoffold branch on a young tree.

Pears are usually disease free except for fireblight. Search this forum and read through the fireblight posts.

{{gwi:115439}}

Green Jade cultivar trained 'open vase' using clothes pins.
Green Jade Pear is a cross between Asian and European varieties. The pears are large pyriform shape that ripen sweet and crisp on the tree.

Thank you Don.

I suppose I should have said rootstock AP trees to be more clear. My apologies.

I'm going to snap a few photos and post later. I'll include how tall they are. One for sure, the 20th Century, is about 3' tall, I think less.

From what you are saying, I should consider leaving them unpruned this first year. I'll get a photo of each, hopefully later today. Oh, thanks for including a photo!

Uvascanyon:

I think the term you are looking for to refer to your trees is "bareroot". Bareroot trees are those sold and planted in the dormant season, packed in a moist medium, but with the roots usually clean of soil.

A rootstock is the foundation of all grafted fruit trees, whether they are bareroot or not. On a young grafted tree, you should be able to see the graft or bud union where the grafted scion joins the rootstock, usually 4-6 inches above the actual roots. Nearly all modern fruit trees are grafted or budded to maintain the characteristics of the variety. Seedling trees can cross-pollinate and produce something completely different, usually inferior.

Now that the terminology is cleared up, I would not prune very young Asian pear trees, but when did you plant them? "Recently" is not as good as actually telling us when you planted them, if you remember. If it was this spring or last spring, I would leave the pruning until later, but would start to spread the branches if they are becoming vertically oriented. You want an Asian, or any other pear tree to grow outward more than upward. Otherwise, you can end up with a 20-foot unproductive tree.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

My bad - bareroot! Drat. So sorry that I said rootstock instead. Indeed, I recall seeing the graft point...

Don, I planted these guys almost 2 months ago now. Glad you mentioned the spreading as I did start doing this, as you should be able to see in the photos. I'm not sure how to post photos here though. If I can't figure it out, I'll provide a link...

Ok, a link it is... Clicking on the photo will take you large one with more detail.

Oh, I did measure them, and the Shinseki (top cut-off in photo), is 46" tall from the ground up. The Shinko, 44" and the 20th Century is just 24"...

Here is a link that might be useful: 3 Asian Pears

Looks like when a post goes live, it's not possible to edit it. Just wanted to add that the photos can be enlarged a couple of times, not just once, so they get fairly large. Thank you! Tony