bil

Does anyone know anything about the grafting of these trees?

I look at the suckers that sprout from the roots, and the leaves are nothing like those of the fruiting bit. They are small, thin and round compared to the large, thick, dark green fruiting leaves that are very elongated.

Is the root scion really so different, and if so why is that?

After all, all the citrus, plum and apple suckers I have ever seen are very similar in leaf to the fruiting part of the tree.

snikpoh

All our nisperos are on their own roots - not seen any that have been grafted.

Having said that, I too have noticed that the suckers look very different ... Mmmmmmmm..... Maybe they were grafted afterall

Ours we grew from seeds have flowered well this year so I think it'll be a bumper crop.

bil

How old are those grown-from-seed trees? I would be most interested to know if the fruit they produce is much different from the grafted cultivars.

Last year I tried to grow some from seed in pots, but while they all sprouted roots, not one put forth a single leaf or shoot. However, a dozen or so shoots I just stuck into the groung near a nispero tree all sprouted perfectly normally.

snikpoh

I'll let you know what the fruit looks like. I guess the 'trees' are about 7 years old now.

agoreira

I know zilch about growing these things, but always keen to expand the vocabulary I looked it up on the net. It does say plants grown from seeds should only be used as "portainjertos" or stock.
http://www.infoagro.com/frutas/fruta...es/nispero.htm

Bri and Katee

Typically fruit stock is grown or grafted to the root stock of a different variety.

They take a very vigorous rooting type of plant and graft on a heavy cropping type of plant. You get a a good rooted stock with plenty of fruit, its done with many varieties of tree and currants/berries, even roses are grafted onto different root stock.

bil

Yeah, that is common practice. My query was to why is the root stock so radically different from the fruiting part. The leaves are as dissimilar as rhodedendron and oak.

Injerto is graft. The plants grown from seed will vary widely in quality, but then that's how you get new varieties. Grafted cultivars are always a safe bet.

Fred James

I have a successful fruiting tree I bought from the nursery 6 years ago.

I cannot see any sign of a graft and have never seen any suckers either.

bil

Not all mine have suckered, and I had to look really hard to see any trace of a graft.