Pear Rootstock and Regulated Deficit Irrigation Plot
Author: Peter G. Sanderson
Published: 2000
Summary: Old Home X Farmingdale (OH X F) rootstocks, especially OH X F 97, have become the standards for the pear industry in the Pacific Northwest. Although they have demonstrated some precocity over seedling rootstocks, they are only minimally size controlling. Labor efficiency, environmental and pest management concerns drive the push for smaller trees. Better cropping efficiency and earlier returns on investment require more precocious trees. Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) systems have been used in stone fruit and apples to reduce tree size and promote the change from a vegetative to a reproductive growth mode. RDI trials in Australia on Bartlett canning pears on Pyrus cal/eryana D6 rootstocks also have shown tree vigor control along with yield increases in bearing trees (8th leaf).
