Just came back from the Mt. Adams Orchards, in the southern foothills of beautiful Mt. Adams. Don Gibson, president of the Mt. Adams Orchard Corporation, oversees the growing, packing, and canning of pears from this and surrounding orchards. The orchard is experimenting with various rootstocks to control tree vigor. Quince, often used as a rootstock for vigor control in warmer climates, cannot withstand the cool winters of the Pacific Northwest. Todd Einhorn, a professor at Oregon State University, is currently assessing the cold tolerance of quince lines. It is time for researchers to help out the industry and develop a cold tolerant dwarfing rootstock for pears!
–Scott Schaeffer