Question Propagation of trees and fruit

[Iron Cauldron Gardens]

Looking for some help/advice.
I'm working to build a food forest of sorts and trying rather unsuccessfully to introduce more fruits. I have 4 pear trees that were apparently grafted onto Bradford pear root stock and that graft has taken over on 3 of them. My plan this fall is to cut out the non fruiting portion and leave the fruit side intact.
However, I'm worried this will shock and kill the entire tree. As a thought I figured I could propagate the fruiting wood but I've never been able to get cuttings to work. If I can figure it out, there are several fruit and berries around here I would like to do this with.
So, what is the best way to make cuttings and get them started... and once I see roots what do I do?

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

I haven't ever done anything with trees. Any grafted plants that I have were bought that way.

I do love growing plants from cuttings, however. I've found that using a rooting agent often helps with sprouting roots faster, which in turn seems to increase the chances of success.

I've found this YouTuber has amazing successes with grafts, cuttings and propagation;

 

[Grandmother Goose]

I've tackled a few grafted trees over the years where the rootstock took over. I've found that cutting back all the rootstock branches back to the main trunk of the tree but leaving the grafted branches alone can shock the tree a bit, but I've never had one die from it, just suffered a bit and did nothing for a while before eventually getting with the program and growing the grafted part properly again. The main thing is to make sure there is still at least some growth from the grafted section surviving among it all, even if it's just one small branch. Most fruit trees can cope with an extremely harsh pruning, but you may need to pick your timing depending on the type of tree. Stone fruit trees that go dormant in winter (your pears) should be tackled in winter whilst dormant for a harsh pruning. Citrus trees can usually be cut back at any time of year. Some specialty trees that don't fall into either category might need some research to find out the best time to attack them. Short of cutting the tree off at the main trunk, most fruiting trees will come back with an abundance of growth, it just takes a year or two for them to get going again, but once they do they do it well.

 

[Iron Cauldron Gardens]

Wow, thanks for that information!
I actually have 2 trunks on each, one graft and one rootstock. So I may not upset them as bad as I feared.
Any advice on keeping the rootstock from growing back?

 

[Grandmother Goose]

Wow, thanks for that information!
I actually have 2 trunks on each, one graft and one rootstock. So I may not upset them as bad as I feared.
Any advice on keeping the rootstock from growing back?

The only thing you can really do about rootstock growing back is to keep checking it once every couple of months, a bit more often in spring-summer when it's growing like crazy, and cutting off any little branches that are trying to grow from the rootstock. If it's rootstock growth it'll be coming from below the graft point and with many fruit trees the leaves of the rootstock will commonly look different to those growing above the graft point. I made a little video about it with my son a while back, I don't know if it'll help, but we went around all our fruit trees, teaching my son what to look for and how to cut the rootstock bits off and why, etc. It's a terrible video, but it might be helpful?

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

A month further... how have things gone @Iron Cauldron Gardens ? Or haven't you tried yet?

 

[Iron Cauldron Gardens]

It's been a rather hectic month with work, heat and general insanity! So unfortunately I've not tried anything.... yet

 

[Mandy Onderwater]

That's fair @Iron Cauldron Gardens . Hopefully stuff eases off soon, and you get some you-time
And I'd definitely be interested in seeing how you go when you start