ANNUAL GRAFTING OF NASHI PEAR IN LOW CHILL AREAS OF TAIWAN

At present there are no high quality Nashi pear cultivars adapted to t he subtropical (low chill) zone of Taiwan. A method to high chill Nash i pear cultivars in the lowland subtropical zone of Taiwan has been de veloped as a way to harvest Nashi pear 6 to 12 weeks before the harves t in the high chill regions. The procedure involves the annual graftin g of already chilled budwood of high chill, high quality Nashi pears ( 'Hosui' and 'Kosui) onto the local low chill poor quality Nashi cultiv ar, hand pollination, the use of gibberellic acid (GA) to accelerate r ipening, paper bags to protect the fruit, and the development of renew al wood for grafting the following year.