I have about 8 perry pears—making the pear version of cider. They suffer terribly from fungus—this is a humid area. Not much growth happening. I spray with organic fungicide but still—a LOT of spraying.
So I am thinking of lifting them. Might try an experiment: take say 3 cuttings from each tree and if they strike will grow them and plant them somewhere—have a strip of ground will do. These then will be trees growing on their own roots, not grafted. Will do this in spring.
Any sort of dwarfing really does weaken the resistance of a tree so will see, a little experiment.
It is a lamentable pity that Heritage Fruit Trees, Vic, no longer sends plant material to Tas & WA—red tape! They sell trees on natural roots, noit dwarfed. Close planting so root competition keeps trees small, summer pruning for size, espaliering etc all keep tree sizes 2m high or less. Do NOT need dwarfing for that!
In place of the perry trees—raspberries and blueberries growing in acidic soil (note for lees—this is acidic soil not alkaline soil acidifying
) in raised beds and maybe see if something else could be added, native fruits for example.