HelpfulGardener.com

Hi,
I have always have some trouble growing but I have a special project. I have a great great great uncle I am researching that moved out west after the civil war to start a fruit farm in arizona. I located one of the final two trees he planted that are still living. They are some sort of pear from around 1870. I snagged a long limb with the idea of trying to make it grow. The limbs had lots of buds on them. I used one of those covered growth trays with the clear lid....cut the limbs into like 2 inch long parts, removed all the leaves, dipped them in root hormone powder and stuck them into a sponge like peat pod thing designed for early growth. I stuck this whole thing indirectly in front of a grow light. I'm now a few weeks into the process and a couple have died but a few have sprouted new leaves from the buds and look really healthy......which I think is a good sign. What next. Should the new leaves be removed too or should I just let them grow. What do you guys recommend. I am really hoping to not kill these guys as this is my only shot at getting some to grow. The ultimate plan is to grow these indoors in a bucket indoors.

Thanks a bunch,
Zach

Don't remove the leaves Zac. These are feeding the shoot.
With any luck the shoots will root over time.
There is another thing that you could do, but it may require the help of a nursery assistance. This would be for one of the shoots to be sacrificed and the buds to be grafted onto a growing pear tree. As the shoots are already active scion grafting would be too late but there could be a few dormant buds that would be viable for bud grafting.
Good luck.