Growing From Seed

• Comice pears grown from seed will not come back true to form.Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
  
  Growing any fruit from seed will yield a fruit that does not show the characteristics of the fruit you love. Pears need to cross-pollinate with another variety of pear to reproduce. The resulting fruit will contain seeds that hold the genetic sequence from two different pear trees. If you planted a Comice pear from seed, the resulting tree would portray traits from both parents, and not necessarily the best attributes.
  
  

Grafting

• The best way to propagate a Comice pear is through asexual reproduction by grafting. This form of reproduction produces clones from a selected variety to ensure consistency of valuable traits. Several grafting methods exist, including budding. Essentially all pear cultivars, including Comice, are budded in the fall using either a chip bud or T-bud. A bud is taken from the desired fruit tree and grafted onto a selected rootstock. These rootstocks are selected for disease resistance and dwarfing capabilities.
  
  

Rootstocks

• Quince are closely related to pears.Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
  
  Closely related plants can actually grow together, lending each other their best traits. Quince and pear are both from the family Rosaceae, and Comice pears are commonly grafted onto quince rootstocks. Quince offers a 50 percent decrease in size and produces a semidwarf tree. Grafting onto a quince rootstock also offers a Comice pear tree resistance to decline, root aphids, root rot and most nematodes. Quince is not compatible with all varieties of pears, including Bartlett. Bartlett pears must have an interstem. Interstems of Old House are grafted on the quince rootstock, then a Bartlett is grafted on the Old House wood, creating a bridge between incompatible plants.
  
  

Comice Pear Qualities

• Comice pears are a common part of fruit gift baskets.Jupiterimages/Comstock/Getty Images
  
  There are many reasons to propagate your very own Comice pear tree. The soft, buttery flesh makes a Comice a wonderful fresh eating pear. The extra juiciness and soft flesh of this pear makes it unsuitable for cooking and processing and is best served fresh. Comice pear slices complement soft cheeses such as Brie, Camembert or any of the blues. The late ripening and good storage capacity of a Comice pear makes it a common site in Christmas fruit baskets, and they can be found in grocery stores from September through March.