Pruning pear trees

[rydeosteo]

Help!

Not really knowing what and when I should be pruning a pear tree, a friend of mine suggested I try your forum and ask for advice.

Much appreciated,

[Joe]

welcome to the forum mate. as many of us are tree surgeons we cut trees all year round, so as far as many of us are concerned, any time is fine. any cuts you make should be clean tear free cuts, and all to growth points, hope this helps

[Steve Bullman]

Joes right up to a point....question is, are you pruning for fruit production?

[Nimby]

Ideally after flowering or during dormant period depending on why it needs pruning.

 

That's what I do on my tree.

[bobby]

it depends on the age and condition of the tree.

pears are vulnerable to disease of pruned to heavily so take it easy, maybe spread it over three years.

you want almost horizontal, lateral branches in a kinda christmas tree structure i.e long at the bottom, shorter towards the top with one main leader. nice spaces in between laterals should help air and light penetration.

upright branches are not much use for fruit production so should be taken back and remove older fuit bearing spurs to encourage new ones to be more vigorous and produce bigger fruit.

obviously remove dead, dying, rubbing brances and suckers at the base.

pruning at the end of summer (i.e now) is ok as it prevents too vigorous re-growth, depending on the vigour of your tree, but id do it in the dormant season, towards the end of winter.

think thats right anyway, it works for my trees and my pears are the envy of the neighbourhood.

RHS website should have some tips

Rob

[Dagmar]

Remember;a major difference between apples and pears, which affects their pruning, is that the branches aren't as strong and have an occasional propensity to snap . One way to build up the strength of the branches, is to prune as for apple trees but continue the formative (or restorative) pruning for eight years rather than four. This means repeating the pruning for year four through years five to eight.

 

Pear trees bear their fruit closer to main branches than apples. So,allow around 8 main branches to form rather than the four or five that you would for apple trees.

[chestnut]

can you post a pic of the tree in question ?