Hi All,
Sorry about the delay in getting back… work kind of went off the rails, and it took a while to go through the recommended threads and videos, which I really appreciate. Thanks so much for your comments.
@krismoriah - thank you for the interesting video. When I planted a bunch of whips this year, I posted up about going horizontal, as the ‘literature’ has so much information, ranging from horizontal to 30-50 to 45 to 45-60 above horizontal. There really doesn’t seem to be much consensus. I ended up more like 30-40 on most, wanting to be less vertical, but in response to my thread I pretty much only received traditional feedback. I like the idea for sure. I am also curious what types of wood are strong enough to support that, as well. Apple, yes I can see. I would think Peach would not. I definitely have some more horizontal limbs on my old pear, and they seem to have held over time, though I think of pear as weaker than apple, and requiring a number of years to get to the point of being strong (have lost a lot of small limbs on pears).
@clarkinks - thanks for the links… it’s amazing how much you know about pears, and always impressed with and thankful for your responses. I wish I had more space with sun to grow larger trees than I am aiming for, as I totally understand your concept of minimizing pruning and higher reliable output from the larger trees, especially in our region. With your 20-30’ trees, how do you manage the top 2/3 of the tree? Since you have a farm, I wasn’t sure if you had a cherry picker or similar, or work with ladders and poles.
@alan - always thankful for your valuable insights… for example I just now learned from you about how much energy is required to sustain the leaves. Yes, what you mentioned about the growth on main scaffolds highly exposed to the sun is the biggest culprit here. I wish there was a way to have this weeping approach without so much sun on the trunk (for health and sprouting issues), but it seems there isn’t a good solution, and understood that this is just a maintenance.
My gut agrees that I missed my window (temps now cooler, and FB is an issue here), and so reluctantly I will have to wait to prune. Perhaps I will pull out maybe 1/4 of the shoots (the bigger ones), during winter, and wait until we get above fireblight temps to hit the other ones in late spring. This tree, similar to what you’ve mentioned, it probably 40’ across at this point, and now more like 15’ or less tall. On the pear, probably similar approach, as I am more concerned about it with fireblight.
I’ll have to be more disciplined in managing these during the summer, going forward.