Hi all, I planted this Ayers pear graft on full size root stock this past spring. Scion was only the red and blue shoots. Red became dominant, blue didn’t do much, while the green appeared and really took off. I’m not concerned about aesthetics or size but am wondering about the narrow crotch angles that have formed.
Would it be wise to leave alone or remove 1 or 2 of the shoots? If so, which one(s) would be best to remove? There is more space between red and green than picture shows and I can create more yet with some training if needed.
Are you aiming for a traditional central leader configuration, or an open center?
I’m not an expert in pruning / training at all, and my own pears are still young. But from what I’ve read from real experts (mostly here on this forum), you probably should choose just one limb and remove the other two. Then choose new candidate scaffolding limbs next year. Otherwise, you are going to have problems where any limb(s) you retain as a scaffolding limb will be too vigorous – they are too big in diameter relative to the trunk to retain at this time.
No matter what you choose to do, green and red cannot both be retained; they are mutually antagonistic in relation to each other because of their union – probably too much to be corrected by branch bending / spacing or hinging. And even if you are going for an open center, you will want some big spacing between the scaffolding limbs so that the union with the trunk is not weak.
Your pear should really take off next year – pears on standard rootstock are very vigorous once they’ve gotten their roots down.
Even the most respected contributors here have different philosophies when it comes to pruning pears on standard rootstock.
For instance, in this thread, @clarkinks advocates for a strategy of mostly leaving the trees alone as being the swiftest path to heavy production. And in this thread, @alan outlines his more interventionist, systematic methodology to both induce swift bearing and end up with a highly productive, efficient structure.
Basically all of the experts, including @alan and @clarkinks, recommend branch bending laterals when young, both to speed up bearing and for developing better structural integrity.
I would remove the start of purple and green and keep red but stake it to straighten it up. Red is the dominant trunk and will grow quickly. The pear tree chose red but that doesnt mean i like that it did that. That would be your best bet. The red branch can easily be shaped because it is new growth it will be willow like. Take a look how i prune when im grafting it will be helpful. I do prune small pears but not to control height.
Not so much while they establish the desired size. My pruning guide explains this for apples and I have the same approach to pears- worry about the permanent scaffolds after the trees bear their first substantial crop, and even then, prune to gradually let permanent scaffolds achieve their final dominance. Temp branches work great for tying down secondary and tertiary wood from you permanent ones. You can subdue them as needed while using them for this purpose. However, it is never too soon to spread branches to more horizontal position, but it can get to a point where you can’t even do that with hinges.
In your method, isn’t it correct to say that the 1/3 rule (removing all branches connected to the trunk that are greater than 1/3 the diameter of the trunk) still generally applies even when the tree has not begun bearing? (Barring extraordinary situations like fireblight pressure, of course.)
I think that is a significant distinction from @clarkinks’ more laissez-faire approach.
Rules are really suggestions when it comes to the art of pruning fruit trees and pears somehow have stronger branch unions than most other species. I try to avoid absolute co-dominance with them, even though I’m told it is rare for even inverted bark to lead to splitting with pears (Clark would be a better guide than me on this specific pear issue- he’s very close to his trees, has lots of them and lives where there’s a lot of strong wind).
At any rate, pears are fine to stick to a 1-2 ratio- scaffolds to trunk. After that, the ratio thing is primarily about steering trees to being as economical as possible with structural wood. No sense in having parallel highways close together. Scaffold branches are like highways and building and maintaining that wood requires energy. For Clark, and most home growers, that economy is not so important as for commercial growers that need maximum productivity per acre.
However, I also think that a tree built to economize wood tends to also be a beautiful structure. Our eyes tend to approve of symmetry and symmetry occurs automatically when you “prune by numbers”.
Very leggy with little side branching and when wet, it hangs at near a 90 degree angle. In hind site I probably should have cut back the remaining stem I left when removing the other 2.
What to do now… Leave alone, top above first big curve, or wait and do that when dormant?
My concern there is the stake might prevent the stem from thickening and it will never be able to support itself. On clonal rootstock so wants to be a tall tree.
Don’t worry, it will thicken. You may keep it tied up only for a season + you are not going to tie it up tight. You may do a couple loose ties and remove the support after one season, then it will be firm enough - IF you will not allow it to carry fruit too early as it may just plop again. It is likely exactly that vigorous growth that is at the root of the problem .
I graft on established seedlings if I can and often see this happening. When the graft is above my shoulder height it’s not a problem (more fruiting spurs earlier), but I’ve once grafted a Bosc waist high and that thing shot up 1.5 m of new growth. Ended up propped against a hazel cane for a year and now it has a nice load of new pears and looks thin and top heavy, but is nice and straight. Those things are tough as nails, but you need to help them once in a while. Or adopt the shaping-by-pruning-only bonsaist approach. Nothing wrong with that, you just loose time and the pear will keep pushing one way and you the other a tad longer…
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