I have some Asian & Euro pear trees that need some heavy pruning. I let them go too long. Is Spring or Fall better to prune them?
Thanks
1 Like
@clarkinks might tell you to let it go, but I think even he will approve of some thinning now. Theoretically thinning now reduces photosynthesis, so there is less food for the tree to store in the roots for next year. But Clark also points out that pears respond to pruning with lots of vigorous new growth -when then needs to be pruned off.
I gather that if you keep at it you can convince the thing to quit being so vegetative and start fruiting more, but I understand Clark to mean that it’s better to let the tree do its thing.
I’m fighting the same battle with my pear right now. Good luck!
3 Likes
I usually do major pruning late winter/ early spring when it’s warm enough to have some comfort. Regular pruning I do whenever.
2 Likes
I’m trying to keep my only pear tree at its current height; so, I remove all vertical growth whenever I see it and have time to do it. Since at least 95% of the new growth is vertical, this means that practically all new growth is removed several times during the growing season. This year the tree set so much fruit that I would have spent a lot of time thinning if I had to do it one little pear at a time. To save time, while removing the vertical growth recently, I also removed most of the short branches that had fruit clusters on them, drastically reducing the thinning time, since many of the removed branches had 20-30 fruits. I’ve always pruned the pear tree during the growing season and have never noticed any problems. If I left the vertical shoots grow all summer, they would all be several feet long at the end of the year.
Respectfully, constant summer pruning may work great in the pacific northwest where summers tend to be dry and fireblight pressure tends to be lower, but the person asking this question appears to live in the humid mid-atlantic where fireblight presure can be very high. The difference in climate conditions and disease pressures may mean that summer pruning strategies that work in one climate may not work in another.
5 Likes
My Asian pears have been pretty easy to train and to fruit early but the Erous just want to grow. Part of the issue for me is that I don’t want a tall tree so I’m fighting nature. Last year I started summer pruning the Euros with what I think is called the 3 bud system. The 3 buds system in theory is supposed to check the tree/limb size and promote early fruiting. Soon I will do this year’s summer pruning. It’s too early to know if this method helps but right now I don’t think I have much to lose.
FB susceptibility is about temperature, humidity and state of growth. You probably can safely prune your pears during the hot spell that is coming up as once it gets above 90 degrees risk of infection decreases, but it also decreases once the first growth surge is over and tissue is hardening off. I’d wait until July during a hot spell, especially if you have a history of terrible fire blight in your orchard.
.
The literature suggests that in your climate the safest time to prune to avoid FB is mid-summer- mid-July to Mid-Aug. Not during winter or early spring. Region matters a great deal. In warmer regions, FB usually enters trees through blossoms in early spring, where springs tend to be quite cool it tends to enter through the shoots a few weeks later.
4 Likes
I see fire blight here mostly in April and early to mid May…
It has warmed up enough for it but is still quite wet… lots of rain still.
It mostly hits active blossoms… not so much in new growth tips. I do have some trees that bloom for extended time in new growth on limb tips and those tips often get FB.
My FG2 trees that bloom in March… hardly ever get FB… it is still too cool for it here then.
My FG4 apple Novamac starts blooming around April 1 and finishes mid May. I removed several FB hits from it again this year during that time… but have seen no more since then.
TNHunter
2 Likes
Do you understand that FB is different in other climates. In 35 years every case of FB I’ve seen here has been shoot blight. People need to understand that personal experience has limitations just like all other sources, but the best way to adjust is to combine anecdote with a clear understanding of how something like FB works, what temps humidity and physiological state of the target is most conducive to infection, etc.
Simply stating experience without this kind of context can be very confusing. Did you happen to read what I posted before your comment?
The reason I’m pulling back from this forum is the frustration of trying to get facts straight in a blizzard of local and personal anecdotes. I have an obsessive personality and it drives me nuts. When I have time, I will probably start a blog or forum on fruit trees that encourages membership that is obsessed with the why and trying to get a holistic understanding of how fruit trees work. It may not be as popular as one that has a lot of social interaction, but I think it would suit me better. A forum for fruit tree nerds.
Incidentally, the poster is in PA, so his conditions are not quite like mine, but probably more than like yours.
What is FG?
Propably Flowering group?
I have observed fire blight for several years at my location with similar results. I start seeing it mostly around the bloom stage on through about dime size fruit. From that time forward I usually don’t see any FB. This is the first year I didn’t see any fireblight on my pear trees. I did have a few hits on my apples. During the high probability period I walk through my small orchard each morning and break off any potential issues.
1 Like
I have a ton of sympathy for this view. It echoes why I pulled away from the fig forum. That said, I would distinguish two modes of presentation:
-
“Here’s my anecdote. Use the data as you see fit.” This is the approach by @TNHunter and I benefit greatly from his posts. I would say or do nothing to get him to stop. So thanks, Trev!
-
“Here’s my anecdote. It disproves what you say. Maybe it also disproves piles of systematic research. But it’s what I’ve observed so it must be the whole story.” This is the approach I find repugnant.
One common variant of #2 is the sweeping authoritative generalization, often with finger-pointing. For example, “My Variety XYZ is performing poorly. XYZ sucks!” Rather than “My XYZ is performing poorly. . . Is that common? . . . Might I be doing something wrong, like trying to grow XYZ in inadequate sun or low moisture or poor fertility or whatever.”
3 Likes
I am glad you asked this question; I was looking at my pears recently and boy do they need pruning, and it looks like my Magness is trying to reach heaven!
I tend to have dry summers but I think I will wait until Winter too, why risk an opening for disease?
I am guessing we can spray with dormant oil AFTER pruning in Winter?
@Oepfeli … yes… flowering group.
Early Mcintosh is in FG2… it blooms and finishes blooming before fireblight normally shows up here.
After the main bloom petal fall… it will continue to bloom some on limb tip new growth… and there it occasionally gets a hit of FB. Easy enough to prune off… no great loss.
All is not good with FG2 apples here though… they occasionally lose entire crop to a hard frost.
FG4 apples are much safer bet against losing crop to hard frost… but are a sure bet to get lots of FB strikes even if labeled as very resistent like my Novamac.
Last year I removed 15 fruit spurs and 2 scaffold branches… it survived and ripened a few very nice apples.
This year I removed 6 fruit spurs and a couple limb tips.
It looks like… and I am hoping it is becoming more resistent.
To anyone reading this… I am in southern middle TN… zone 7b.
TNHunter
2 Likes
I’m sorry, I must have explained myself poorly. I have nothing against anyone posting anecdotes, why would anyone come to a forum like this and suggest there was something wrong with that.
What I object to is when a comment immediately follows another comment with a statement that seems oblivious to the flow of discussion- as in following my comment about how fire blight attacking flowers instead of shoots occurs in warmer, more southern regions and then the comment immediately following states that all their fire blight occurs on the flowers without any mention of the comment that proceded it Someone stepping in at that point might think that the comment is a suggestion that FB starting on flowers is generally more common because no mention in the comment suggested that this was evidence that the previous comment was true, and FB varies in important characteristics depending on climate.
I am trying to clarify the nature of FB in a way that people understand it better no matter where they live.
Incidentally, even FG are very regionally specific as the further north you go the shorter the distance between early and late blooming varieties- perhaps that is why growers here don’t use the same jargon as you more southern growers, where it is a much more crucial issue. Funny, but Macintosh is a relatively late bloomer here. .
I think Mcintosh ripens pretty late into the fall too.
My tree is a Early Mcintosh… cross of Mcintosh and Yellow Transparent. Fruit starts ripening mid June. Flowering group 2.
In southern TN it starts blooming mid March.
TNHunter