Dwarf Everbearing Colette Pear

General Fruit Growing
#1

My tree, which I just planted last year, thankfully, has flowers this Spring.

Am I supposed to remove these flowers, so that the roots have more time to form, as with some other plants, or do I just let things roll along?

Some of the buds, including the uppermost ones, died during Winter–either from the cold (doubtful), or from underwatering (likely, because I am still coming to understand just how thirsty these trees and shrubs can be).
The tree will still form buds and grow upwardly, right? It’s a Dwarf, but I don’t think I would like it much if it stayed this height.

I read, on this site, that it is a bad idea to prune a Pear tree (creates a downward spiral that, in short, reduces productivity), but this one has a branch that is quite low (that also pokes out of the tree guard), and I thought I could prune it off, and root it out, because we found a space for another fruit tree (and why wouldn’t it be another Pear?), but that warning against pruning has me doubting that would be a good idea at all.

Also, it is “partially self fertile”. I read that that means only some of the pollen particles will be able to fertilize, but that, with enough pollinator activity, it should be able to set a full crop. Does anyone have experience with this?

I’d’ve included photos, but my phone is broken.

#2

Also, it has 56 flowers (7 clusters, 8 each); being that it is so small, should I believe it really will be able to handle all of that? Will it need a support structure (if I’m going to leave all the pears on it)?

#3

Most likely not all blossoms will turn into fruit. You can thin out the tiny fruitlets soon. Better fruit set and quality usually results from cross pollination. “If thine lower branch offends thee, cut it off.” :grin:

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#4

Really? Another user said it was a bad idea to prune pears, because you end up in a losing battle of pruning sprouts and wood.

#5

I’ve pruned mine to shape them, never had any problems. Pears do seem to be more vigorous than many fruit trees, can be dependent on your local climate.

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#6

Origen was said to have actually done that. LOL

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#7

There’s a difference between pruning that works with the nature of the tree to enhance it and chopping which fights the nature of the tree. The latter is what leads to a battle. Safe pruning would be to remove dead, damaged or weak growth as well as thinning where branching is crowded. Just don’t go out and try to chop off every bit of growth that tries to grow in a generally upward direction. Crazy as it sounds, people really do that; somehow thinking it is a productive endeavor.

Regarding the flowers, it is normal for most to not set fruit so don’t worry about your tree overdoing it. On a young tree, don’t be surprised if little to no fruit forms the first couple years it is of blooming size. If any fruit does set, I would pinch off any which seem deformed and limit each cluster to one fruit (removing some clusters entirely if they are too close to others).

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