Espalier Pear (Project)

The first of April I chopped off the top 30 feet of this 60 year old pear tree. It was growing straight upwards, had never been pruned and half the branches were dead. I top worked it with some scions from the same tree. Believe it or not they are taking nicely. The tree is sprouting buds all over and later on will be loaded with water shoots. Today I set four ten foot posts, each ten feet out from the tree in an x pattern. My idea is to espalier the tree in a North-South and an East-West direction. This will allow me to keep perhaps 16 of the water sprouts, and next spring graft know varieties to the tree. Can any of you give me some suggestions, or let me know if this is all a good idea or not? Uploading: image.png…

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Whether your water shoots-sprouts idea is a good one or not I can’t say, but I like it and sure hope it works.

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I went ahead and set up my espalier trellis for the pear. I added a center post to support the wires at the midsection and strung the wires. There ended up being 14 wires, so maybe someday I could have 14 varieties if desired. The tree had two water sprouts long enough to attach to the guide wires. I’ll try to update this as I go. Tree willing. Years ago someone had planted another pear immediately adjacent to the tree I am trying to tame. I believe it was the same variety, and judging from the stump, was a standard size. So all told I have 140 feet of potential cordons.

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These are the only pictures I have from the original part of the tree. I need more chain saw practice.

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This macro espalier looks neat. I’ll be curious to see how it goes. Keep us updated as it progresses!

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HollyGates I’m sure my new neighbors are wondering what I’m up to.

I’ve never taken care of a pear tree before, but this morning I snipped off the various shoots on my beginning cordons to about 4-5 inches in order to keep the tips apical dominance. Whether right or wrong, I know not.

Here are several pictures of what the pear tree looks like today. A mass of shoots. Some I’m training. If I braid the water sprouts together, how does that affect vigor? Like braiding 2,3 or 4 together to make one? Or 8 or 10 to cap off the chainsaw cut? Presently there is a great mass of water sprouts appearing. I think I’ll prune back the non keepers in the spring and let them regrow again next year to keep the tree

respirating until the permanent branches are sufficient.

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A few years ago I had a couple of long, limber water shoots growing on top of the same limb and I pointed each toward the other and put an overhand knot in them. I think it took two years for them to start to spur up, but then I inadvertently pruned one off. Kinda wrecked the experiment. Just FWIW!

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I have aphids and their ant friends showing up. I plan to catch them early. Last year with some apple trees, I decided that this season I would treat them with diatomaceous earth. I think it should work well on both the aphids and the ants. Last year I tried different approaches without much success. Soap and water and alcohol, I don’t remember what all. The duster makes a cloud like smoke, it’s kind of cool. It seems that dust and dusters have fallen put of favor and sprays are in now. I like to avoid chemicals whenever possible.

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I wanted to post some update photos. The tree looks a little like a chia pet. In six short weeks it has sent out all of these shoots. It is hard to see because visually it looks like chaos, but I have selected 11 shoots and attached them to the espalier wires. I mounted two stakes that are angled upward to the topmost wires and have various shoots heading that way. I don’t know if they will make it to the top or not, but I’ll be in good shape in the spring. In the spring I will cut back the shoots that will have no permanent purpose and let them regrow again next year for respiration and vigor purposes. I plan to do some grafting in the spring as well. One variety I want to try is Tyson. The original tree looks like it was grafted onto root stock, so any grafting I do will make it an interstem. I have one real low water sprout without much vigor, I hope it does better next year.pear%20tree%20july%204th%203 pear%20tree%20july%205th%205 pear%20tree%20july%204th%207 pear%20tree%20July%204th%202

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I was reading Dwarfed Fruit Trees by Harold Tukey and he said the espalier wires could be spaced 12-14 inches apart. Mine were double that, so the last several days I added 11 more strands and now have 25 arms coming out. I guess down the road I’ll find out if the trees engine is big enough to push that much growth. I have 20 shoots started on to the wires.
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Here is an update with a picture of where I’m at today with this tree. I did indeed get lots of water shoots and sprouts. I think I have almost 20 growing on the wires now. Two were one year old shoots and it looks like they set fruit spurs, so maybe I’ll get a few pears next year. maybe I’ll find out what the original variety is. The picture is a little crazy with excess growth that will be pruned back to 1-2 inches and allowed to regrow next summer, again to help the tree respirate and survive. 12 of the cordons look large enough to graft and I am looking for the following scions for 2021 spring. Korean Giant, Ya Li, Chojuro, Clarks Little Yellow, Drippin Honey, Hood, Harrow Delight, Elliot, Magness, Aurora, Winter Nelis, Warren, Clara Frijs, Tyson, Red Bartlett. Eventually I should be able to have 22 different varieties on this one tree. I had some problems with scab and plan to be vigilant next year with Mancozeb. Early in the season when all I had was a stump, it was interesting to see buds and shoots form out of nowhere on the old stump. They showed up high and low. After I prune next spring I’ll post some new pictures. If any one has ideas or suggestions let me know. A number of my top grafts took and should help long run to head off rot where the original chain saw cuts were.

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I know your pain, my espalier pears sprout like mad. It seems like they might be settling down a bit now that they are fruiting. I was once very careful with cutting off all the sprouts. I watched a video linked here somewhere where they practice pruning by ripping off the offending limbs. I pruned the shoots so often, I decided to just rip off shoots every time I walked past. It has worked well so far. I haven’t had to sanitize my pruners, just grab a shoot and rip away. The pears grow so fast, I feel I can repair any mistake I make. This is not a researched opinion, it just works for me. I also don’t mind ripping out the trees and starting over, so I’m a bit careless.

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Sparty What cultivar of pear is that. I hear what you are saying about snapping off the sprouts, but I want them to grow a second year until my cordons are well established. Your little tree looks great. Nice job. How old is it?

I think they are 4 or 5 years old. I bought 3 Bartlett pears and have been adding grafts. Some of the branches are Korean Giant and Shinko.

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Great Picture!

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The last pic makes me want to try my hand at a pear espalier :astonished: looks great :+1:

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