Hello everone. I’m Maya. I need help pruning these pear trees and have no idea what I’m doing! Could you take a look and guide me please?
A bit of a background: I live in Central Iowa, zone 5a/b. I planted this multiple planting of pears in 2019 for lack of space in the hope that they grow as one tree andtried to control the length to 6-8’
They are semi-dwarf seckel, bosc, and luscious (left to right). The seckel and luscious bloom at the same time. I now know the bosc blooms later, but 2019 I was a total nube!
Initially, I was pruning them like I did my peach tree. The luscious and seckel had a couple of blooms in 2022, but only on the very end of 2 branches. I got a few seckle fruits.
Last year, I cut complete braches to have fewer centeral leaders (all were going vertically) and spread a few branches apart with pieces of wood, and I reduced the height to 6’. I got no blooms last year, but a lot of vegetative growth, as usual.
Now, I’m afraid to prune again and get no blooms again. They look like a mess! Where are the blooms supposed to be? How should I prune them?
Hi Maya
Welcome to the forum. I think you need to tie down the majority of those vertical growing limbs to where they are growing at about a 10-15 degree angle above horizontal and train them a few years to encourage blossoms. This would also keep fruits low enough to reach without a ladder. You will find that vertical growth begets more vertical growth without fruit. That happens on most fruit trees including pears. If you have too many verticals then thin some out so that every limb you keep is not shaded by growth above it! That’s what I would do immediately while you can still bend them without breaking! Use soft tissue rings around each limb to attach your tie downs to avoid bark damage or girdling. The most experienced pear expert is @clarkinks, so I refer you to Clark, he is very knowledgeable and may have better ideas to help you
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Hi Maya
I usually drive stakes in the ground on on 3 sides to tie to. Then you simply take up more wraps around the stakes as you tighten. I save a lot of baler twine which is very strong and last several years, made of spun polyester.
Dennis
I bend the branches on all of my pears. Here is my method:
First, I drive a J-hook piece of rebar into the ground under the limb. Then I put a loop of regular gardening tape around the limb. I make the loop diameter much wider than the limb and use wide tape (both precautions against girdling the limb). Then I tie a piece of string or twine to the loop, and wrap the other end of the string around the J-hook multiple times to keep it from slipping free (without tying a knot).
Tightening or loosening the string is then a simple operation. The twine or string will usually degrade and fail after a few months of heat and rain, but that is fine because the branch will have set in its new position by then. And if I forget about it, I don’t have to worry about the tree being damaged.
Another trick is to cut some holes in a milk jug so it drains when it rains and hang it from a scaffold, then simple add enough stones to weigh down the limb, simulate fruit loading
Dennis
Hello, fellow central Iowa front-yard pear tree grower! I’m a couple years behind you but this tree was put in spring 2022 (now about 7ft tall) and it put on about 15 fruits last year. I plucked off all but 2 to let it fruit and they got blown off in the big late-July storm last summer. I don’t have much to add about why yours aren’t fruiting, but, if mine is…yours should be!
I am a first time Pear grower and I was trying to bend and put some Y shaped sticks into my pear branches to bend them but I guess I didn’t know how much give they have and accidentally broke 2
I immediately taped them up back right over the break with Buddy Tape but one of the “grafts” is now leaking some sap.
Wondering if this is fine or if I need to cut the tree at the place where it’s doing this or something … feeling quite stupid to have done this to myself. I’ll try to post a pic tomorrow once it’s light again.
Hi, sorry to hear about your break! The break can easily heal itself, but you need more than buddy tape can do in terms of pressure pulling the fibers back together. I would do this instead:
Straighten the branch so that the wood fibers go back into their normal position.
While holding the branch straight wrap the break area for several inches on each side with 1” wide plastic strips.
Then use rubberized electrical tape to very tightly wrap the break being careful to apply it only over the plastic tape ( this will prevent the electrical tape from sticking to your bark and facilitate day removal once your break has healed)
Treat this branch as you would a broken bone and apply a splint to keep the branch straight during its healing period.
You can then try again to bend the branch down but very slowly and applying bending force only on the lower portion of your splint.
You should see normal vegetative life beyond the break while it heals but growth may be slower than other branches.
Best wishes
Dennis
Thanks for pics MB, given the breaks being at the crotch, I think you need to let those breaks heal a year before any further bending efforts!
To help them heal you need to pull them slightly back towards vertical to help close the wound gap and tie it until it is healed. Then next year in order to bend those limbs lower, you will need to keep some type of brace upwards a good 5” from the trunk before applying any downward force further out the limbs. Still can be done but first get the crotch angle healed!
Dennis
Makes sense. I was actually wondering if the top broken branch in the 2’nd pic is too thick anyways and whether I should just prune it off to follow the style of pruning that Alan recommends here on his detailed pruning thread.
I cannot see the whole tree, but that crotch angle is a rather strong one that is probably worth keeping. If there are sufficient growth buds on the main trunk to grow new ones that would be worth considering.
Dennis
Hi Drew from Iowa That’s a beautifully pruned tree! What variety is it? Is it self-fertile?
I buy my trees as bare-root 1 to 2-year-olds, so it takes them a few years to bear. But my pears are only blooming on the very end on the branches!
Thanks! I haven’t done too much to it pruning wise. I like to think this is just a very cooperative pear tree. It’s supposed to be a Bartlett but I’ve grafted an Anjou, Clara Frijs, and Sunrise onto it so it’s a 4-in-1 right now. I have a two other separate Pears (Gem and Seckel) on the other side of the driveway. I’ll eventually graft some more on them but they’re smaller (put in 2022 and 2023).
That’s a beautifully pruned tree! What variety is it? Is it self-fertile?