Stub cuts to encourage fruit bud development

J plums usually fruit on last years wood anyway.

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@clarkinks Thanks for weighing both the pros and cons. This question was initially asked as more of a theoretical one, not seeing an immediate need to use stub cuts. Now, however, you have me wondering if I should clip the (what appears to be) fruiting spurs from the trunk of one of my Asian pears going into its third leaf. I was pretty excited about them, hoping that I might get a sample of fruit this year! I do not really know how much risk there is locally for fireblight, but I am a minimalist when it comes to fertilizing.

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I have been reading an old book on the Lorette system of pruning, they seem to do the stub cuts to promote fruit growth and to keep the tree smaller. I don’t know enough about pruning to asses if it would work for me, but I did apply it last year to two trees I thought I could practice on. The theory is that when the cuts are done in June, rather than in winter, there is not very much suckering. You may need one more cut later in the summer. I did the first cuts and did not need to do another, but fruit tree growth is considerably slower up here.

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@Richard Thank you for your perspective. I looked at the Stanford Martin pruning guide after you scanned that page. There was very little written about stub pruning overall, but the section on pruning apples was clear that stub pruning should be avoided to prevent rot.

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This might be useful for me, I am trying to grow some of my plums in a shelter and if I can get fruit by pruning them and keeping them smaller, they will be easier to cover for the winter. I saved the picture, is that OK with you?

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You might like this thread Pear buds, blossoms, and fruit 2017. I would at least keep a very close eye on them and if they turn black get rid of them! This is what you look for Late season Fireblight

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@northof53 I will have to look into the Lorette system of pruning. Clearly, I have plenty to learn regarding this topic!

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One I do with my pears which might help some is hit them with coper before they bloom, again during bloom and then a last time after bloom or as its ending. Obviously, a commercial grower probably can’t do this much spraying on account of labor cost. But this is all the spraying I plan to do this year on the pears, unless a problem emerges of course. Note, all my varieties are supposedly very fire blight resistant, but that’s no guarantee. February is looking to be warm and wet this year. That’s a scary combination with respect to fire blight on pears and stem canker on plums. God bless.

Marcus

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Thanks @clarkinks. In light of some of the pictures that you linked me to, I think it would be a good idea to prune away the fruiting buds on the Yoinashi pear. At 2 feet from the ground, that would not leave me with too much tree if it were inflicted with FB.

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Marcus,
I hit them with copper before and after but not during since copper is a heavy metal. It’s highly effective though when I need to I resort to antibiotic spray. Hopefully this is not a fireblight year.

Here is another link you may be interested in Pear tree Fireblight research so you dont have to - #18 by clarkinks

This book is old, my sister brought me a copy that was found somewhere in the US when she was down to visit. Even if the system doesn’t apply to all growing conditions it is an interesting read from a historical point of view.

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I was just reading a summary of the Lorette System, it sounds like you hit the nail on the head. There is a link to the book here. It sounds like the author does suggest multiple summer prunings, as @alan suggested.

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Yes he does more than one pruning in the summer, but none of my resulting growth every reached the “pencil” size or got to the woody stage that he suggests you use as a guide to prune off. My season is too short, so I will see what happens next spring, I have other non pruned trees so if these did not turn out Oh well.

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I suppose we should have asked about varieties and species you were thinking about. Most Asian pears fruit young and excessively. I’ve never grown Yoinashi, but every other variety I manage rapidly form fruit buds without encouragement to the point that I routinely remove half the spurs on bearing trees to reduce thinning chores- Asian pears require lots of thinning fruit to get quality and size.

Asain pears are no-brainer trees to prune, except that they sometimes runt out from too much spur wood while still small. You needn’t cut shoots to get them to bear young.

Incidentally, fire blight pressure where you are is likely much less than where Clark is and Asian pears are often resistant to it. Your weather is more like mine, and out of scores of Asian pear trees I manage, I’ve never seen a single strike in 25 years.

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It was not my intent to use stub cuts on any of my prunings this year, but as I ran across some stub cut references, it did not jibe with pruning orthodoxy and I was trying to make sense of it. When @clarkinks mentioned that fruit spurs on the trunk may run a higher risk of FB, I was just disappointed because I have a very young orchard and do not want to prune any potentially fruiting wood for the year. At this point it is probably better to save the trees energy for vegetative growth anyway.

I look forward to reading the Lorette System book and having another tool in the toolbox, even if it is tool that is used very infrequently. Thanks for your help in putting this method in context.

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No, but on my cherry I do it for scaffold renewal, or will as my tree is just of age. I need to start.
I have heard it is better to remove at the collar for better healing and less chance of fungal invasion into the wood. A stub cut is more likely to get black knot or fireblight than one at the collar.

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I stub prune plums a lot. I don’t do summer pruning anymore but when I do winter pruning I prune off many of those tall suckers at the top and I stub a few of them.

I tried stubbing apples and pears, both summer pruning and dormant, and it never worked for me. The upward growth would just pick up where it left off. In my case I had too much vigor in the system; with less vigor or with branches growing more horizontally stub cuts could work.

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I assume you mean very close to the collar but not removal of the collar.

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Search MES111 for photos of a very large and productive orchard where this is the standard training method he uses to get early fruiting and keep trees within tight spacing. .

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