pear growth

[BUFFS]

are pear trees the same as apples when it comes to the fast growing vertical branches? i know FB has said that they need removing/controlling on apples but does this apply to pears as well?i have a williams pear that seems to have grown loads of these,and no fruit,are they trimmed or cut out completly and is it too late for "summer" pruning?i think thats enough questions for one day or i will wear out my typing finger....

[roitelet]

Right or wrong I have pruned my pear in the last couple of weeks. I also prune in about June or it gets out of hand. I still get fruit, not a lot this year.

[FB.]

Pears tend to be more upright and produc more spurs on upright shoots, but, generally speaking, the most fruitful branches will be those which grow closer to the horizontal.

The simple explanation is that the lower branch growth is suppressed by hormones travelling down in the sap from branches higher in the tree. This is intended - in a natural situation - to stop all branches growing in a tight vertical bunch and crowding each other. It also makes the lower branches grow outwards (to make the tree wider) and upper branches to grow upwards (to make the tree taller). Lower branches tend to be more fruitful and the upper branches more vigorous; sap and hormones seem to flow better and faster when going up-down the tree than horizontally.

Upright-growing branches in young trees often get gradually (but permanently) bent downwards by up to about 45-degrees as the weight of fruit increases.

In general, upright branchs are not a problem in a young tree as long as there is only one dominant branch. Twin leading shoots is a recipe for a weak tree stucture, with the tree splitting down the middle under heavy fruit load or strong winds/snow when it reaches middle age.

Once your tree is up to size, the best way to keep it under control, maintain its size and shape, and encourage fruitfulness is to not allow too much upright growth. Removing long upright new shoots in summer can make a very big difference to the fruit quality since the removed shoots will no longer be stealing nutrients from the fruits.

[BUFFS]

thanks FB,but the single leader is a problem as i have trained this one as an espalier,or probably more accurate,a stepover that is really too tall to qualify,4 horizontal tiers and loads of smaller branches coming off them,so it has no leader,it spreads about 5ft either way,i fancy that complicates it somewhat.....

[Kleftiwallah]

About 4 - 5 branches of our Concorde pear tree broke last year due to the weight of crop. I go out to the garden secuters in hand determined to cut back the crop of verticals and just end up walking away scratching my head. (I'll do something another day)!

Cheers, Tony.

[FB.]

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I stole a picture of an apple tree from a recent topic:
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ree_68051.html

and "pruned" it - with before and after pictures below, also a picture showing blue circles around the parts I'd remove (possibly in summer):

[FB.]

There are two major types of pruning cut:

1.
A "heading" cut, where part of a shoot's length is removed.
This causes several buds below the cut to sprout - often vigorously re-growing the following year if pruned in winter.
Heading cuts also tend to remove fruit buds on the tips of the shoots, so not only reduce flowering but increase vigour too - which is not what most people want, except in a young tree.

2.
A "thinning" cut, where the entire shoot is removed. This does not cause nearly as much vigorous regrowth as heading cuts because there is no shoot and no buds left to sprout.

[FB.]

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I just knocked-up a sketch of what I tend to find from heading and thinning cuts:

.

[BUFFS]

thanks FB..