Pruning new pear trees

[datz]

I have two pear trees planted out as bare root one year old trees last October. They are both about three foot high with small shoots all the way up the stem. Should I take the lower shoots off, and if so when? The apple trees I bought were older and already had been pruned to main branches at the top of the tree.

[FB.]

Young apple and pear trees are usually best pruned in winter after all the leaves have fallen. If planted as 3-4ft tall maiden whips, many young trees will form a nice branch structure all by themselves if the growing conditions are reasonable.

If you don't want the lower shoots on the pears, remove those unwanted shoots in winter. Whether to remove them depends on what form you want the tree to take - such shoots would be really useful to someone wanting to grow a cordon.

Those lower shoots may well be fruit spurs; if the tree is growing strongly you could leave the spurs to let it produce fruit while the upper part of the tree is growing to the required size over the next several years.

However, if they are only "3ft high" and "small shoots all the way up the stem" I wonder if they haven't grown much this year and are spurring-out because they are not happy - they may be at risk of runting-out; a vicious circle of being unable to grow because the fruit spurs and blossoms are demanding nutrients, but unable to produce good fruit because the trees haven't laid-down a good root system with which to feed the fruits.

How much new growth do they have?
Which variety and rootstock do you have?
What form and how big do you hope they will become when mature?
What's your soil and climate like?


More on summer pruning:
Summer pruning weakens the tree - a bad idea if the tree is already weak and slow-growing.
It is usually used to slow the growth or to keep trained forms within their allowed space by shortening the length of the new shoots to just a few buds and leaves.
A tree should never have more than half its leaves removed in summer (ideally no leaves removed at all!) because it may suffer so much shock that it goes into decline and dies - especially old trees.

[datz]

How much new growth do they have?
Which variety and rootstock do you have?
What form and how big do you hope they will become when mature?
What's your soil and climate like?
.

I've attached photos of the two trees a Comice and a Conference both on Quince A stock. I would like a bush form and an eventual height of 3/5 metres . All the growth came this year and very late. But spring was quite cold here with snow towards the end of April The Comice produced shoots in May, the Conference not until late June.
We are situated 750 metres up in Auvergne, France. Soil is fairly acid as it was in the shadow of many conifers which we have had cut down. The apple and Plum trees we planted are doing well in the same soil and aspect. But they were two year old scions and sourced from a specialist local nursery at 1000metres! Many thanks for your help.

[FB.]

I'd leave them alone until winter. *
Keep them well-watered and keep the weeds well away from them.

After the leaves have fallen - preferably during a relatively dry mild spell in winter to avoid frost damage or infection in the pruning cuts - prune off the side shoots you don't want and cut the top off the main stem at the point where you want the buds below to form the main branches.

*
I noticed a dead-looking bit at the top of the first one. Is it dead from disease such as canker, or was it killed by frost?
Also; is the first tree leaning because the stake is too short or bending where it is being caught be winds?

[datz]

The trees came totally leaf and branch free, so the bare bit at the top of the Conference is as is, and leaf growth started at the bottom and spread upwards.
We are on a slope so achieving true vertical is tricky, but I'll have a look at it .
Unfortunately our local high altitude nursery had no Pear trees due to disease so I had to buy these ones in and they have definitely not been as hail and hearty as the others, for whom our altitude and severe winter weather hold no fears.
Thanks for your advice.
David