Pruning and general advice for Obelisk Pear Trees (columnar/pyramidal)

[Russel Sprout]

Hi all

I posted recently for advice about how to prune apple and pear trees. Thanks for the replies there. I think I am understanding it all now.

However, one of my pear tree is an Obelisk; which Blackmoors (where i bought it from) describes as a columnar/pyramidal tree. Should I prune this in the same way as the others, which are being done with a central leader? Or do columnar/pyramidal trees have totally different requirements?

Here's a pic of how it looks at the moment.



Any advice about this (or any general advice about these types of trees) would be very helpful and most appreciated.

Cheers

Max

[chrisdb]

I think you'll have to ask Blackmoors for advice. The problem is that normally you want to promote horizontal growth because it's more fruitful, but the whole point of that tree is that it doesn't spread horizontally.

Even if you let it follow its vertical habit, the top looks very congested to me. It's hard to see how all those branches at the top can grow without rubbing against each other.

[Russel Sprout]

Hi

Yes, I did ask Blackmoors. In fact, I have asked them a few things and tend to find them not very helpful. When I asked about the difference between central leader and open vase/goblet they had not heard of the terms... With regards the Obelisk, their advice was that this variety never needs to be pruned; although when pressed further I was told that it can be pruned to achieve a desired shape if wanted, but aside form that pruning is never necessary.

I don't know - maybe they're right. But I also felt it looked very congested (especially at the top). I didn't want to take the secateurs to it though in case these types of trees are supposed to be like that...

Thanks for the help.

[Russel Sprout]

Hi

Sorry to bump this so soon, but just want to see if I can get any advice before I go out and make a hash of it! And I'm thinking the time for pruning is fast running out...

Many thanks