Pear Tree Pruning
By Kay DiVerde
Pear trees can add shade and beauty to your landscaping—and if you have more than one pear tree for pollination, you can enjoy the sweet, juicy fruit, too. Pear trees can live and produce fruit for almost 75 years, so they are definitely worth the investment. Give your pear trees the best growing environment possible and learn how to prune them properly to encourage fruit development.
The Right Climate for Pear Trees
Pear trees generally don’t grow well in warm areas because they need a winter chilling to break their dormancy. Choose a sunny location for your pear trees, unless you are in a climate with a very strong sun. Salt-laden and cold winds can be very damaging to pear trees. If you live in a cold climate, plant your pear trees on a northern or eastern slope. This will help to prevent blooming too early. Good air circulation is essential for pear trees. Without this circulation, your pear tree will risk being affected by fire blight, which is the most troublesome pear disease.
Pear trees are deep-rooted trees, and they need a deep soil. Because they need lots of soil moisture, pear trees will grow best in a heavy soil, as opposed to a light soil. Also, a sandy soil will warm up too quickly in the spring, and that might cause the blooms to be hurt by a frost. Strive for a soil with a pH of about 6.5.
Pruning. The Key to Good Fruit Production
Pear tree should be pruned to have one strong central leader with side scaffolding branches that are evenly spaced at wide angles. Care needs to be taken with Bradford pear trees to avoid narrow crotches. If this is not done, the limbs will eventually split away from the trunk. This will destroy the tree’s shape and make it prone to disease.
While pruning, you also need to remove limbs that are upright, crossing and crowded. Suckers need to be removed to avoid them turning into woody, weak wood.
Pear trees bloom and bear fruit on the sharp, short spurs that grow between its branches. Thin the spurs regularly. Older spurs should be removed occasionally to be replaced by more vigorous young ones. If you end up with too many small fruits set in one year, thin them out to let the remaining fruit grow large and not have to compete for nutrients. It is not uncommon for pear trees to drop their fruit to do this thinning on its own.
Timing is Everything
It is generally best to prune pear trees late in the summer. You will stimulate the least amount of regrowth by pruning after the trees have finished growing for the year and have hardened their wood. If you live in an area where there’s a chance for winter damage, wait to prune until late winter.
While your pear trees are young, prune them to keep them from growing too tall. This will make it easier to harvest the fruit on the top branches. If you wait until the tree is too old to control the height, thee is a great chance of inviting blight into the branches.
Pear trees are generally easy to grow and maintain. This is one type of tree that tends to be self-thinning to save you some work. Give your pear trees the proper growing environment. Then maintain a regular pruning schedule to enhance the best possible fruit production.
Kay DiVerde is a freelance writer, horticultural researcher and consultant for Orchard's Edge. DiVerde also writes for a variety of newsletters and publications in the Midwest.
