Pruning an overgrown pear tree

Hi everyone

I’m posting this on behalf of an elderly friend who doesn’t have access to the internet. They’ve just moved home and their new garden has a variety of established plants already. Near the bottom of the garden there is a medium sized pear tree (pictured) that has strange shaped and curved branches. They’re going to move the shed on the left of the picture to give the tree more light and space, and will also move the plants at the front and the compost bins. What they want to know please is how to prune the tree to get it into a more ‘normal’ and manageable shape, whilst still encouraging fruiting for next year and to keep it as healthy as possible.

Thank you

 

Hi Tabbee, the photo's not very clear, but on general principles, they should cut out any dead or obviously diseased stems, then any that are crossing or rubbing on others. Then take out any thin stems growing in the middle. The aim is to end up with an open goblet shape, with 4 or 5 main branches coming from the trunk. Then they could shorten the longest upright stems by a third, cutting just above an outward-facing bud. It's fairly easy to tell fruit buds (round) from growth buds (slender and pointed).

 

Hello Tabbee. Truly a wonderful gesture on your part, helping your friends out. I have to cofess that fruit trees are not on my best known list.

I totally agree with noisette47 regard general tidying up og fruit and trees in general. Remebering specialist friends advice. One must be able to recognize a fruit bud from a leaf or new branch bud, so perhaps you can advise them on that. Best wishes to you and your friends.

 

Hi Tabbee, just to add to the advice given, if you are prunning fruit trees in autumn/winter, use a wound sealant on the open cuts, this will help to stop fungal infection/disease from infecting the tree, especially if its a long wet season. What I would personally do, as well as the other advice given, as the tree looks quite small, I would prune so the primary branches form a goblet shape, this opens the crown up to more light, and will promote back budding, if you can get 4 or more uprightish primary branches, then if laden with fruit, they will not bend towards the ground. I will not bombard you with too much info, as it can be overwhelming.

 

Hi Tabbee

The FIRST thing you need to do before carrying out ANY pruning is to determine if the tree is TIP or SPUR bearing. This means does the fruit grow on the tips of the branches, or along the branch length. Finding this out will determine HOW to correctly prune the tree. If it's tip bearing and you cut all the branches back then you may end up removing all the fruit buds. Come back with this information and hopefully you can receive the proper advice.