Pruning Pears and apples

Discussion in 'Edible Gardening' started by Jimb0b, Jun 19, 2018.

  1. Jimb0b

    Jimb0b Gardener

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    hi all I need to pick your collective brains.
    My pear tree only has 3 fruit on and my apples have a few more but not a huge amount.

    Could you give me some pruning advice on how to encourage more flowers for next year

    Here are a couple of pics from today..
    5DFBE62B-9A78-4E70-9A54-79B0EEA4317E.jpeg
    6F0B6C51-E1A1-4FB9-929A-9A3B2855525D.jpeg

    Cheers James
     
  2. kazzawazza

    kazzawazza Total Gardener

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    My pear tree (cordon) has no fruit this year :scratch: :sad:
     
  3. pete

    pete Growing a bit of this and a bit of that....

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    How old is it?
    Can only say horizontal branches bear fruit, verticals just grow upwards.
    So tie down those new growths.
    Must admit I dont know much about pears, but with apples you can prune in late summer for more fruit on spur bearing apples.
     
  4. Verdun

    Verdun Passionate gardener

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    Yes, tie down verticals except for main stem.

    For fruit, summer prune in late July early August.....do this by cutting shoots from tied down branches to 3 or 4 buds to create "spurs". It may be a little early for this year though. By cutting back like this in late summer you are encouraging the tree to produce less growth and more fruiting wood. This applies to the pears

    If the apples are spur bearers then do exactly the same Jimb0b.

    Aim to produce an espalier tree.......a tier of lateral branches on bottom wire, the primary/leading branch untouched to later be pruned to form another level of horizontal branches on the next wire and so forth. The plan is to build up additional tiers every year until alloted space is occupied. A very productive system but be patient......better to produce shaped growth rather than early fruit.:)
     
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      Last edited: Jun 20, 2018
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