My husbands father says you cannot trim a pear tree and we are wondering if this is true.

Lynn

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), April 05, 2002

Answers

We prune all of our fruit trees when needed. Call your local County Extension Agent, that's what we pay them for, and get their advice on this. Ahhh Spring! LQ

-- Little Quacker (carouselxing@juno.com), April 05, 2002.

Hi Lynn

I have 2 drawf pear trees - a kieffer and a bartellet. They were planted here spring of '99, so that makes this their 3d spring here. In '99 they were pruned back and shaped. Last year, their second year, they were both heavy with fruit! One had so many pears on one of the major branches that in a wind storm the branch broke from the weight of the friut.

This spring they were pruned/shaped some more. You want to shape them, open up the middle, the exact same way you would an apple tree.

Hope this helps. But if your FIL has his mind set - well - it'll be kind of hard to change no matter what info you provide him with. You "might" have to go out there in the middle of the night and do a snip here and a snip there. hehehe

-- dottie - in E Shore MD (mother-ducker@webtv.net), April 05, 2002.

Prune like an apple tree. Do not do heavy pruning in late winter early spring because it promotes fast lush growth that is suceptable to fire blight if that is a problem where you are. Light pruning is ok anytime its not wet.

-- John in Mn. (nospam@mywork.com), April 05, 2002.

We had a big old pear tree in Texas. The extension agent told us the best thing to do with a pear tree was nothing. That's what we did;), and it produced wonderfully.

-- mary (mlg@mlg.com), April 05, 2002.

Pear trees naturally grow very upright, It doesn't matter how you prune them they will not spread out. Just prune them enough to get in and easilly pick the fruit, any more is a waste of time.

-- Paul (treewizard@buffalo.com), April 06, 2002.

Thanks guys, we need to do some light trimming now. These are old trees and have broken branches from fruit weight I believe. Lynn

-- Lynn (johnnypfc@yahoo.com), April 06, 2002.