Comments on: Pruning a Pear Tree

By: Indrani

Indrani — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:58:11 +0000

Our flowering Pear trees are sending up shoots around them which we want to control. Any suggestions…other than pulling them up by hand?

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:41:28 +0000

Your gardener messed up, or you did in ordering him.

The appropriate time to prune fruit trees is late winter, and topping a tree is rarely a good idea.

Your tree will still fruit next year though, assuming he didn’t take off too much to stress the plant.

By: sunita

sunita — Sun, 23 May 2010 00:04:59 +0000

I got my gardener to prune my pear tree when it had just started to flower and now there is no fruit at all. He took off all of the top branches and it is shaped like an umbrella now. I have had lots of fruit during the three summers that I have lived in the house, although it was not perfectly formed but tasted really good. The leaves have developed holes in them. The house is about 35 years old, I dont know how old the tree is.

By: Patricia Grace

Patricia Grace — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:12:49 +0000

I live in Oregon which is where Harry and Davids business is. They top out their trees and prune the trees in an espalier for easy fruit picking. they sell there famous Comice pears world wide. I am pruning my pear tree so that it is shorter so I have less fruit and can better able reach the fruit. We have a lot of moss and dampness here. Any time I get mold or aphids, mildew, moss, beetles I always use a halfand half solution of white vinegar and spray it everywhere. It is the best for aphids on roses and rose black spot and it sure works on my fruit trees as well.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:51:31 +0000

I would ignore that guy, and ask someone else, he sounds like an idiot.

Topping a tree is almost never a good idea, never, and yes, you always prune in Spring just before the tree breaks dormancy.

These two things are both basic and fairly set in stone as far as tree care goes. If he doesn’t know that I wonder what kind of education he has.

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:49:06 +0000

I have an overgrown Bosch pear tree. It’s way too tall to pick all the pears off it. I was told by a landscaper to wait until the fall to top off the tree. I was just wondering if this is the proper thing to do, since from what I’ve read on this site is that I should be pruning the tree late winter or very early spring. Half the tree produced beautiful pears and the second half produce very small pears. I know it is in serious need of a proper pruning, but I want to make sure that I do it the right way.

By: Administrator

Administrator — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:22:26 +0000

It shouldn’t, but your neighbor is kinda stupid.

1. Raid isn’t made for use on plants, it kills bugs, but you know dishwasher detergent is soap, but you wouldn’t use it to wash your hands or clothes. So it may harm the plant.

2. He should have used a pesticide made for use on plants. Such as Sevin, works great.

3. Japanese beetles are big slow and stupid, the easiest way to kill them is with your hands.

4. I have never seen a japanese beetle on a pear or apple tree, I have seen them on my kiwi vine right next to my apple tree, but never on the apple tree. I don’t think they like apple or pear trees, your neighbor might has misidentified the bug he was trying to kill.

5. Wash, heavily, any fruit you pick.

6. Tell your neighbor to butt out of your garden.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 13:18:58 +0000

My neighbour sprayed my pear trees with Raid to kill off japanese beetles, will this hurt my tree!

By: Potager Life

Potager Life — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 16:59:24 +0000

Roger, I’m not sure where you live, but I have experienced re-flowering and some re-fruiting here in Central Texas. Last year my Asian pear (a grafted four in one with four varieties) put on flowers and some fruit AGAIN in late September after some rains and after the temperature backed off a bit. They didn’t get big, but some were edible near Christmas. This also happened with other edible plantings – blackberries and many items in the vegetable garden. This year we are on the 25th day of 100+ temperatures by early July. I think nature is adapting to the changing extremes here. The tomatoes are suffering now, but if they do like they did last year, they will spring to life and I will have fresh tomatoes, eggplant and peppers all fall and for Christmas dinner.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:53:36 +0000

We have a couple of old pear trees on our property that are in terrible need of pruning. I don’t think they’ve ever had any care from former owners. We’re in South GA and have warm spells during winter months and one of the trees has already started to flower. When is the proper time to prune them? Is it too late now that the tree is flowering? Thanks for any help!