How to train and prune Pear Trees

Healthy pear trees need minimum pruning, but effective pruning methods have been found to improve yields, product quality and tree health in the long term. In a few words, we prune (or “train”) young nonbearing trees in order to determine their shape and stimulate fruit development. Newly planted pear trees are often pruned even the same day they are planted, according to the shape we want to create. Central leader and modified central leaders are the most common patterns. There are pros and cons when choosing each canopy shape.

We prune mature trees in order to maintain their shape, improve aeration and sunlight penetration, remove dead, diseased or broken branches and remove any competing leader or crossing branches. Especially providing good aeration and sunlight penetration are vital for tree health, as crowded trees are more susceptible to pests and diseases. Productivity and product quality will also surely decline in the medium to long term in crowded trees.

As a rule of thumb, we must remove every branch that grows vertically at an angle greater than 60 degrees. Those branches will most likely consume tree’s valuable nutrients in order to grow quickly, but without being able to produce fruits. As a second rule of thumb, we should also remove downward facing branches, because they will most probably break from the fruit weight. As third rule of thumb, we may not remove more than 25% of the tree throughout the same year. It is better to prune little and often rather than removing one third of the tree during a period. As a fourth rule of thumb, stem thinning (remove the entire branch from its base) is preferred over stem heading (pruning just a part of a stem).

Pear trees are pruned when in dormancy, but at least a couple of weeks after the last frost (February-March in most cases). We should not prune when leaves are developing (suckers or water sprouts are excluded – we can remove those as soon as we see them).

You can enrich this article by leaving a comment or photo of your pear trees pruning methods.

1.) Pear Tree Information

2.) How to grow a Pear Tree from seed

3.) Growing Pear Trees in pots

4.) Growing Pear Trees commercially

5.) Pear Tree Climate Conditions

6.) Pear Tree Soil Requirements and Preparation

7.) Pear Tree Propagation and Pollination

8.) How to plant pear trees

9.) Pear Tree Water Requirements

10.) Pear Tree Fertilizer Requirements

11.) Pear Tree Pruning

12.) Pear Tree Harvest & Yields

13.) Pear Tree Pests & Diseases

14.) Q&As Pear Tree

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