Our John is pouting. I have pruned his pear tree. Which was not even much use as a shade tree. Something had to be done. 
He has quite spoilt this tree over the years. In fact when he had his new shed put up he told the workmen in no uncertain terms that if they damaged his precious little pear there would be trouble. He always says things like this with a big grin and a laugh which frankly makes the warning scarier. He loves his trees you see. As the little paddocks have begun to sprout all about the place his tree has ended up in the Baby Meadow.
I took to it with secateurs a couple of years ago but there was so much weeping and gnashing of teeth from said husband that I quit. By my reckoning this tree must be about 6 years old now and has yet to fruit properly. This season we got about a dozen pears. Not good enough! Daisy stood guard at the gate until the few pears were ready then I let her go in and she nabbed them. The tree is now dormant, I know it is a bit early to prune but soon it will be too cold for me to be out there. So it is now or never. I coerced Our John into bringing the chainsaw to visit the tree. NO, NO, Not to cut it down. Silly. You know I don’t cut down trees. But there were two branches that are just too high, just too big for loppers and growing vertically. I drew a line where he was to cut. Then I shoved him up a ladder and made him head them back. I held the ladder and ducked in case a branch fell on my head. Then I sent him on his way to play with the chipper. 
I took my loppers from their hiding place and pruned the rest of the tree hard. I prefer a christmas tree shape. With no central leader I had to attempt a vase shape. So from directly above the tree, looking down it will look a little like a spindly snowflake. Verticals must go, anything growing downwards must go, the mess in the middle must go, branches rubbing on branches must go and dead wood has to go. Every cut needs to be to a nodule that will grow in the direction that I want the next branch. Of course it is much easier to start with a young tree and train it each year, avoiding radical cuts.
Our John has chosen to go out to his workshop to get over his fright. I know it looks bad, in fact I missed a few bits. Pears are forgiving though and next year it will grow in, then I will prune it lightly and the following year we will get fruit. By the third year it should be good to go OR it really WILL be a designated shade tree. But hopefully a light prune each year will keep it fruiting. 
Poor pear. I have also pruned the grapes. I have also pruned and trained all the young apples and pears and now I am casting my chopper happy eye, while the weather holds ,across the two old apple trees. I keep them for the blossoms in the spring. The bees love them. But I almost never get a mature apple off them, they are too old. They are shade trees now.
This is not a tree so it is safe from my secateurs. 
c
The Kitchen's Garden 
66 responses to “Don’t Try this at Home: How Not to Prune a Pear Tree”
Hi Cecilia! I’m taking a Master Gardeners course, 5 full days of presentations and such. There were a couple of presentations on pruning. It seems some trees/shrubs should be pruned in the fall, and some in the spring. So much to learn and to get straight….which needs to be pruned when, and so forth. Looks like you know what you are doing, although the pruned tree looks a bit strange, and bare now. No doubt it will be beautiful and fruitful next summer!
it will come back, they always do for me, but I learnt everything in another hemisphere, so there is tons of hit and miss for me here.. It does look strange now, but this tree is my nemisis, all the others are growing beautifully.. c
Boy did you ever prune that pear tree! I might have to side with your husband on this one. 😉
Oh yea of little faith! c
Yikes, that is some pruning job … but it will survive 🙂
This is what happens when a tree like this is neglected I should have done it years ago, thanks cindy.. c
Your philosophy sounds a lot like my hair stylist’s; I hope you get better results ; )
Oh dear, i hope you don’t get a hairstyle that looks like a snow flake! c
Great pruning job…wanna come out in March to help with my apple tree? One of us should be able to figure out the little chainsaw…
What variety are you using to pollinate?
Morning darling, they are all Bartletts, tough growers and tasty pears. c
Ah…if you want to increase your harvest, plant a different variety to cross-pollinate, something like a bosc that will bloom at the same time. One in the middle should do nicely. Like apples, pears pollinate better with a second strain.
When I moved in with Hubby, he had a bosc that had never set much fruit at all. Then – not on purpose – he let the Bartlett rootstock send up a sprout. It flowered, cross-pollinated the bosc…and now we get lots of BOTH!
Clever. I knew that we needed multiples but did not even think of having another variety. John has no idea what variety his one is. I am planting three more pears next year so i will be sure to get something else. Good tip. I do this with the hazelnuts already too! c
Hmm, my Pete had a go at the fig tree yesterday and a few other trees lining our driveway – I nearly passed out and am still extremely traumatised and irritated by the whole event! At least you went at it with purpose C.
🙂 Mandy
Oh dear, Mandy, I have had this experience before too with my first husband, That fig is quite young isn’t it? Is that the one you planted a few months ago. You will have pruned it when you planted it i am sure, look at what is left and decide which of those branches you want fruit from, then BAN Pete from touching them, Figs grow on quite old wood and quite young wood so you should be OK.. But aren’t you in your spring now?.. I am dying to plant figs next year.. I must get on and order them.. c
Yip, we are in Spring but that means nothing to the man if he gets a bee in his bonnet! Will try and tidy the trees tomorrow. 🙂
Step away from secateurs! Sure looks like you got scissor happy there!
It will be fine, i shall show you another pic next year and all you doubters will See the Magic! c
I’ve a feeling that you were once barber to your kids — until they were old enough to pay for a haircut on their own. Now, with no more locks to shear, you’ve turned your attention to the trees. Say, didn’t Edward Scissorhands eventually turn to topiary?
Oh how did you know? I always cut their hair until the day I inadvertantly cut Third Sons ear! Blood everywhere. From then on they politely declined and went shaggy headed! c
Four bunches of grapes,
Three buzzing bees,
Two old apple trees
And… a pouter in a pear tree
xo Barb
You are so funny Barb, what would we do without you!!! c
Wacky woman, you made me fall over with a very unladylike snort of laughter!
Kathryn
wacky being the operative word i think!! c
My mum and dad have a small garden with maybe 10 trees and each year around pruning season they get into heated discussions about how to or how not to prune a tree. Glad they are not the only ones 🙂
John got over it quickly, he has seen me do this to other trees to ‘reclaim’ them and so he knows it works..I would rather gently prune properly each year. Nice that your parents have so many trees though. c
Poor pear tree. 😦
Poor Sports.. c
Poor John! I know it’s for the tree’s own good, but they always do look so horrible when they’re shorn. We have no fruit trees (yet), but when our maples and conifers need pruning Mike has to do it. I can’t look!
Don’t let him prune the conifers unless he only does the tippy tips often, they only grow from the ends of their branches .. tricky things conifers.. hopefully they will not need much pruning at all. c
The lodgepole pine in our front yard needed a heavy pruning after a Pitch Twig Moth infestation. And the blue spruce and Manitoba maple in our back yard grow right beside our above-ground power and media lines (we live in a very old neighbourhood), so we need to prune the branches back away from the lines every few years. I would much rather just leave them alone!
ah, i see what you mean, trees and power poles do not mix.. ah well.. c
Hi Cecilia. I hope your arms have stopped aching! Must have taken ages. You have managed a great shape. It will soon grow back and hopefully have lots of lovely fruit.
Regards Florence x
I hope so, it will need a year then another prune then after that i hope it will fruit.. i have more going in next year too.. c
I had a radical prune of my white Adriatic fig last winter; reduced it’s height by 2 metres!
It must have thought it was going to die, and has set so much fruit for the autumn.
It will be a race to see who gets the fruit first, the fruit bats, the fig birds or the ravenous possum!
Hi Elaine and welcome. You have bats?, and fig birds .. sounds like you are living somewhere exotic! Sometimes a tree is rejuvenated by a serious prune, I know I am!