Taiji
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Pruned pear tree

fall color pear.JPG
Well, I removed most of the watersprouts from this old pear tree.





so now it looks like this. I left a few of the stragglers, I didn't want to overdo it. Guess I'll see what happens. Some of those straight up limbs had to have weighed at least 100 lbs. Looks like the original owner used the open vase pruning style.
pruned pear.JPG

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!potatoes!
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big cuts! but it looks good.

that's the first step. now you're going to get a huge push of new watersprouts in the first flush of spring. sometime in june when growth has slowed a bit you'll want to come in and prune again to check that growth. as pears get older, they're frequently better served by summer pruning, since it does more to rein in all that verticality.

in general, winter pruning encourages new growth, and summer pruning slows it down.

Taiji
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Good to know. I kind of figured I might stimulate some more growth.

catgrass
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I have never seen a pear tree pruned like that! Good luck-I'm afraid all you will get is water sprouts.

JONA
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As Catgrass and potatoes have said you will need summer pruning...but....do not do this pruning until the new shoots have ceased to grow. This will not be before late July on a normal year.
That way you can...instead of cutting them off completely....cut them leaving a couple of inch stub.
This will encourage this stub to produce a spur system into the centre of the tree and this in turn will slow the vigour down in the tree.
It's important ,if you try this , that the shoot has completely ceased to grow and its leading bud ( the terminal bud) has shut down .
If summer pruning is done too early while the shoots are still growing any that are just subbed back this way will promptly break buds lower down and you lose the chance to make Spurs.

Taiji
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Thx so much. A lot of good info. No way I could have known all that! So, maybe wait til well into August to do this just to be sure? When leaving the 2 inch stubs, should I be sure that the stubs have a bud or a couple of buds on them?

I also have an old apple tree with lots of watersprouts that I can take off. Does the same rule of summer pruning apply? ( 2 inch stub; wait til later? etc) Thx.

JONA
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Taiji wrote:Thx so much. A lot of good info. No way I could have known all that! So, maybe wait til well into August to do this just to be sure? When leaving the 2 inch stubs, should I be sure that the stubs have a bud or a couple of buds on them?

I also have an old apple tree with lots of watersprouts that I can take off. Does the same rule of summer pruning apply? ( 2 inch stub; wait til later? etc) Thx.
Try to cut to a bud if possible Taiji, but don't worry too much, as if there is no dormant bud there then you can always cut any stubs off the following spring if they refuse to break.
In general you should remove water shoots on apples completely...unless you need to fill a vacant space in the tree.
It's more important to get a spur system on pears as this is the best way of getting regular cropping on them.
On apples it's not so important except in certain circumstances.
These are....
If the variety is a Triploid. These varieties are ' tip bearers' and as such Spurs are needed for good cropping.
If your growing Cordons, Espalier or 'step over ' type trees. Because of the tight control that's needed on these, it's essential that they carry a large spur system for not only cropping but also to assist in growth control.

Taiji
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I have to say, it's all too complicated for me, I'll just try to follow the directions! Wonder if I'll get some pears this year? Last year got about 12 not so good ones. Should I fertilize?

Taiji
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I think I may have goofed up on the instructions that you gave me last year Jona. I waited til all of last year's growth was finished as you said, except...I think I waited too long to cut back the watersprouts, namely, until maybe Oct. I think the leaves were already gone. So, this is what I'm getting now. I'm guessing these are more watersprouts and not the fruiting spurs of which you spoke? So technically, I didn't really summer prune. Oops...Do you think waiting too long gave me this result?
water sprouts.JPG

JONA
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Don't worryTaiji,
Cut out completely now all the water shoots that you don't want. Then cut back the others to just a couple of buds around the second week of August when the shoot should have ceased growing.
To persuade vigorous shoots to give up their growth and produce fruiting Spurs takes time.
By the way......when your thinning those shoots out.
Cut out the strongest ones...leave the weakest. The weaker the shoot the better chance of it spuring up instead of growing.

Taiji
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Thank you. I will begin doing that tomorrow; move the water hose around then go cut a few, move the hose, cut a few more. :)



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