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Fruit & Orchards

Should I cut branch fr this pear young tree

14 years ago

I have asked this question last season on this same tree. Now it has grown to almost 44inches high but as you can see it is growing forming "Y' design. Last season I was advised not to cut the one branch off of the tree but what concerns me now is will this tree be better off if I just let the longer trunk be the only one so I can get a single trunk tree?

Photos below

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

Lou NE., PA

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Comments (5)

sshuang
14 years ago
I have a couple pear trees too. I found that if you bend one of the branches down, the growth will slow down on that branch. You can also pinch the growing tip off to slow down growth on that branch. It is an alternative to cutting off a major part of the tree if you feel uneasy about that.

Sherman
theaceofspades
14 years ago
Did you graft this pear tree?
The 3' growth in 2 seasons is meager. Add mulch to suppress weeds and conserve moisture. Apply fertilizer in spring. Next season some new branches will bud from where leaves are now. Continue training new branches in open vase form, not central leader.
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They sure both look Asian to me. I think you should maybe replace both with trees properly identified, but because they are probably Asian they will probably adequately identify themselves very shortly. If they are Asian you don't have to worry about speeding their fruiting- they may even bear next season. The reason I would consider replacing them is because fireblight can be heartbreaking and even if you graft on other varieties the trees may be susceptible unless you have no tender new wood from original trees. On the bright side, many Asians are fireblight resistant. Multiple leader pear trees are common in commercial production in the west coast. Here in the east they are mostly grown to a central leader- I guess we don't get quite as much FB. Festooning (pulling branches below horizontal)the branches may encourage early fruiting but it will not encourage a great scaffold structure. I sometimes use the method for trees I plan to train to a weep or for Euro plums just to get them into fruiting mode but many types of pears should not be trained this way in my opinion. None of the Asians I grow would be good candidates for this, they fruit so early anyway. Asian and European pears are mostly pollen compatible- the problem can be timing of bloom. That issue will sort itself out as well when trees begin to flower.
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I am stumbling into this pretty old thread because of a 4-n-1 pear I just planted. All the single graft trees I planted last January I am pretty happy with, using the combination of clothes-pins, spreaders and weights to get the young limbs (trees cut off knee-height at planting) to where I wanted them. This 4-n-1 has me stymied though. I bought it for the front yard where I wanted one nice tree instead of the scrum I have in the backyard, and for pollination purposes decided I should go multi-graft. But of course the tree came through with four almost vertical grafts. One, in fact, looks just like a trunk (well, I guess it was originally) with the other three coming off it. Only the Comice, weakest of the bunch, is still flexible enough to spread. The Flordahome is thicker and the Monterrey and Hood are practically cudgels (the roots on this thing were almost 4' across!). I read about the hinge technique with great interest... though I had to read it several times and I'm still not 100% sure whether the cut goes on the top or the bottom of the branch!... but of course on my multi-graft, each of those branches is the ONLY one for the variety and if I screw up, it's curtains for little Hood (or whomever). At planting, I cut the Comice back by half and then cut the others to match. But beyond that, I have no idea what to do. Should I just take the risk and try to hinge-spread these guys? Or wait and select the most horizontal of the resulting flush from each variety and make that my main scaffold? Thanks!
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Mark: The limb-spreading suggestion I made on Austransplant's pear tree was not only to begin to establish the tree's framework, but to reduce apical dominance, or the tendency to grow upward. Branches pulled or pushed down closer to horizontal will usually slow their growth. It is common to find 3 or more central vertical branches on young pear and apple trees, but pruning each of them back will usually result in a flush of new grow at each of the pruning sites the following season, and is unlikely to stimulate lower branching. If you want to select one as your central leader, and grow the tree in that style, then you would completely remove all but one, leaving that one alone in the hope it would grow laterals as it continues its upward growth. In the case of Austransplant's tree, I think he/she has perfectly good branches there that could form the basis for a nice, vase-shaped scaffold. I do not underestimate the difficulty of bending those branches down and holding them there in the right position, but it can be done with a little work and imagination. The ideal angle for the branches of a vase-formed tree is 60 degrees or more, but this does not have to be achieved all at once. For now, I would try for 40 or 45 degrees, depending on the flexibility of the branches, then follow with more bending next spring. Once the bends are set, they will not change. The vertical branches on Austransplant's tree originate at about the right height for a vase tree, and there would be no need to try to stimulate branching further down the trunk. Once the existing branches are spread and apical dominance defeated, the tree is unlikely to grow in more central vertical branches. I think this procedure would result in more precocious fruiting, and a lower, spreading tree, which is certainly easier to maintain in all its requirements. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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Hi, I don't mean to derail this thread - coincidentally I began some research into DF yesterday. @Matt z5b - Greenhouse 10a you wrote "good to go if it's as high as you want it". Can the opposite work, i.e. "be as short as you want it" ? I have certain height restrictions, and everything I've read on the internet so far shows DF tied to a single, tall pole (6-8ft) which then branches out at the top to let the DF spread out like a fountain. Could I keep it at 3ft? 4ft? What would be the recommended minimum? Many thanks, and sorry for the diversion to the OP.
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pezzuti9
Original Author
14 years ago
Theaceofspades - Yes this was a graft I did last season. I have fertilized it earlier with 4-month time-release fertilizer.
I planted it in my yard around the end of May. It was grafted around March of the same year. I have another pear tree of a different variety that I did at he same time and that one as well is about the same size.

Should I just let the tree grow like this and not remove any of the two leaders growing now?

Thanks

Lou NE., PA
jellyman
14 years ago
Lou:

There is an important question here for the future of your tree, but the photos do not give a clear answer. Are both of these leaders the result of your graft, or is one of them the graft and the other rootstock growth?

If one of them is slightly higher than the other, the lower one may be emerging from the rootstock, and should be cut off immediately if you want your tree to be the variety of your grafted scion.

Why is that wooden stake in the middle of photo #2? Has it got something to do with supporting the chicken wire around the tree, or are you trying to straighten up one of the leaders?

Whether or not both of these leaders are emerging from your grafted scion, I would cut one of them off at the base, then drive a steel stake at one side and tie it up to grow vertically. Then I would prune the remaining leader back a few inches to encourage side branching next season.

If your graft has grown over 3 feet in the 2nd season, I think the growth rate is good, but I agree with Ace that your should kill back the competing grasses in a 4-foot diameter circle around the tree, then mulch with an organic material like pine chips to a depth of several inches. If you get a good layer of mulch around the tree it shouldn't be necessary to add any additional fertilizer.

And if you take any more photos, back up and give us an overall view of the tree, and a better close-up of the grafted area that is unobstructed by leaves.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
theaceofspades
14 years ago
Central leader pear grow very tall on seed rootstock. I would
spread branches that grow off those two leaders. A low branched tree is easier to pick. Fire blight can be pruned out and you will lose a branch and not the top of the tree.

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