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Fruit & Orchards

Should I cut branch fr this pear young tree

15 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
15 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
15 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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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 Dorothy, Fireblight is very hard to control but there are some antibiotic sprays that can be successful when sprayed at the right time. Unfortunately, the "right time" is, I think, right at bloom time. Sometimes up to three separate sprayings are needed. Once you already have fire blight, the sprays are much less effective. The standard spray used for pears for probably decades now is Streptomycin. Unfortunately, in many parts of the country, the bacteria that causes fireblight (Erwinia anylovora) has developed very strong resistance to streptomycin. The newer treatment is Oxytetracycline, which is marketed commercially under different names, including Mycoshield and Flameout. Some of the latest research involves a biological control called Pesudomonas fluorescens, marketed as BlightBan A-506. It is a bacteria, I think, that attacks the fireblight bacteria. I think it it either only effective during the bloom period or most effective during the bloom period. BlightBan sprays place colonies of the Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria on the blossoms at the same time fireblight bacteria are on the blossoms and the Pseudomonas flurorescens attacks the Edwinia amylovora. As far as I know, no post-infection treatment has been found that is effective on trees that show symptoms of fireblight infection, so the best chance of successful treatment is to spray the trees at bud break and during blooming. Once your tree has fireblight, about all you can do is prune off 8" to 10" BELOW any visible signs of infection. One reason post-infection controls have not proved effective is because, by the time you see the symptoms of fireblight, it has done about all the damage it is going to do in the current season and has about run its course. And, in case you're wondering if the antiobiotics are truly effective, research shows they kinda sorta are. In most test fields used in research, they kill the fireblight bacteria about half the time. In lab tests, there are somewhat higher success rates, but the higher lab test rates just aren't seen out in the "real world". So, my gut feeling tells me that spraying now won't help much and would be a waste of money. If you can prune off all the damage now and then spray next year at the exact right times, you might be able to wipe out the fireblight on the trees on your property. However, if it is thriving on host plants that aren't treated (and which are not on your property), the fireblight-causing bacteria is carried by certain flying insects from blossom to blossom, so it is a battle you'll have to fight every year. Dawn
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Another way of training your pear trees would be to sink into the ground beside the trunk a 6 ft. tall length of 1/2" galv. steel electrical conduit and to loosely tie the trunk to the pipe. After a couple years of mulching/feeding/watering, the side branches below 3-1/2 ft could be clipped off so as to leave a straight, upright, branchless lower area for the placement of a galvanized slit pc. of metal duct to keep climbing rodents from harvesting pears in the future. As the upper branches develop, you are likely to have numerous sideways-growing branches growing out from the central leader/trunk. You want the pear trees to have at least one central, tall, thick, dominant trunk.......Congratulations on your fruit tree growing decision. It can be done.
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pezzuti9
Original Author
15 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
15 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
15 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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