How to Prune Pear Trees

Basic fruit tree pruning principles apply to all fruit trees, and you can learn those principles by taking our free, 9 part fruit tree pruning course, but there are a few specific details that should be considered when pruning pear trees. In many ways, how to prune pear trees is a lot like how to prune apple trees. They are closely related after all. Both pears and apples grow fruit on spurs and produce a lot of water sprouts after they are pruned.

For regular updates regarding the care and pruning of fruit trees please subscribe here:

SUBSCRIBE!

The most important thing to consider with pears is the tree's natural form. In this article we will discuss two different strategies you can use after determining your tree's current form, but before we do, let's describe how a pear tree grows in nature.

When a pear tree is young, it will send new branches straight up into the air. These young branches will continue to mature, and after two or three years, they will begin to develop spurs. Spurs are short, slow growing, lateral branches, and the terminal bud on these branches are where your fruit tree will blossom and produce fruit. When these branches are laden with fruit, the weight of the pears will pull the branches down so they weep towards the ground. After the harvest, these branches do not spring back to their vertical position, they continue to hang downward.

Old, neglected pear trees will have several layers of weeping branches stacked on top of each other. The old branches will be shaded out and will become diseased and die. In nature these dead branches create an internal frame work to support the new, fruitful branches on the top layer that is collecting the sunlight needed to develop fruit. The problem with this type of tree is that the fruit is too far from the ground to harvest and climbing through the lattice of dead branches is nearly impossible. So, how do you prune a pear tree to avoid this scenario?

First, let's discuss the strategy to pruning a mature, pear tree that has not been manipulated by regular pruning. If your tree is currently weeping like the one described above, your main goal is to remove dead, dying, diseased, and damaged branches, usually on the interior of the tree. Some young pear trees have begun to weep, but they have not yet shaded out the branches on the interior of the canopy. 

Next, you will want to continue to thin out mature branches with your pruning saw in order to allow light to penetrate the canopy so that you avoid having branches shaded out in the future. This is where you might ask, "which branches do I cut and which ones remain?" The answer is, any pruning cut that accomplishes this goal is a good cut. Remove one that is shading another without negatively affecting the trees natural shape and form. You want your tree to be balanced, even though the south and west sides of the tree are probably more dense than the north and east sides, because of the way the sun moves across the southern sky.

Let's review. First remove the dead, then continue thinning to avoid dead branches in the future. Now what? That's pretty much it, but the real work begins next year. As soon as you start cutting into a pear tree, it will respond by growing a lot, and I mean a lot of water sprouts! You have probably heard the saying, "you cant see the forest through the trees." Well you won't be able to see your tree through the forest of water sprouts.

Well, water sprouts can be avoided by removing them in the early summer and fall pruning can reduce water sprouts the following year, but understanding how a pear tree responds to pruning will set realistic expectations each year. Once you have started pruning a mature pear tree, your spring pruning will consist primarily of removing a pile of water sprouts every year.

Ok, so what if you are starting from scratch? Well, I suggest working with your tree's natural form and pruning your tree to have a central leader. The one problem with central leader pruning is that you tree will continue to get taller and taller if the central leader is left intact. This can be avoided if you remove the leader at a fork that allows a younger leader to replace the one you just removed. Your tree will look more like a pyramid, or a triangle, but you can still control the height of your tree.

Instead of allowing your tree to grow straight up into the air and flop over like the one described at the beginning of this article, it is important to tip each and every vertical branch back to a bud that is pointing in the direction that you want your tree to grow. This can be done using hand pruning shears like the ones shown above. By tipping your pear tree each and every year, you will allow your tree to develop spurs on branches that can actually support the weight of the fruit without flopping over. The pyramid shape of your tree will allow the upper branches to receive sun light without shading the lower branches. You will need to periodically remove some lower branches as the tree continues to mature, to allow for sun light to penetrate the interior of the canopy, because that is where the mature spurs will be found.

One more quick note, Pear trees can make for excellent espalier trees, because once the spurs are developed, all you need to do is remove water sprouts each year.

Thanks for Reading! If you would like to learn more about the care and pruning of fruit trees, please browse our 100+ fruit tree articles here, join our Backyard Fruit Growers Facebook Group, and take our free Fruit Tree Pruning Course. Also, please subscribe to our Fruit Pruning YouTube Channel.