How to Prune Pear Trees in Summer? A Full Guide to Practical Techniques

The pear tree is one of the common fruit trees in orchards. To increase yields, pruning is generally carried out once in summer to prevent excessive vegetative growth. In the pruning process of pear trees, no matter which pruning method is adopted, attention must be paid to its overall response in order to achieve the desired goal. So how should pear trees be pruned in summer? What techniques are there?

1. Bending branches to open the angle

Bending branches to open the angle means bending the excess shoots in the tree body to adjust them so that they are evenly distributed, enlarging the space and improving ventilation and light conditions. Bending branches to open the angle is conducive to flower bud differentiation and earlier fruiting. Branch bending is generally carried out in early to mid-June, when spring shoot growth slows or stops. For overly vigorous, upright branches, the methods of pulling and weighting the branches are used to moderate their growth vigor, promote flower buds, and advance fruiting, with remarkable results. This is a key measure in summer pruning of pear trees.

2. Thinning branches and removing buds

Thinning branches and removing buds means cutting (rubbing) off overly dense shoots from their base during the growing season. Pear trees have a high budding rate but weak branching ability, and their crowns are mostly sparse, so more branches should be kept and fewer thinned. For long, vigorous branches, bending them to open the angle is used to moderate their growth vigor, and using more renewal pruning methods is very beneficial for early fruiting.

3. Pinching off the tips

Pinching off the tips means removing the top 1 to 2 leaves when a new shoot reaches a certain length. Pinching at different times has different effects. For example, for vigorously growing young trees, pinching when the new shoot reaches 30 to 40 cm from late May to early June can promote secondary shoot growth, accelerate shaping, reduce the amount of pruning, moderate tree vigor, and lay the foundation for early fruiting. In August, pinching before the new shoot stops growing can promote full development of the new shoot and help it overwinter safely. To promote the new shoot to sprout secondary branches as early as possible, when pinching the new shoot, remove the 1 to 2 leaves below the wound so that the axillary buds sprout quickly and secondary shoots can be produced rapidly.

Pear trees must be pinched at the right time. If pinching is too early, it will stimulate the sprouting of a large number of useless secondary shoots and consume nutrients; if pinching is too late, the desired effect will not be achieved.

4. Adjusting branch angles

Pear tree branches are relatively upright and brittle and are not easy to spread open. After the full fruiting stage, the skeletal branches spread open more, and the branch tips tend to droop. Therefore, the young tree crowns of most pear varieties are conical, which affects early flower formation and fruiting, and the main branch angles need to be opened early. However, because pear trees have strong apical dominance, a large opening angle easily concentrates growth dominance in the central leader and weakens the growth vigor of the extension shoot. Therefore, the main branch angle of pear trees should be somewhat smaller than that of apple trees. Generally, the main branch angle is required to be between 45° and 55°, and must not exceed 60° at most. The main methods of opening the angle include pulling, propping, weighting, and tying. As the tree age increases and the yield rises year by year, the crown gradually spreads open. In the late full fruiting stage, the main branch angle increases and its tip easily droops, so renewal pruning is also needed to raise the angle.