Fruit trees

[Anonny Moose]

I have several apple and Japanese pear trees that were planted 2 -3 years ago. They are looking scraggly and I'm wondering if I should trim them in some way. They have a few branches that are very long and now carrying so much fruit they are drooping almost to the ground. I've thinned the fruit in hopes of saving the branches from breaking but I'm wondering if I should just cut back the long branches to force side branching? At the moment, I can't imagine they will ever look like normal trees!

[Richard Cline]

Thin the fruit a lot. It should be about 8 inches between fruit on a mature tree. On a young tree there should be even greater spacing. You can do a little trimming now but the major pruning should occur during the dormant season.

You are correct that the load of fruit will break the branches. That is not a good thing.

Dick

[Gardñ]

Richard Cline in news: [e-mail]:

or just remove all fruit.

[Jacqueline]

Have you pruned them at all during their dormant season? If not, find a guide at your library/bookstone or on the internet on pruning and care of fruit trees. I can't think of a good one off the top of my head, but perhaps someone else can.

[Richard Cline]

Pear trees tend to grow straight up. It will be a continual battle to get growth in the direction you want. You should use spreaders and selective pruning to encourage side growth.

At present I would employ additional thinning and some selective pruning to control the vertical growth.

Dick