Pear pruning takes place regularly for many years, because the crown is constantly growing, thickening, aging. The tree grows according to a program laid down by nature, and a person adjusts this process to get a crop, and preferably annually.
What is pruning
For fruit trees, several pruning techniques are used depending on the time of year, the age of the tree, and the intended purpose.
Trimming Types:
- Formative - is crucial in the first 5-6 years, when the active formation of the crown of the fruit tree takes place; held in spring.
- Thinning - a permanent operation applied to a pear of any age; tops, thickening shoots are removed.
- Sanitary - performed in the fall; remove improperly growing (inside the crown, rubbing), dry and diseased branches.
- Rejuvenating - old trees need it, in which, as a rule, the upper half of the "trunk" dries out; pruning is done to healthy wood.
When is it better to cut a pear
Pruning is carried out in spring at temperatures from 0 ° C to stable + 5 ° C, but before the sap flow, when the kidneys start to grow. Timing by region is always individual, but, in general, this time comes in March-April.
In the summer, starting in June, tweezing is carried out - pinching the tops of young shoots. What for? The forces for the growth of shoots in length are directed to the formation of seedlings, fruit ripening is accelerated.
From late August to mid-September, when sap flow slows down, autumn pruning is performed. Before frost, living wood on cuts and cuts will thoroughly dry out and the risk of freezing will be minimal.
Trimming Rules:
- use a sharp tool, periodically disinfect it;
- the branches are cut into a ring without leaving stumps that heal slowly and are also covered with a brush made of spinning tops (what does it mean to cut into a ring? At the base of each branch there is a cambial ring - a thickening or an influx at the point where the branch joins the trunk, a cut is made parallel to the ring line with outside);
- thick branches are cut in different ways:
- at the first approach, half of the branch is cut, then the cut passes along the intended line;
- the first cut is done from below, the second and final cut from above (so the cut fragment will not pull the bark along, the cut is smooth and quickly dragged on);
- if the tree is neglected, work is carried out in several stages, so as not to deplete it;
- cuts are covered with drying oil or paint based on it, garden var, paraffin or Rannet (artificial bark);
- remove a certain number of branches, because excessive pruning provokes the growth of a large number of spinning tops.
The slice runs along the outer edge of the cambial ring
How pears react to circumcision
Sometimes a pear does not react to circumcision as you would like, and grows "in the wrong steppe." Such disobedience depends on the variety and its inherent type of growth. Therefore, sometimes easy pruning is combined with other techniques, for example, bending.
There are varieties with apical (apical) dominance of shoots; there are varieties with lateral. There is a good shoot formation, there is a bad one. There are varieties with a right angle of runaway shoots, there are with acute (mesotonic and basitonic).
Varieties with a mesotonic branching type with a wide angle of branching are perfectly formed: in memory of Yakovlev, Augustow dew, Swallow. It is a pleasure to form such varieties - we cut the young seedling to the height of the stem + 20 cm and remove unnecessary lateral shoots in the summer - the tree forms itself. The formation pattern for such pears is sparse-tiered.
And such a variety as Bryansk Beauty has apical dominance. Those. all growth power goes into one single shoot, which simply clogs the rest. It is impossible to form such a tree by pruning! When pruning, one or two shoots are obtained, but with such sharp corners that they literally go parallel to the trunk. Such varieties are formed by horizontal cordons. This is when one shoot is kicked out, and then it is bent. The shoots grown from the bending points are thinned out and again bent in the opposite direction, etc.Yri
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Bending
You can’t ignore this technique in any way - bending down or pulling the branches up (for crowns of a drooping type) to give them a horizontal position. It is on such branches that the majority of flower buds are laid. Skeletal branches do not bend. The folding of non-lignified shoots in spring and summer is more productive, safer, easier and takes less time. With spring bending, the branches will quickly take on a new shape, but if you do this in the fall, the sense will be zero - you will not be able to explain to the sleeping branch that you need to fix in a new position. Lignified branches also bend, but this is not an example harder to do, physical strength and extreme caution are required so as not to break off anything. The process takes place gradually, step by step, so it will not work out in one season.
Acute branch angles - constant risk zone
If the branch leaves the trunk at the desired (not sharp) angle, and then abruptly rushes into the sky, it is rejected in a more horizontal position. The twine loop is attached at a distance of 2/3 of the length of the branch from the trunk, the second end is fixed to a stake or trunk that is hammered into the ground, or a spacer is placed between the branch and the trunk. Too attracted too deflected branches, which interfere with weeding, loosening the ground. They are fixed to the trunk or to the pole, which is tied to the trunk. A ring is attached to the upper end of the pole, through which one or more garters are passed. So that the twine does not cut into the bark, a lining is placed under it on the branch. Otherwise, the cord or becheva will crash into the bark, disrupting the movement of nutrients, the branch dries out, becomes brittle and dies.
You can bend a pear branch in a variety of ways
Bending is great for forming the crown of a dwarf pear. Twigs 15 cm long are bent horizontally, shoots are cut at an acute angle, and the stem is shortened so that it is 40 cm higher than the upper branch. Next season, the resulting horizontal shoots 30 cm long are left for the ovaries, and stronger and longer (40-50 cm) cut into several kidneys. Stronger dominant branches are cut into a ring, the central conductor is again shortened to the same height as before.
Tweezers
Held in June using secateurs or fingers. The top of a young growth with 4-5 leaves is pinched. After 10 days, the procedure is repeated, i.e., in a month, the tweezers will pass three times. Pinching inhibits the growth of the crown in length and nutrients flow to the fruit.
Video: pear tweezing in the summer
The secret of pruning pears with different crown shapes
In general, pruning technology is the same for wood with any shape of crown, but there is a small nuance. At the pyramidal pears, the crown is “unfurled” - the shoots are cut to the outer bud, that is, located on the outside. New shoots grow more deflected, more flower buds are laid on them, the crown becomes more magnificent, it is better illuminated. It is possible to trim the branches growing up, replaced by downdraft.
Crown Shaping
The crown of pears with wilted shoots is raised: a cut on a branch passes above the inner bud. In the future, the growth is turned inside the crown and, as it were, raises it. This technique in no way impairs fruiting, but makes the crown more compact and facilitates the cultivation of land in near-stem circles.
Bowl shaped pear
They give the crown a corresponding shape by sawing off the central conductor on purpose or when it is frozen, sick or shrunk. Skeletal branches of the first order surround the resulting void, and in general the picture resembles a cup. The advantage of this form is that the branches both outside and inside receive enough sunlight and are well ventilated.
Shaping the crown
Video: the main types of pear formation
Pruning a young pear in spring
The purpose of pruning a young tree is to gradually form a ventilated and well-lit crown that can withstand the load of the fruit.
What is a Godasik?
This affectionate word is often called annual seedlings. By the way, novice gardeners may have difficulty in determining the age of the seedling. The answer is simple: a seedling that has lived the season is considered annual. That is, a pear planted last fall or this spring is considered annual.
Before buying a seedling of a pear of a favorite variety, the first thing to assess is the condition of the root system - it should be fibrous, with whole tips, moistened. If the plant is sold with a closed root system (in a bag), lightly pick the bark with a fingernail. The lower layer of green indicates that the seedling is alive and healthy, if brown - dry, there will be no sense from it.
A year-old is usually 80-100 cm long and looks like a twig, usually without lateral shoots or there will be one or two of them, but very short ones. Therefore, pruning at the first stage is the most unpretentious and will not cause questions even for the "teapot".
We cut an annual pear
The seedling is planted according to all the rules in a permanent place, fixed to a peg and immediately after that cut off with a pruner. Pears grafted on a vigorous seed stock are cut at a height of 70 cm from the ground directly above the kidney. And seedlings obtained by grafting on a vegetatively propagated rootstock (dwarf) are shortened to a height of 50 cm. (Similar nuances are specified by the seller). If you had to plant a pear with damaged roots, it is cut a little more, about 10 cm, giving it the strength to restore the roots.
Seedling metamorphoses during the first year
The shortened stem (or central conductor) will still grow upward, it will release the shoot from the upper kidney under the cut, and several side shoots will appear. At first, they will be grassy - green, tender and thin, and only with time will turn into powerful skeletal branches. The skeleton, in turn, will be overgrown with semi-skeletal branches with leaves, buds and flowers. After some time, undergrowth will appear below the vaccination site, which should be removed. It will pull on itself part of the nutrients, create a shadow, but will not produce high-quality fruits.
Learning to prune a branch correctly
Pear seedling pruning in the second year
In biennial seedlings, 6-8 lateral shoots usually grow, from which skeletal branches are formed. To do this, leave 3-4 branches (the rest are cut into a ring), evenly spaced around the circumference and about 15-20 cm apart from each other in height. For a person who is engaged in gardening for the first time, you can imagine an umbrella where the stem is the trunk, and the spokes are lateral shoots. Only in our case, these spokes, i.e. shoots, are not located on one level, but each is slightly higher than the other. The angle of deviation of the skeletal branches from the trunk should not be too sharp - 45-50 °. In any place of the tree, such sharp joints with strong winds easily split, leaving deep, difficult to heal wounds.
A sharp corner is the most unreliable for a tree, it easily splits
Skeletal branches are cut by ¼ on the outer kidney, but in such a way that each of them is slightly lower than the previous one. Thus, the principle of subordination is fulfilled - below growing branches should not rise above higher growing ones. The lateral branches at the ends of the skeletal branches resembling bird legs make the continuation shorter. The central conductor (trunk) is cut so that it rises 25 cm above the rest. If a competitor shoot has grown near the central conductor (and it will definitely grow at an acute angle), it is cut into a ring. If the pear swiftly reaches upward, cut off the central conductor to the first weak side shoot, and to make it grow vertically, pull it with a twine to the peg.
Two year old pear pruning
Competitors also grow on skeletal branches (the end of the shoot resembles a bunch), they are also cut into a ring. After trimming, nitrogen fertilizing is excluded, so that the tree puts all its strength into the healing of cuts, rather than building up green mass. It happens that one branch grows over another. In the future, the upper one will obscure the lower one, they will be mixed up, so one of them will be deleted.
Three-year-old pear pruning
During the first sitting, the central conductor is cut to ¼ of the height, about 25 cm from the new growth is left, the rest is cut to the inner kidney (so that the crown is not spreading). The next season, competitors of the central conductor and on skeletal branches amputate. Powerful tops are cut into a ring, and thin tops are bent, shortened by a quarter, turning them into semi-skeletal productive branches. Remove all branches with an acute angle of departure, as well as violating the harmonious structure of the crown. If the stem is low and the lower skeletal branches lean towards the ground, they are shortened. In general, pruning a three year old tree is similar to working with a two year old seedling.
Trimming a three year old and a two year old pear is very similar
Four-year-old pear pruning
At this age, the second tier is laid, observing the already known rules:
- avoid sharp angles of branch departure from the trunk;
- removal of competitors;
- subordination - the upper tier should not overlap the lower, central conductor longer than the branches.
Annual growths on four-year-old pears do not shorten, so as not to activate growth processes. Branches knocked out of the general pattern are cut into a tree ring or fruitful wood; eliminate tops.
Trimming a four-year-old pear also comes down to thinning and eliminating competitor shoots
Mature trees
By the age of five, the crown of the pear is considered formed and for several years does not require special intervention. A tree aged 6 to 8 years old is like a self-sufficient bourgeois with an unhurried life routine. Shortening the branches is minimized, because their annual growth is noticeably reduced. Pruning is mainly aimed at maintaining a good sanitary condition of the tree.
Over time, the crown of adult pears gradually thickens and overgrown branches will receive less sunlight. In this case, thinning is carried out, which is stretched for 2-3 years. Why so long? To maintain a balance between the crown and its "reflection" - the roots. The thinning procedure begins in the spring. In one sitting, two-three-year-old thick branches, the diameter of which is half the diameter of the central conductor, are cut inside the crown for a knot of substitution. No more than two such branches are removed at a time.
Trimming to a replacement knot helps replace old branches with new ones
The branch is shortened to a fruiting branch, and the shoot located below is cut into two buds - this will be a replacement knot. By the way, when they say "cut into two or five, etc. kidneys", this means that this number of kidneys remains on the shortened shoot. The following year, shoots grow from the abandoned buds on the replacement knot. They will perform the functions of the previous branch, therefore they are also called substitute. The trunk or central conductor is shortened to 3-3.5 m. Places near the sections are surrounded by a brush of young shoots (future tops) from the awakened buds, they are broken out at the end of May.
It’s good to teach others when at the pear itself under the window it prays (now I just feel it) to be “combed”. The tree is 10 years old, in appearance resembles cypress, height 3 m.Fruits in a year, the minimum weight of the fruit is 250 g, no one remembers the name of the variety. So, on this instance, it is necessary to remove the competitors of the central conductor, subjugate the skeletal branches and cut them to the outer kidney. Having conjured in Paint, I got a pretty nice version of the updated pear.
Removing multiple competitors and trimming side branches should encourage lateral branching
Video: pruning an adult pear
Pruning old pear
A tree of 15 years and older is considered an elder and requires a cardinal rejuvenation. A signal for this is a decrease in growth to 15-20 cm. Anti-aging pruning of pears is carried out gradually over two to three seasons, and work begins in the spring before buds open. Rejuvenation is best done after a lean year when an abundance of flower buds has formed on the tree.
After anti-aging pruning, bald branches overgrow with twigs
If there are several thick dry branches, they are cut several times each year, the wounds are covered with garden varieties. Then the cuts are wrapped in a dark film until September, so the slices will be pulled in 2-3 times faster. Annual growth is shortened by ¼ of its total length. “Irregular” branches are also cut - growing inward, vertically and intersecting.
Pruning Frozen Trees
Depending on the degree of frost damage, appropriate pruning is performed. If the top of an annual pear planted in autumn is frozen, it is cut to 1/3 of the length. However, this operation is shown to all annual seedlings, so frost does not seem to cause much harm.
In older trees that have a developed system of branches, pruning is more stringent. First, the branches are inspected, revealing the lesions - the wood in these places is brown or black. If the branch is mostly or completely frozen, it is cut into a ring. Affected upper parts are cut to healthy wood.
Phased trimming of thick branches is convenient for humans and does not injure the tree
Performing such pruning, they think first of all about the health of the tree, the beauty of the crown is relegated to the background. It is important that the sleeping buds wake up, which will give an impetus to the growth of new shoots. And only after the overgrowth of "stumps" with branches, it will be possible to speak about the formation of a crown.
Features of pear pruning in various regions, including Siberia
In a zone of risky gardening, especially in the Urals, in Siberia, pear pruning is cultivated with a bush. A tree of just such a shape is easier to shelter in a frosty winter. To do this, form a standard height of 10-15 cm, skeletal branches are placed in random order. The crown formation of young trees is accompanied by moderate pruning of skeletal branches and thinning of semi-skeletal branches. In the fifth year, the central conductor is shortened at the level of the upper skeletal branches of the first order. It turns out a tree-bush with a height of about 2-2.5 m, and more is not needed. Crown restoration is carried out at the expense of tops, shortening them by a third of the length.
In the most unsuitable, at first glance, regions, they practice the stlan form of the crown. Seedlings are planted at an angle of 45 ° with their heads to the south, and within three years they form 2-4 skeletal branches about 1 meter long, constantly bending them. Then, on each branch, 2 vertical shoots are left, cutting off the rest.
A completely different picture is taking shape in Crimea with a favorable climate. Here, pear pruning can be carried out almost all year round, the risk of freezing occurs only in certain years, which is rare.
Illiterate rejuvenation of an overgrown pear at a Stakhanov pace for one season (up to 3-4 m in height and in diameter) is fraught with freezing of the tree, even in mild winters. And if you cut the crown gradually, every year by 1-2 m in height and width, it will take several years and all this time the yield will be barely possible. Starting from the Central region, it is recommended to use anti-aging pruning according to the method of V.I.Susov (Moscow Agricultural Academy named after K.A. Timiryazev). Its essence is the gradual thinning of the crown, starting from the half that is most illuminated by the sun.
The cropped part of the crown should have a height of 3 m and a width of 2 m. Outwardly, the picture is somewhat reminiscent of a pie from which a wedge was cut. Half of the appeared tops are cut into a ring, the rest are shortened and bent to stimulate the formation of flower buds. All this time, the remaining wilds continue to delight with juicy large fruits.
Original rejuvenation of a fruit tree according to the method of V. I. Susov
When in 4-5 years the tops begin to bear fruit, rejuvenate the second part of the crown and at the same time rejuvenate the roots. To do this, in the fall or spring of the year, pruning under the trimmed part of the crown digs a semicircular trench 75 cm deep at a distance of 2 m from the trunk according to the width of the trimmed crown. Bare large and small roots are chopped with an ax or cut with a saw. This operation stimulates the root formation process. (Note that such works require certain skills, if not mastery). The ditch is covered with humus and the upper layer of excavated earth in a ratio of 1: 1. For heavy soil add river sand and pebbles in an amount of 20% of the total amount of excavated land. The winter hardiness of the pear is maintained at the same level, and the life span is extended by 20-30 years.
Video: pear crown pruning for beginner gardeners
Decisive for a pear are the first 3-4 years of life, when their crown is formed. The following years are devoted mainly to maintaining the crown in "tone". The quality of pruning and the health of the pear depends on the correct cutting technique, saw cut protection, tool cleanliness and timely work.
