Advice on pruning asian pear tree

14 years ago

I planted this Asian Pear tree in the Fall of 2010 (see link below). Sometime in the first few months it was damaged (presumably by deer). About 10 inches off the ground the trunk diverges into two approximately equal sized trunks. One of these, which I have marked with the red cloth in the photo, has 3 main branches coming off the main trunk. The other main trunk (unmarked) diverges into two main branches with a much smaller branch in the center. The photos are not great but hopefully you can see that the two main trunks are extremely close to one another and some of the branches nearly rub against one another. So I think one of the main trunks needs to be pruned off when I prune the tree in a few weeks. Which one should I keep? Once I remove one of the main trunks is there any other pruning that should be done? This is the first time I have ever pruned a fruit tree so I appreciate your thoughts!

Here is a link that might be useful: asian pear photos

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Comments (4)

nothwehr
Original Author
14 years ago
To make it easier, I would like to embed the photos so that they directly pop up in the post. I've done some research on this but haven't figured it out yet. If anyone can provide instructions I'll post them this way. Thanks.
Scott F Smith
14 years ago
The fact that there are two trunks I would not call a problem; the problem is you have two pairs of limbs going in the same general direction. I would pick the smaller one from each of those pairs to remove.

Scott
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nothwehr
Original Author
14 years ago
Scott, I went back and looked at the tree after reading your post. I agree it may be too extreme to remove one of the two main trunks. There's definitely one pair of limbs that are growing in the same direction in close proximity to each other. In photo 1 these are the two that come up nearly vertical and then veer off to the left a little bit. I think it makes the most sense to remove the lower of two i.e. the one coming from the trunk with the red cloth. I don't see another pair that are close to each other though. Could you describe which other pair you are referring to?
Scott F Smith
14 years ago
I think you have a better sense than I do, it was probably looking close due to the angle of the shot. The key is scaffolds that don't compete with each other.

Scott