Can you post pics? How are the limbs angled? Have they been trained to 45 degrees or so? If not, are they too thick to pull them down to that angle? If it were mine, come next mid-summer, I'd select the best 5 or 6 limbs down as low as practicable, making sure they didn't have narrow crotches, and lop off the tree just above them. I'd train the limbs down to the angle and prune them back. Lot's of hacking, I know, but if it's been untrained, it's time for drastic measures. Summer pruning keeps the tree from producing a flush of new growth. I've been training mine for nine years and it's turned into a spreading, open-centered, sturdy, low tree (8 ft.) that produced a decent crop. They were small, but it could be the variety (Savannah). We're in an exceptional drought this year and I did some irrigation, so that may have helped keep them small.

Gardengal:

You will have to be a little more specific about what you fail to understand about pruning. The "best way" to prune trees down to a manageable height is to prune them down to a manageable height. I can't be with you, nor can the others, to tell you each limb to remove or shorten, so you will have to figure out some of this for yourself. You might begin by visiting some websites that cover the fundamentals of pruning.

As you describe your trees, it sounds like they were allowed to grow as pear trees tend to do, which is pretty much straight up. Spreading of branches and control pruning normally begins while the trees are much younger, and well before they reach 15-20 feet in height. It will not be impossible for you to restore your trees to a better shape for fruit production and overall care, but it will not be easy. Nursery catalogs often describe their trees as "dwarf" or "semi-dwarf" and they turn out to be anything but. You have to base your care decisions on what you actually see, not the catalog descriptions.

Pear trees must be kept down to a height where you can thin and pick the fruit, and spray if that should be necessary. Normally, the maximum height to perform these tasks comfortably is about 12 feet, but 10 feet or even less can be better. As Herbert suggests, the best shape for a fruiting pear is low and spreading. The small size of your pears is due no doubt to the fact that you do not thin them, which would be impossible on such tall trees. To achieve decent size and quality, pears should be thinned to one per blossom cluster.

I don't know what is responsible for the mottled condition of your pears, but you may have the beginnings of pear psylla, which results in blackening of both the leaves and fruit. Punch "pear psylla" into your Google search and read up about it. If it looks familiar, you should thoroughly spray your trees with dormant oil at least twice this coming winter season, a task that will be greatly facilitated if you bring down the height of the trees.

You can begin your pruning right now, or at any time during the coming winter season. I am sure you can get further suggestions on pruning here, but you will have to tell us what you want to know with a little more precision.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA