I just heard a garden expert (on the radio) say to lock up all pruning equipment until late Feb. or March. Pruning stimulates growth and that is the last thing you want this time of year, when the plants are going dormant.

Cindy

cindy_7, thank you very much.
i guess i have to wait untill winter is almost over.
i hope i will have more energy next year.

Nope, you can't trust experts on the radio. Here there are commercial growers that prune their orchards immediately after harvesting fruit. The terminal buds are pretty much set and you will not stimulate any significant new growth. More importantly, pruning now will not damage your trees ability to harden off. I have to admit that I have no experience or knowledge about fall pruning of pears which I generally treat more carefully than apples. If you get extreme winter lows there, I'd hold off on them unless I could get some handholding from a local with experience. From what I know about how trees seal off wounds I think you are far enough from winter lows that the pears would be OK. It would certainly be safe to cut them to stubbs of several inches and than cut them clean in late winter.

I know nothing of Toronto's climate, however.

I think it's important to leave all the wood intact for hardening off in colder climate, healing over fresh cuts come spring I also believe in.

Konrad

guys, thank you very much for your advice.
i was just thinking these shoots are so long and young and they will (might) freez anyway, so way not to cut them down so i could see my neighbour much easier:-)
thanks again

I have read that this is not so- that the removal of branches does not slow the general process of hardening off. The danger, as I understand it, is if there is extreme cold within 2 weeks of pruning, injury can occur around the wounds themselves.

Alex Shigo, a well known tree expert, did recommend against pruning any tree during the hardening off process, but as far as I can tell, his advice was not based on his research directly, instead it was only theory based on his general knowledge of trees.

I have seen research that shows that pruning wounds heal safely no matter when pruning is done seasonally, although more slowly with fall pruning, but only because of the longer period of dormancy being added to the time. Anyone got any research that goes against this? I'd really like to see it.

My hands on experience doesn't run any colder than Z5. Still, if apple trees couldn't survive the trauma of an early season ice storm and all the accompanying broken branches and stripped bark, I doubt they'd have passed along their genes succesfully.

Hey, Radovan! As usual, I'm squarely in the Harvestman's corner. My view is that the best time to prune a fruit tree is toward the end of the week.........any week. I seldom venture into the orchard without secateurs on the belt. A five foot shoot will succumb to the ravages of the next ice storm sooner than it will to my handiwork. Misterbaby.

Thank you misterbaby! It is so rare to get an amen for me on this forum. Of course if people agree they usually don't feel any comment is necessary.