Key points of winter pruning techniques for planting pear trees

Pear trees enter the dormant period, which is a good time for winter shearing. The pruning techniques for different ages are as follows:

1. Pruning of young trees: the purpose of pruning is to shape, cultivate a good skeleton, promote branches, expand crowns and promote early fruit. Generally, we should cut the long branches gently, flatten the upright strong branches, retain the medium and short branches, and make use of the tips of the branches as far as possible to expand the crown. Except for thinning and cutting part of the dense branches, generally do not carry out thinning.

2. Pruning in the full fruit period: the main purpose of pruning is to control the growth of the tree, to control the tree within the predetermined range, to keep the crown from shade, to facilitate ventilation and light transmission, to maintain a robust and stable golden mean tree potential, and to prolong the full fruit period. For the plants with stronger tree potential, it is necessary to control the vigorous growth, more thinning and less truncation, go to the erect branches and retain oblique branches, leave more flower buds, press the tree potential with fruit, and make it tend to the moderate tree potential; for the plants with weak tree potential, adopt heavier pruning methods, cut off the strong branches in the middle and remove the weak branches; cut short some of the medium and short fruit branches, remove some flower buds, change the fruiting branches into vegetative branches, and increase the proportion of vegetative branches. For stable plants, focus on pruning the fruiting branch group; for pear trees with a large number of flowers, cut off inferior flower buds, cut short axillary flower branches, and adjust the ratio of fruiting branches to vegetative branches.

3. Pruning in aging period: the purpose of pruning in this period is to restore the tree potential, rejuvenate the branch group, and prolong the fruiting life. To retract the drooping perennial branches, choose a good upper dorsal branch, make the first branch grow upward, cut off part of the flower buds and remove the weak branches. Try to make use of overgrown branches to enrich the incomplete crown, restore the tree momentum and regain high yield.