North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> Ten feet is tall enough.  Much taller and I won't be able to prune or spray 
> it.  In fact, I'm thinking of cutting it down to about 8'.
>
> Any advice re pruning a genetically "larger" tree to keep it in check?  
> Should I aim for horizontal growth?  Cut it lower and just make it start new leaders 
> form time to time?
>
> Right now it's mostly horizontal branches off a central leader.
>   


I can't give you any advice, Ginda, because I don't know enough. But I'm 
wondering what would happen if you cut the leader back to a horizontal 
branch (eliminating the leader, in other words).

I have a young dwarf Asian pear (Starking Hardy Giant, which might or 
might not be the same as Olympic or Korean Giant) that seems to want to 
produce a leader straight up to the sky. It's branched well enough 
below, but the leader is really fast-growing. It's got a nice horizontal 
branch about the right height, so I've been wondering if cutting it 
there would stop it from getting much taller (though it might indeed 
produce some vertical sprouts).

I don't know, so I'm anxious to see the answers to your question. I do 
know that summer pruning is supposed to keep trees small, since it 
lessens their vigor. To my mind, it's not as easy as it sounds, though. 
Still, in your case, if you do cut the tree back, you might want to do 
summer pruning to keep it under control after this.

Oh, one more thing. Since it's just started fruiting, won't that help 
keep the vegetative vigor in check, at least a bit? I'd think that any 
energy going into producing fruit would not be available for vegetative 
growth. But that's just a guess. As I say, I'm just a newbie at this.

Good luck,

Bill
Lincoln, NE

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