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[Alan Haigh <alandhaigh@gmail.com>]

I don't know about the Lorette pruning method- my customers have land and I only manage a few espaliers.  I suggested earlier that I only prune these once a season in mid-summer but this isn't always the case- sometimes I prune them once in about mid-June and once somewhere near the end of July.  I do this when the trees are more vigorous than I'd like and mostly for appearance sake.  So I agree with Lee that this can sometimes enhance appearance.  Often with pears it is not at all necessary.

 

This year I summer pruned my own free-standing, semi-standard apple trees earlier than usual- also around mid-June, and regrowth, in spite of all the rain, has been limited.  I did it to bring more light and air on the fruit earlier and so far I'm very glad I did so.  Sooty blotch and flyspeck are much less prevalent than normal in spite of our monsoon.  I guess it could have also been the cool weather but I'd rather give credit to the pruning for now.  I'll see what happens next year.