I don't grow pears (yet), but every time I look in my Lorette System of
Pruning book I'm drawn to the blurry photos of vertical cordon trees covered
by what looks to be no less than 8 pears per foot. Photos I see elsewhere of
columnar or pole pears show only a couple fruit per foot. Are Lorette-ish
yields something a mere mortal should dream of? I'll plunk pear trees
between my poorly placed plums if I can hope for 50 pears from a few square
feet of ground, but I won't bother for a one day supply of pears. My apple
Belgian fence is entering its third year and I'll finally be getting some
idea of what intensively managed tree yields can be.
Bruce Wittchen
West Hartford CT