[kjnsweets]

I have a pear tree in my back yard that was here when i moved in. I dont know much about pear trees except that i remember my grannie had one and that we had the best canned pears. i would like to know more about pruning and getting this tree in the best possible condition so that it can produce better fruit. I noticedafter we moved in that it is producing but it also had some wormd. Some of the pears are good. Also any tricks to keeping squirrels out of the tree?

 

[stephanie]

pear trees can take an awful lot of abuse mine has and 10 yrs later it is having it's first fruit ever! It will need to be pruned in winter time before new leaf bud start to grow while it is dormant. take it slow at first open the crown up just a little maybe 1/4th at most off the height of the tree, take off any dead branches, then any branches that are crossing each other or that are to close . then stop at this point till the next years pruning time. take it slow and the tree will become better each year. You can bring it to a more manageable size in time.
my pear tree has survived being run over,eaten and just plain trampled. it is finally big enough to handle bearing some fruit but still fairly small because of the abuse it has had from live stock and my husband with the lawn mower. I built a cage around it to stop both man and beast!