I have three Nashi Pear trees growing fairly close together. They have grown up uncared for and though they are not of very large diameter they are rather tall and bushy. They do produce fruit but what fruit they produce is small and well out of my reach My questions are these; When is the best time of year to prune them back? How much should I prune them, as in should I prune them back all at once or over a couple of growing seasons? And if I do prune then lower than their lowest branches will they put off new branches?
Search internet for "pears pruning" etc. Topping them may not produce enhanced results and may even have the opposite effect overall. First question is why, specifically are the fruits small. May not be related to pruning regime undertaken so far at all.
That's just it...there has been no pruning what-so-ever to start with...at least none intentionaly. We didn't plant the trees we found them here when we moved here ten years ago. Then we noticed the blooms on a few small trees close together and thought they were "pretty" so we left the alone. Later on in the fall my youngest daughter came in with some of the fruits asking what they were, they were roughly the size of grapes at that time and I had no idea what they were other than they looked like small gold and spotted apples and tasted like pears so we called it the pear apple tree. Now, ten years later, the trees have grown a bit. I learned from here what they are and now the trees are about 30 centimeters in diameter and about five meters tall and largest of the fruit are about the size of plums. In reading up on Nashi Pears I see that they are "known for their large size" and thought maybe I should prune them and remove some of the over-crowded branches to make the fruit grow larger. I'll do a google search for pruning pears. It's just that's how I found this site to start with was doing a search on another plant lol, so I just thought I'd start here.
The assumption that whacking them back will make the fruit size up is where I wonder if you are on the wrong track. Need to find out what might be making them have small fruits before undertaking any particular corrective action.
I am cutting back the branches of over shadowing trees that may have some effect but I was always told by my grandfather with fruit trees that having too many branches..too many blooms..and too many fruit made what fruit you do have smaller. Is that not true? He was mainly talking about apple trees at his house.
