Should I prune it?

[Southern Gardener]

Now that I have some time to sit at my computer, I'm posting like mad!!!

My pear tree is lop-sided. There are branches on one side only and I'm afraid that it will break with all the weight when the pears get bigger. Any suggestions on what I should do?
See how the poor thing is leaning?

 

[thistlebloom]

Oh poor little tree!
This is what I would do if it were mine:
Remove all but maybe just a couple of pears, if you don't it will surely crack a limb.
Next get a tall stake and find the lowest point on the trunk where the trunk if supported will be upright. Two stakes actually.
Then you'll want to stake it LOOSELY between the two stakes with something soft. I like used bike tubes because they have give, and wont abrade the bark.
Make sure it is only snug enough to keep it from leaning so profoundly, you want to allow the trunk freedom to move in the wind, that's what strengthens the trunk.
As far as pruning, a better time would be late winter/very early spring. In the top picture looking at the right side of your tree and counting from the bottom up I would remove the second and fourth side limbs and hope that would stimulate some buds to emerge on the opposite side. I would also shorten those limbs to maybe twelve inches or so. It looks like you have a potential leader on the right side up high (lower pic) if you feel you need to shorten the height of the tree.
This tree shows what happens when young trees in nursery's are tied tightly to a stake that limits any trunk movement. Then they are grouped together closely, both conditions which encourage
weak spindly trunk growth, and branching on one side.
Then when the tree is finally unstaked it can't support itself
and you have a tree that leans.
It's not hopeless, your tree will eventually strengthen it's trunk if allowed as much movement as possible, while being loosely supported so it can grow straight.
It will probably never have a real nice symmetry unfortunately.
Meanwhile, as hard as it is to not be able to eat those pears,
I think your best off removing them and working on helping your tree to get stronger.
Oh, and trees should never, never be staked for more than a year. And only staked if you have a wind issue or it has been poorly grown and is weak.
Whew! That was a wordy reply eh? Hope it works out, in spite of it's problem it certainly looks healthy!

 

[hoodat]

That aproach would work but I would do it differently. I would start by removing all the pears above the bend to save weight. By using a framework you could support the lateral branches to avoid splitting and thus allow those pears to mature. You have a strong upright branch where the bend begins. Next Winter I would remove the present top and allow the upright branch to become the new top. That would remove a lot of the weight that is bending the trunk and restore symetry to the tree. I would also drastically shorten the lower branches at that time. I wouldn't remove the branches completely, just shorten them halfway. Allowing them to stay at least for a few years will make for a thicker trunk. Some could be removed in later years if you want to avoid that lopsided look.
Go easy on the nitrogen in your ferilizer this Summer. Just enough to keep the tree green. At the same time I would go heavier on the potash and phosphorus to get a strong trunk. Somewhere around a 3.5.5 fertilizer if you can find it. or bone meal if you want an organic fertilizer. A heavy mulch of good compost without additional fertilizer would also work well if you have any on hand but I wouldn't use bought compost. They often add nitrogen to that.
Pears are eager growers and will use any excess nitrogen they get to make more soft growth. That's the last thing you want right now. Too much soft growth in a pear can also invite fire blight. With pears it's often harder to slow the growth down than speed it up.
You should probably clear a circle of sod away from the base of the tree and be careful not to get any lawn fertilizer at the base of it. Lawn fertilizer is high nitrogen.
I think I beat Thistlebloom for a long answer.

 

[patandchickens]

I would start by removing all the pears above the bend to save weight.<snip>Next Winter I would remove the present top and allow the upright branch to become the new top. <snip> I would also drastically shorten the lower branches at that time. I wouldn't remove the branches completely, just shorten them halfway. Allowing them to stay at least for a few years will make for a thicker trunk. Some could be removed in later years if you want to avoid that lopsided look.<snip> Go easy on the nitrogen in your ferilizer this Summer.

This. Every word of it.

You really wanna correct the tree's growth form or it will do this every year, worse and worse, til important parts snap off messily.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Southern Gardener]

Thank you so much for the advice! I'm going to remove the pears this weekend.

 

[patandchickens]

This is probably a good lesson to, next time you are buying a tree, look closely at its architecture before selecting it. You want one with good distribution of equal-size branches all around the trunk, not one-sided as this one obviously started out; and sometimes it is worth doing some minor selective pruning pretty early in the tree's career so that it does not get more-lopsided than it has to.

As above posters point out, small and low branches do contribute significantly to total tree growth when it's small so you don't want to just remove them recreationally, but sometimes it is worth getting in there and taking out one or two obviously-ill-placed ones *early*, so that better nearby branches can get off to a faster start in growth.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat, who seriously wishes she were in a little warmer climate/site because man do I miss fresh homegrown pears (the super-hardy asian pears that I could grow here do not count, as far as I'm concerned)

 

[Southern Gardener]

You know, for the life of me I can't remember where I bought this tree. I normally do look at the shape of the tree - I do have other trees that I've bought in the past. I'm thinking maybe this was on special at the end of the season last year. :/

 

[hoodat]

Quite possibly it was a late season special. The good news is it looks healthy and with some corrective pruning in the dormant season could be easily made into a well shaped tree. Just don't let that top get too heavy till then and break the trunk. You might have to use props under it to support it.