Pear tree too big

Hi! I am a bit envious that you have so much fresh fruit each season...

I don't know much about fruit trees (though we have guava, papaya, and banana trees growing in our yard) but I don't think you increase the number of fruits by pruning the tree into a dwarf height or a big bushy thing. So I believe the number of pears you harvest is the same -- whatever is within arm's reach, or by ladder. I could be wrong.

Next, will you be depriving the birds of a food source that has been there for the past several decades? That's generations of local birds depending on a reliable natural source of food. Are they somehow being a pest?

And -- the size of the tree supports the health and growth of a reasonably extensive trunk and root system. The tree sap required to keep the whole system healthy is equal to the task, but if you reduce the foliage and supply of tree sap that supports the trunk's and root's health, will a fruit tree begin to slowly die off?

"Balancing nature" is always tricky... My personal feeling is to let the birds have whatever they will eat, and harvest what is within reach. If you prune the tree, you can still only reach so high anyway. I can't eat 100 pounds of pears, though my wife could can some and share a lot. But we wouldn't begrudge the birdlife some food, either.

If you are set to prune it anyway, maybe best to visit a local orchard and ask the owner about pruning a fruit tree -- how, how much, when, and the outcome. Of course, the birds will find another source of food elswhere, and some will die, too.

Oink, oink…I was only thinking of myself! You are so right! I shouldn’t begrudge the birds their fill. But because I live alone and am getting older, was thinking how to make it safer to harvest the pears. I thought severe pruning would probably shock & kill it. Might be best to just buy a dwarf! Thank you for your response.

My apologies.

By the way, Deb2022, just a suggestion...

Local agricultural supply shops here (quite plentiful on a small island where there are so many farmers) sell poles with snippers at one end, and a squeeze handle at the other, usually used for snipping small higher branches. These are made of some light material (maybe aluminum-steel alloy) and extend your reach by as much as 6 to 8 feet more. I am 70 and my wife is 66, and despite being quite active (I teach karate and she teaches yoga), we are not too steady on ladders or enjoy reaching over our heads for extended periods of time. Much easier to just extend the pole and snip the higher guava fruits or oranges, or use the serrated curved blade I affixed to a 6-foot pole to saw at the stems of papaya that are out-of-reach. Not hard, the stems cut quite easily. I imagine pears to be much the same (like apples). Falling never seemed to harm the fruit, though sometimes we put a net under the tree to catch the riper papaya. Bananas are easier as the trees are quite soft and ours are not very tall.

Sometimes the neighbor teens help out (they don't ask for pay so my wife makes a meal for everyone after the "harvest"). They actually enjoy climbing ladders; later they go home with bags of guava, papaya, and a bunch of bananas each, and everyone is perfectly happy.

We get plenty from the lower half or so of our fruit trees, and let the birds have whatever we can’t reach. We wouldn’t think of pruning a tree unless a branch was rotten, cracked after a typhoon, was rubbing against the house, etc. But that’s just us.

Yes!