Pear trees? Dwarf variety and staking?

So I was going to buy some pear trees and preferred the dwarf variety. I just found out that you have to keep apple trees permanently staked if they're the dwarf variety.

Does this also apply to pear trees? My intuition says yes but I also don't know much about trees. So my guess is that pear trees may use different root stock or pears may grow differently where we don't need to stake them.

Google tells me apple trees DEFINITELY yes. Fruit trees TYPICALLY yes. I don't know where pear trees fall under.

Interesting that you have to stake them. I’ve never staked a dwarf apple tree but I do thin the fruit when it sets on really heavy to not overload the branches. But I do that with my semi-dwarf and regular apple trees too. My pears are regular sized trees so I can’t really talk about them as far as staking.

Could you please link to the article that says you have to stake dwarf apple trees? I’d like to read that. Maybe I can learn something.

Thanks.

I would stake them in order to train them, which is an evergoing process. Some people train them to trellises like grapes. You can do whatever you want for any desired form. The problem with pears is the branches grow straight up, so you have to drive a stake in the ground and tie the branch down to make it more horizontal.

Ridgerunner said:

Interesting that you have to stake them. I’ve never staked a dwarf apple tree but I do thin the fruit when it sets on really heavy to not overload the branches. But I do that with my semi-dwarf and regular apple trees too. My pears are regular sized trees so I can’t really talk about them as far as staking.

Could you please link to the article that says you have to stake dwarf apple trees? I’d like to read that. Maybe I can learn something.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I guess if you're able to do it, maybe I'll take a chance.

Here are some links:
https://extension.umaine.edu/fruit/growing-fruit-trees-in-maine/rootstocks-and-dwarf-fruit-trees/
http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/staking-fruit-trees
http://www.uky.edu/hort/node/392

There's a lot of other sites, forum discussions etc if you do a Google search. Keywords: Permanent staking apple fruit trees

SittinDuck said:

I would stake them in order to train them, which is an evergoing process. Some people train them to trellises like grapes. You can do whatever you want for any desired form. The problem with pears is the branches grow straight up, so you have to drive a stake in the ground and tie the branch down to make it more horizontal.

Click to expand...

That kind of defeats the purpose of dwarf if they keep growing vertically doesn't it. Also, does it matter that I want to grow Asian pears or are all pears like that.

I don't mind staking them in the first few years. I just don't want to have to have them permanently staked. Aesthetic reasons.

ericatdallas said:

I guess if you're able to do it, maybe I'll take a chance.

Here are some links:
https://extension.umaine.edu/fruit/growing-fruit-trees-in-maine/rootstocks-and-dwarf-fruit-trees/
http://www.orangepippintrees.co.uk/articles/staking-fruit-trees
http://www.uky.edu/hort/node/392

There's a lot of other sites, forum discussions etc if you do a Google search. Keywords: Permanent staking apple fruit trees



That kind of defeats the purpose of dwarf if they keep growing vertically doesn't it. Also, does it matter that I want to grow Asian pears or are all pears like that.

I don't mind staking them in the first few years. I just don't want to have to have them permanently staked. Aesthetic reasons.

Click to expand...

I don't know dwarf, I just know pears and they grow straight up. Apple trees grow more spread out. So if dwarf apples need permanent staking, then pears would seem to be even more so because of the vertical shape of the tree. At least with apples you could keep the center of mass down low.

I'm assuming all pears are like that. I can spot a native pear tree in the woods just by the vertical growth. I can't think of any other tree that grows that way.

I have pears, apples, peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, cherry, figs, blueberry and others I forgot. Out of all of them, the pears take the most effort in pruning and training. Peaches are the next hardest and apples are easy.

My ornamental pears have a round shape because I'm out there twice a year with a stepladder pruning the vertical growth down while letting the horizontal branches grow. I think having a nice pear tree is evidence of the amount of work you do to it. When someone compliments me on my trees, I know they are speaking from experience.

Thank you for those links. The last one did not go to a document but that’s OK. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of permanently staking dwarf apple trees.

I do not stake mine and we have some pretty good winds. I do not temporarily stake mine either. But those are reliable sources. Sounds like it might be a good idea.