Pear Tree Pruning

When is the best time to prune a Pear Tree,and as I have never done it before where do I begin.

Thankyou for any help.

How old is the tree?  Young trees need pruning to get a good structure which will pay dividends when they mature, but for older trees it's more a case of keeping them healthy and productive.  Pear and apple trees are pruned in similar ways and now is the time unless you want to restrict growth of a rampant tree which is done in late summer.  RHS advice here:

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=90

There are a lot of YouTube videos on the subject too.

Our Pear Tree is about six years old,I think we bought it from B & Q,I have tried to prune it a little bit.

There are loads of branches,and when the pears come,they don't get all that big.

Is there something I should feed them with,to get a better yield.

Thanks for your help much appreciated.

It might be carrying too much fruit-it is worth thinning them out at the fruiting stage to get less but bigger pears-if you leave them all on that reduces the size.

You just need to be a bit ruthless-don't consider a pruning as a magical solution-if in doubt don't.

In the ground feeding is not always essential.

Geoff's idea is a good one.  Any chance you could post a photo of it?  You said it had a lot of branches;  If they are all coming from the trunk, it may benefit from reducing the number (5 main branches is considered ideal), but it's difficult to say without seeing it.

I will take a photograph of it tomorrow and try to get it on the gardener's forum.

Thankyou all for your help much appreciated.

This is my Pear Tree

Oh- you got 3 identical trees

OOPPS,sory didn't know I did it three times,also the Pear Tree is about 3ft above my next door neighbours garage.

I don't think you need to do much, but from what I can make out in the photo, there are some crossing branches, some downward-pointing ones and some shaded by other branches.  Those are all unproductive, so worth taking out.  I would probably remove the three I've circled in red, but that's only from a 2D photo of a 3D tree, so you'll have to use you own judgment really as you can see it better than a photo is capable.  As long as you remove downward pointing, crossing/congested and damaged/diseased wood, you will be doing the tree a favour.  There are lots of fruiting spurs, so you aren't going to lose a lot of fruit!

BobTheGardener,

Thankyou for your help,I will do what you suggested,but should the Pear Tree  be 3ft above my next door neighbours garage roof,I think it is too tall,I don't know how tall a Pear Tree should be.

Thankyou for your help much appreciated.

I would lop the top off, probably at the same height as the garage roof.  Cut the main trunk just above a bud or upward-pointing side branch, which will then become the new 'leader'.  Each year in the Winter, cut back the new 'leader' to the lowest bud on the new wood and you will keep the height under control.

Thankyou BobTheGardener,I will be on to this as soon as the bad weather clears up.

Thankyou once again much appreciated.