"sherwin dubren" wrote in message
...
brooklyn1 wrote:
"sherwin dubren" wrote:
brooklyn1 wrote:
Prune the broken branch back to the
crotch and allow a new leader to form (there shouldn't be just one
leader on a fruit tree anyway).
I disagree with your comment about having multiple leaders on fruit
trees. A single leader is the way to go. It will give the tree a
much better shape whenever it grows back.

Well you are just plain wrong. Fruit trees need to be shaped to make
them capable of bearing the weight of their crop, and should have as open
a structure as possible to allow them to receive maximum light and enable
easier harvesting, there should be no central leader. All trees require
pruning for structural soundness but especially crop trees. The OP's
single spindely leader fractured for one reason and one reason only, it
was too long and too thin making it incapable of bearing the weight of
the pears. If one wants a specimen tree with a "better shape" then there
are plenty of ornamental pear trees to choose from. You've obviously
never visited a fruit tree orchard.



As a matter of fact, I have over 20 fruit trees in my yard.

Show me just twenty.

I have only lost one leader in my experience because I did not thin it
adequately. I do agree with you on pruning a fruit tree to bear
the weight of their crop, such as removing branches with a small
crotch angle, etc. However, letting a tree 'grow wild' without
a leader is not a good idea.

If a leader is overburdened with fruit, it should be thinned. [Well, DUH]

Just to keep this as short a reply as possible, I will refer you to
one of many references on pruning fruit trees:

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/h...9.html#central

from the University of North Carolina Extension Service.




Seems you have personal issues with *control*. If you know so much about
fruit trees nothing prevented you from offering advice in a timely manner
directly to the OP rather than lurk about for an opportunity to argue with
and snipe at others advice. Have you even looked at your own reference, it
totally disagrees with you. And in fact you make absolutely no sense
whatsoever, you even argue with yourself. Duh