trees – Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Durham County

By Jeff Kanters, NC State Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteer of Durham County

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

–Socrates

(Image credit: Jeff Kanters)

When counseling visitors on managing fruit trees at Briggs Avenue Community Gardens Teaching Orchard, I was occasionally asked about how to prune an older neglected fruit tree to a more manageable size. Typically, a homeowner had inherited a large, gnarly, tangled tree left from the previous homeowner or may have left a tree unmanaged over years.

Late fall of 2024 I had the opportunity to provide onsite consultation to a PTA volunteer crew at Hope Valley Elementary School seeking to renovate an older, 25-foot tall, neglected, unsightly Kieffer pear (Pyrus communis ‘Kieffer’) tree in a courtyard being re-landscaped.

Image of a Kieffer pear tree (Pyrus communis ‘Kieffer’) in bloom and closeup of its late-spring flowers. (Image credit: Gary Owens CC BY 2.0)

Researching the Tree

So what is a Kieffer pear? Kieffer pears are the result of an accidental cross between the Sand pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) native to Asia, and the common American Bartlett pear (Pyrus communis) during the 1860s. While it is often recommended to have two pear trees to produce the most fruit per cross-pollination, Kieffer pears, with their Asian ancestry, are self-fertile, meaning they are not as dependent on another pear nearby to cross-pollinate and set fruit. Kieffer pears are also very disease resistant.

Evaluating the Tree

To get started we inspected the tree, and observed the following:

Overall, the core trunk bark appeared intact and healthy.
The tree bore many pears during the past season and many large overripe pears were still hanging from the top upper most canopy as unreachable to harvest.
Numerous dead and broken, large, jagged limbs protruded at the base of the tree and from along the lower trunk opening the tree up to disease.
Rather than one central leader trunk, three competing leaders were all growing up close together and the crotch angles where the leaders grew from the core lower trunk were very narrow, and therefore weak and prone to splitting off from the tree during high winds.
Many of the older limbs had tall branches or whips growing directly upward, inward toward the trunk, downward to the ground, and crossing over each other. Pears are one of the more unruly fruit trees to manage with their tendency to wildly send new growth upward in columnar fashion and scaffold branching to grow out every which way. When the tree was leafed out, this would result in shading the interior of the tree reducing air circulation and inviting diseases.

Kieffer pear before start of first pruning. (Image credit: Debra Pilkington)

Developing a Plan

To complete the tree rehabilitation, we set up the following phased three-year corrective pruning plan:

To begin, prune out about one third of the tree growth this first season. Since the tree was old, taking too much would shock the tree and force unwanted, uncontrolled, excessive new branch growth the next season, making the canopy prone to sunburn and diseases. The team would follow this same method for the next three seasons to gradually reduce the tree height and shape.
Prune out all dead, diseased, and broken limbs and branches.
Prune out the branches growing upward, downward, inward, and crossing over into each other.
Select the largest central leader from the multiple leaders and remove the other smaller competitive leaders, thus leaving only one. This would also open the center of the tree to more air and sunlight.
After several years of corrective pruning, and bringing the top canopy down further, the rejuvenated tree should only require more manageable pruning, maintenance, and harvesting each year thereafter.

Identifying the Tools for the Job

Undertaking a project of this size required a team and key tools that included:

Ladder
Small battery powered hand chainsaw or small and large pruning saw, rather than a chain saw (Note of caution: No one should be alone and use any chain saw without the proper training, supervision, and use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Telescopic saw and loppers
Hand loppers
Standard hand pruning shears
Safety helmet or head covering
Safety goggles
Gloves
Non-snag clothing
Heavy duty canvas pants
Heavy work boots or chainsaw boots with protective guarding at front instep

Kieffer pear during first pruning. (Image credit: Jeff Kanters)

Phase one pruning was successfully completed. One experienced volunteer opted to use his handheld battery-operated chain saw for removal of a few of the larger limbs. A large pruning saw would also have sufficed.

Kieffer pear at completion of first phase of pruning. (Image credit: Jeff Kanters)

Considering This Type of Project in the Home Landscape

If you are considering undertaking a renewal project of this type in your home landscape, keep the following in mind. Depending on the size of the tree, what limbs or branches need to be removed, and your skill at pruning, it may be safest and best to hire a trained, reputable, experienced arborist to make initial key cuts on the tree. You can supervise, but let professionals handle the most heavy-duty work. If you choose to do it yourself, you should have a few helpers on hand. Projects of this size should not be left to one person to perform alone.

If you use a ladder, as the ground is typically never flat around a tree, no one should be alone on the ladder, but rather have another spotter below holding the ladder for that person.

A last thought. While it may be a worthwhile project, before you consider rescue-pruning a large overgrown fruit tree, ask yourself a few questions:

Is the tree viable, free of disease overall, and producing good fruit yet?
Is tree worth the expense, effort, time, and risk to prune back?
Would it be better to have the tree completely removed and replaced with a small young tree you can manage better from the outset?

Whatever your decision, rehabilitating an old fruit tree is something that can be done successfully.

Resources and Additional Information

Training and Pruning Fruit Trees in North Carolina:

https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/training-and-pruning-fruit-trees-in-north-carolina

How to Prune Neglected Apple Trees, Iowa State University Extension:

https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/how-prune-neglected-apple-trees#:~:text=Prune%20out%20all%20dead%2C%20diseased,over%202%20or%203%20years.

Pruning to Renovate Old Fruit Trees, Penn State Extension:

https://extension.psu.edu/home-gardening-pruning-to-renovate-old-fruit-trees

Operating a Chainsaw:

https://www.hse.gov.uk/treework/safety-topics/chainppe.htm

North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox:

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/pyrus-communis-kieffer

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-5EE

By Peter Gilmer, NC State Extension Master Gardener^SM volunteer of Durham County

(Image credit: University of New Hampshire Extension)

The “dead of winter” is an expression understandable when we had two weeks of cold and a touch of snow, not so understandable with temperatures in the 70s. For plants, the winter is a time of dormancy, both for deciduous as well as evergreen shrubs and trees. This time of year for gardeners often means planning, ordering seeds, and waiting for the soil to warm. It is also the right season for hardwood cuttings, a simple but often forgotten plant propagation technique.

Hardwood cuttings (also known as scions) are taken during the dormant stage of a woody plant, including both trees and shrubs, usually involving last year’s growth, and can be considered from the first hard freeze (late November for us?) through bud break in early spring. The technique is simple, fun, and often considered for a favorite plant or when seed propagation for a specific plant is difficult or slow.

(Left) A healthy donor plant, red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea), showing last year’s growth as the reddest of the stems, each about the diameter of a pencil. (Right) Five cuttings, ready to be dipped in planting hormone powder. Each is cut horizontally just below a bud, and at an angle just above an upper bud. (Image credit: Peter Gilmer)

Where, When, and How to Take Cuttings

To be successful, the donor plant must be healthy. The cut is made just below a bud, often near the base of the plant and should be done with the health and final appearance of the donor plant in mind. The stem should be about the diameter of a pencil, and length does not matter initially as the stems taken will be cut again before sticking. The term sticking is used to describe the simple act of pushing the cut stem into the growing media. Plants with suckers and shoots are often good candidates, and juvenile stems do better than more mature ones.

Cuttings are best taken in the early morning on a cloudy day, to minimize sun exposure, and should be placed in an opaque plastic or paper bag, with a moist cloth or paper towel around the base. A cooler (without ice) may be helpful if many cuttings are being taken. Remember, cutting a stem is an injury to the donor plant, and should be done with a sharp tool cleaned with alcohol or a bleach solution to avoid disease transmission.

Once the long stem is taken from the donor plant, that stem is cut again with attention paid to the final stem length, bud locations, and polarity. In general, final cuttings should contain at least one bud that will be below ground, and at least one above ground. The bottom cut is generally made transversely just below a bud, and the upper cut made at an angle just above a bud. Polarity is easier to maintain if the angled cut is always up, and this also keeps moisture from potentially sitting in droplet form on the top of the stem. Stems will not root if planted inverted. The cuttings at this point are generally six to ten inches long, although this depends on the arrangement of the buds. Note that no terminal buds are kept in this technique, as the stems are usually too small in diameter near the top of the stem.

Rooting and Care of Hardwood Cuttings

Some cuttings can be stuck directly into the planting media, but most authors recommend dipping the base of the cut stem into rooting hormone prior to sticking. Rooting hormone can be purchased at most big box stores, usually in a powder form, and should be handled with gloves and eye protection, as the hormone can be caustic to eyes and to skin. Never dip the cutting into the original container to avoid contamination, and don’t use too much. More is not better, and in fact can inhibit root development. The planting media required is not unique or specific. Any commercially available planting soil or seed starting mix will work. It may be important to not have fertilizer already in the media, as new roots form more easily without initial fertilizer exposure. Most media options contain two or more of the following: perlite, pumice, peat, sand, and fine bark chips.

Taking care of the cuttings is relatively easy. The media should be kept moist, but not soggy. It is essential to avoid desiccation of the new cuttings, but cuttings are more commonly injured by being too wet (for example, in soil that does not drain well). The cuttings will need protection from direct sun, temperature extremes, and animal predation. For some this may be as easy as a container on the north side of the house, perhaps with chicken-wire on the top, with the option to move the container indoors during very cold nights.

Roots can take several months to form, so patience is required. The best way to assess root development is to tip over the container, gently dumping the contents. A cutting with generous fibrous root formation will maintain the entire planting media, while minimal or no root formation will allow the media to fall away. The cuttings can be fertilized once root formation is confirmed, and hardened off by gradually increasing sun exposure as leaves begin to form.

Have fun with this technique. It is fine to experiment. If you wonder “Can I take a cutting of this plant?”, give it a try. It is quite useful to research the potential donor plant using basic cell phone techniques. Simply ask Google “What is the best way to propagate “X” plant?”. We recommend searching for research-based information on sites with the domain .edu– such as https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu. For example, the best propagation technique for red twig dogwood is a hardwood cutting, while the best technique for white oak is an acorn. Enjoy this propagation technique in the dead of winter.

Resources and Additional Information

Hartmann and Kester’s Plant Propagation: Principles and Practices, 9th Edition. Pearson, 2018.

NC State Extension Gardener Handbook online chapter on propagation, 2018. https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/extension-gardener-handbook/13-propagation

Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center online fact sheet.

Hardwood Cuttings for Shrub & Tree Propagation

Article Short Link: https://wp.me/p2nIr1-5B7

Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Durham County

Tag: trees

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