Content
- Cut a column bulb optimally
- Different cutting requirements for the different pear varieties
- The right time for the shape cut
- Regulate the height
- Tips
Pillar bulbs can easily be cut back in summer
Cut a column bulb optimally
Some gardeners opt for column fruit varieties like a columnar pear in order to spend as little time as possible on care measures such as pruning. Depending on the type of bulb used, it may be necessary to use the pruning shears in your hand for the desired shape and optimal plant health.
Different cutting requirements for the different pear varieties
The columnar growth is differently genetically anchored in different cultivars of the columnar pear and therefore must be supported to varying degrees by cuts targeted at the pear tree. For example, the column pear cultivar 'Condora' is characterized by a relatively strong growth of the lateral shoots. So if a column shape to be achieved or retained, the side shoots must be regularly shortened accordingly. This cut, referred to as "pinching," is hardly necessary in a pear tree of the columnar pear variety, Decora, because this variety grows by itself in a nearly perfect columnar form.
The right time for the shape cut
Since the dominant center drive is very important for the fruit approach in column bulbs, its growth should be accelerated by targeted cutting measures. In the ideal case, when cutting back from mid to end of June, the following points should be noted:
When a pillar bulb reaches about 7 years of age, the center drive should also be cut to regulate height growth and promote better branching.
Regulate the height
If a pear tree in columnar form (for example, for growing on a balcony) is to remain particularly small, the pruning of the dominant center drive can take place earlier than at the age of 7 years. However, with such a limitation of the height growth, it should be expected that the side branching of the column bulb, which precipitates to an even greater extent, must also be kept in check by means of corresponding cutbacks.
Tips
If the desired yield is still missing years after the planting of a pillar bulb, this does not necessarily have to be connected with an incorrect cutback or certain location factors. Since pear blossoms are a bit more "picky" in pollination than many other flowers in the plant kingdom, some types of pillar pear may require a pollinator in the immediate vicinity.