How to prune a pear to increase yield?

The deer pruned our baby pear tree last year. They started at the bottom and stripped the bark. We were afraid they killed it, but it's trying to come back. I'll check it out later today if it isn't raining.

The deer also harvest the first and only fruit we got from this tree.  

I would love to know more about pruning to keep it from getting any taller. It's already over 6' high. 

Thanks for posting this, Kay. I wouldn't have given this tree a thought until fall.

countrynaturals wrote:The deer pruned our baby pear tree last year. They started at the bottom and stripped the bark. We were afraid they killed it, but it's trying to come back. I'll check it out later today if it isn't raining.

The deer also harvest the first and only fruit we got from this tree.  

I would love to know more about pruning to keep it from getting any taller. It's already over 6' high. 

Thanks for posting this, Kay. I wouldn't have given this tree a thought until fall.

Bad news on the pear tree. No sign of growth at the top, but lots of new growth at the base. You can also see the damage from the deer from last year.

The growth from the ground is no good - that is from the rootstock that the tree was grafted to, and is not the same variety as the tree you bought/planted.  A lot of pear trees are grafted to Quince rootstock, in fact.

OhioGardener wrote:The growth from the ground is no good - that is from the rootstock that the tree was grafted to, and is not the same variety as the tree you bought/planted.  A lot of pear trees are grafted to Quince rootstock, in fact.

Any chance those leaves will nourish the rest of the tree, or does this only happen if the rest of the tree is really dead?

countrynaturals wrote:Any chance those leaves will nourish the rest of the tree, or does this only happen if the rest of the tree is really dead?

No, shoots that come up from the roots do not feed the grafted stock at all. In fact, they rob nutrients from the rootstock.

OhioGardener wrote:

countrynaturals wrote:Any chance those leaves will nourish the rest of the tree, or does this only happen if the rest of the tree is really dead?

No, shoots that come up from the roots do not feed the grafted stock at all. In fact, they rob nutrients from the rootstock.

Ah, well. I guess it will just be an ornamental shrub.

Pears are really susceptible to fire blight, which has killed off a majority of trees in my area. In my case it was spread by deer munching away on first the fruit, and when the fruit was gone they chewed the branches. The bacteria and spores are in their saliva. Male deer also claimed their territory out by scraping the trunks- they ringed a prune tree and an apple tree so bad they died. The apricots are going into a death spiral, as the areas chewed introduced bacteria and spores that are slowly killing off the trees. An arborist told me to try to cut back the branches, but cautioned me that if I didn't keep my pruners sterile after each cut, I stood a good chance of spreading the diseases. He also warned me to only fall prune to avoid the rain , as most problems are caused by moist conditions. He also told me to rip out the most affected ones and burn them, and said that if the other trees were responding to careful pruning and to give them lots of TLC, they might be able to come back. Looking at your photo reminded me what happened to my trees, as the diseases progressed the root grafted portions were more resistant to the disease and therefore flushed at the base with shoots. My advice is to rip that one out and start over. I had to erect deer proof fencing to keep the deer out and it works great. here's a link:

https://bennersgardens.com/About-Deer-Fence.html

Yardslave.

I looks like the deer almost girded the tree!