Pear trees that don’t break so many branches

Highwater

Yearling... With promise
Can anyone recommend some pears that can hold their fruit load without breaking branches so often? I’d like to put in some more pears — the only mature pear I have is a Kieffer planted about 25 years ago by the previous owner. Every three years or so it bears so much fruit that it breaks its leaders and topmost branches, then spends the next couple years regrowing its top and the cycle begins again. The tree is too tall to thin the fruit at the top where the breakage happens. Are there varieties out there with stronger wood that don’t break off so much? Thanks
 
I haven’t found them!

Best thing to do is trim the leader and outer branches back some to help them thicken up making them stronger. Thin some fruit in early summer on heavy years if you can. It’s kind of the nature of pears to throw heavy fruit loads and cause trouble. I think some of the larger fruit European varieties are worse than others.

Smaller pears like Seckle and some of the Asian and wildlife pears don’t do it as bad.

The Wildlife Group has some good late season varieties.
 
The 2022 season in my neck of the wood....south central Michigan ....was the most fruitful year I have ever seen. Both in pears and apples (my oaks & shagbarks were loaded too).

So, in a year like '22....one would have to invest a lot of time to mitigate or prevent the inevitable damage. Virtually every pear on my farm....maybe 15 or 20?......suffered limb breakage. Even the seedling pears that bear a fruit of a size a little smaller than a .50-cent piece. They broke too.
A few apples broke, but not as many. I even had one of my English Oaks break a limb due to the acorn load.


ps......and the problems of a huge crop-year didn't effect just us deer-dirt guys. Up on Michigan's famous 'Fruit Ridge' northwest of Grand Rapids....the commercial apple growers ran out of harvest boxes (23 bushels, or about 1,000lbs). Years like 2022 don't come along that often.
 
Thanks, it sounds like some breakage just goes with the territory for pears.
 
Ayers makes a lot of fruit but seems to be less prone to breaking limbs thank Kieffer. However, it is a very early ripening pear. Moonglow is notorious for breaking limbs.
 
'Korean Giant' is the only edible pear I've grown that didn't break branches on a regular basis. But... in my orchard, it only ever set one or two fruits per year (not the kind of productivity you want for you or wildlife)... they would mature to big beautiful juicy tasteless orbs... kinda like eating a big wet potato.
 
Ayers makes a lot of fruit but seems to be less prone to breaking limbs thank Kieffer. However, it is a very early ripening pear. Moonglow is notorious for breaking limbs.
Ayers, wish I had a thousand. Have moore grafted ( Corvallis) from the same breeding program 20220704_073050_HDR.jpg
 
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