Are Bradford Pear Trees Weakened When You Cut the Limbs Back?

Description

• “Bradford” trees grow to up to 40 feet high and from 30 to 45 feet high on multiple trunks, yielding a spectacular display of white blossoms in spring and equally grand autumn color that ranges from dark maroon to orange and red. Unfortunately, “Bradford” crowns are formed from numerous vertical limbs packed closely on their trunks. As the crowded branches get larger, they're unable to grow enough at the trunk to support their increased size. Ice, snow and wind and the sheer weight of mature branches can cause them to split from the trunk and fall off.

Pruning

• You can prevent some of the problems of mature “Bradford” trees by pruning them when they’re young to develop a robust central trunk. To do this, select the strongest or tallest of the multiple stems of a young tree to be your central trunk and shorten the other stems by half. Pencil-thin twigs on young trees grow an inch a year. If you let them grow close together as branches, they’ll join weakly on the trunk. To prevent this, prune the weaker of any two branches that sprout within 15 inches of each other on the central trunk. Remove smaller branches within 6 inches of a larger branch or that rub against a larger branch. Horizontal branches have more support at the trunk, so prune all branches that do not grow at more than a 45-degree angle from the trunk. The drawback is you should likely have a professional do the pruning, and you’ll be able to see large parts of the lower trunks, detracting from the attractiveness of the tree.

Removing Mature Trees

• When “Bradford” trees are old enough that their branches begin to split at the trunks, University of North Carolina arborists recommend felling them with a chain saw then treating the outer 2 inches of the stump with a 53.8 percent solution of herbicide containing glysophate. Treat the entire surface of cut saplings.

Invasive Nature

• “Bradford” pears will grow in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 5A through 9A, but they can be invasive, especially in urban areas. “Bradfords” are hybrids originally developed as thornless, sterile ornamental trees. However, they cross-pollinate with other decorative calleryana cultivars, yielding a small brown fruit that birds love. The birds spread the seeds, resulting in thorny thickets of wild hybrid trees.