You all may have see the post HERE about the power company needing us to butcher trim the pear tree behind the outbuildings.
In fact, they needed us to do it and then we had to send pictures so they could clear their file.
Well I did that Saturday...
Here it is before and the line is about the six foot mark.
Let the cutting begin. I used my wonderful pruners, that have telescoping handles to almost four feet. They ratchet-cut, so you open them, close to cut into a branch, open and it clicks a notch, then you close again with more leverage and then you can do it a third time if needed. They work GREAT and cut through very large branches. They made the job easier.
Took me about 30 minutes and here it is after.
Sigh.
We hope it won't be too bad. I even left a few pears on the lower branches, though we're not sure if the tree will jettison those due to shock. The rest of the pears, maybe eight or so, we tossed into the brush to share with the wildlife.
I even put a couple on the ground in front of the trail cam, hoping we might get some good pictures.
But it's at about six feet now (maybe I cheated a bit, seven or so?). I texted pictures to the guy and he said it looked great and he would clear the followup. He did say he wished us luck and hoped it would produce even more pears next year, so that was nice.
I also cut down a trash tree growing on the side of the house and pruned the bushes on the side of the stairs. As long as I was getting hot and sweaty, I figured I might as well accomplish a little more.
I feel so sad for your beautiful pear tree. It was so beautiful. Hoping it will recover and adapt to being kept shorter. It made me think of espaliered fruit trees, which are kept pruned to a certain shape. They are said to produce very well.
ReplyDeleteTake care in this heat.
I know. It's sad to us but we think it will recover. It's proven so resilient all these years. And from what you and others have said and what we've read, it may indeed produce even better. We'll see.
Deletesad to see all them cut off branches laying on the ground but at least you made the power company happy. You may have to prune your tree every year or every other year.
ReplyDeleteI guess pruning a fruit tree is like doing the same what some thing people do to Crape myrtles by cutting the tops down.
Hopefully your tree will continue to produce.
Another hot day; a deg. hotter than yesterday, plus we are now under red flag alert.
Stay safe and stay cool
Yeah I was thinking every other year. Or maybe I should read up on that and find out when is best, ha. Yep hotter today than yesterday and yesterday was hotter than the day before and so on and so on....
DeleteI don’t see any power lines?
ReplyDeleteClick to enlarge and the zoom in. The last picture the lines are right where the end of the arrow stops. I think he sky was too blue, ha.
DeleteJust bear with it and it should be back to producing in a year or two.
ReplyDeletethat's what we are hoping and we have our others as backup.
DeleteI have to laugh at a utility company who thought that tree would EVER interfere with their power lines............good grief...sorry.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. They were just sticking to their "nothing over six feet tall can be within 10 feet of their easement". Sigh. Hey at least we're in compliance now, ha.
Delete