VEGETATIVE GROWTH CONTROL OF PEAR TREES WITH PACLOBUTRAZOL

During 1982–84 we studied the effect of paclobutrazol ('Cultar') on the growth and cropping of Beurré Hardy/quince and Beurré Bosc/ seedling planted in Spring 1979 at densities of 2 500 trees/ha. Trees were sprayed with 1000 ppm either once at one month, or twice at one and two months after full bloom. On Beurré Hardy two sprays in the 4th year after planting reduced the amount of wood removed by winter pruning over a three year period by over 50%. On Beurré Bosc a similar reduction was obtained by spraying twice in two consecutive years. Labour costs for pruning were reduced proportionally and, in addition, there was a saving on labour and fuel involved in removing prunings from the orchard (Table 1). Fruit yield and quality were not affected (Fig.1).

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Figure 1 - The influence of paclobutrazol ('Cultar') treatments on the yield and mean fruit weight of two pear varieties.