Also, if the pear trees make too much vegetative growth, reduce the rate of fertilization for the next year. Shoot growth on bearing pear trees should average 8 to 12 inches annually. As the tree matures, most of the fruit is produced on the scaffold branches. These spurs have a productive life of about 10 years. Pruning should be done to remove about 10 percent of these terminal spurs every year.
Asian pears are often hand-thinned twice during the early growing season.
The home grower may choose to thin only once. This should be done 14 to 40 days after petal fall. One fruitlet should be left on every other spur cluster or about 6 inches between fruits. A limiting factor to good fruit production with Asian pears is that it sets too many fruit. Heavy fruit thinning is essential to encourage large fruit and prevent limb breakage.