Jan van Dijk uses “run through” nursery trees, which are taller, calmer, and have more feathers than the traditional knip trees. He removes any strong upright shoots and laterals that don’t have fruit buds at the tips, and keeps only short feathers that will become fruiting spurs. Joe Nicholson of New York described the orchard as “pear heaven.” Poor returns for apples in recent years have prompted Dutch fruit growers to pull out their apple orchards and replace them with pears. Twenty years ago, the Netherlands had 38,000 acres of apples and only 15,000 acres of pears. Now, it has […]