Peach Tree Update

When I bought my house last May, I had very little hope for the three peach trees that were in the back yard. They looked half dead, with more braches rotting than growing! But during the winter I cut all the dead wood away. I didn't actually "prune" any live branches because once I had cut away the dead wood there wasn't much of a tree left to cut on! So I mulched with leaves, watered, and waited...

Sure enough, the trees bloomed and small peaches are forming where the petals fell away. At first there were half a dozen fruits trying to grow on every tiny twig. So I pruned most of them, leaving only one peach on each branch. This way maybe the tree will have enough energy to make a few edible peaches instead of working hard to make a bunch a scrawny ones. I haven't gotten a peach yet, but I have high hopes that these trees will live and florish to produce peaches for many season to come!

How Do I Prune Neglected Peach and Pear Trees?

Peach Buds Blooming

Pear Tree in need of attention

Neglected Pear Tree

When we bought the house in Fayetteville, a selling point for me were the five neglected fruit trees out back. I suddenly owned five fruit trees, one pear, one cherry, and three peach trees. I didn't think about the fact that I knew nothing about caring for fruit trees.  I read that the cherry might be just fine with or without my care. Apparently cherries don't need a lot of pruning. So I have done nothing to that old tree.
Ozark pears trees are hearty and live a long time; however, this pear tree is a massive mess of branches all clustered together. All the branches shoot up, few branch out. I am not sure how to approach it. Should I cut most of these clustered branches? I don't want to cut too many. Please leave comments below if you have any ideas.
After a particularly harsh summer, with long droughts and high heat, the peach trees were near death. I gave them water to keep them alive in late summer. I also mulched the soil around them heavily in fall with good topsoil and leaves. I read a few different chapters from various books on pruning fruit trees. Basically, I take it that peaches need lots of pruning, don't live or produce fruit for long, and are not hearty. These poor trees might be a lost cause; nevertheless, I am giving it a shot.

Wire cutters for pruning

Peach Tree after pruning dead wood

Before spring began to make the peach buds blossom, I went out with a pair of dull pruning shears, a saw, and a pair a wire cutters. The wire cutters gave me the cleanest cut. I began by just cutting away the dead wood. The more I cut, the more I realized that just pruning the dead wood was going to cut the peach tree down to size. It seems like the peach tree pruned itself, killing off the wood that needed to go. But now that most of the branches are gone, the peach trees are not in the right shape. Still, if I cut more they won't have any branches left. I really don't know if the peach trees will survive. If they do, I doubt that they will produce fruit. Nevertheless, they are blooming and beautiful right now!

If anyone out there knows any tips about bringing back neglected fruit trees please leave a comment!