You don't necessarily need to prune all the shoots going straight.....some can be left if they are not crowding a space with other branches.

Of those you prune, some pruning can be done months from now in the summer time. In fact, winter pruning is over-rated and summer pruning is under-rated for backyard trees. The best way to reduce "suckering" or "watersprouts" or upright growth is by summer pruning.

My pruning experience is limited, but much of it comes from trying to keep vigorous pears under control. So take this "FWIW".

I agree with Donnieappleseed that summer pruning is likely to be your best choice with this tree, to help reduce the vigor. Don (Jellyman) writes well on this subject, as do many others. (Don might also suggest gradually switching the tree over to a vase, but I'll let him speak for himself.)

If you do keep it as a central leader I'd suggest that if you get multiple tops trying to form, as often happens with pears, you remove the most vigorous and leave the single smallest. Should be able to keep the tree to its present size without too much work.

Pears seem to love putting up vertical growth, so a lot of the work on my tree is to train branches to a better angle, not just at the crotch but out on the scaffold branches.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, marknmnt.....I was wondering if Don (Jellyman) was still around.....as his interest in bagging apples was a big part of why I came back to this forum last week.....I wanted to glean his knowledge, but I see there are tons of other people with expertise on this forum as well and I think I'll start to pay attention.

As to pruning, if "dirtslingr2" is still following this thread, I would suggest that some of his "drooping" limbs could be headed back to a more upright limb, but probably he has already done enough pruning this winter already and he should do that at another time.

And a final note to those who are new at it: not every upright limb or one-year old shoot is bad.....some can be let go and some can be bent down carefully through the use of clothespins, wire and garden hoses, etc.....but that is really another thread in itself.

You don't want to encourage too much weep in a young tree. Prune to upward shoots. Fruit close to the ground will lack quality so remove branches that will touch ground when weighted with fruit. Sort out your pencils, (the thin, less vigorous upward shoots) so there's maybe one every foot or so along the branch. This is where your renewal wood comes from. It will replace your weeping spur wood in 1 or 2 years. You'll remove that old wood when adequate flowers form on new wood.

This year, thin your fruit! Don would be dissappointed if you allow more than one pear per 8".