orchard trees rarely look pretty ... they are pruned for production .. not aesthetics ... do whatever you want..

once upon a time.. i had a 5 in 1 pear... started losing varietals soon.. and after just a few years.. i was left with the one variety that never set fruit.. lol ... i pruned it a ground level and applied RU after that ...

i do recall... at grandmas house... there was a 60 foot or better bartlett next door.. at least that is what we guessed it was... and every fall it self dropped those pear shaped rocks back to earth.. with no need to personally harvest them ... so im not sure you need to hand pick them all ...

and i suspect that is the pear that is growing like a weed ... but thats all guessing..

ken

I use an 8' ladder and a 12' picking pole on my tall pear trees. Over the years I have tried to keep the height growth under control but it'll easily get away from me if I'm not vigilant enough. When I do catch a long leader I'll nip it off just above a side sprout so some growth continues on, but in time it out grows me ;-)