Scott, I went back and looked at the tree after reading your post. I agree it may be too extreme to remove one of the two main trunks. There's definitely one pair of limbs that are growing in the same direction in close proximity to each other. In photo 1 these are the two that come up nearly vertical and then veer off to the left a little bit. I think it makes the most sense to remove the lower of two i.e. the one coming from the trunk with the red cloth. I don't see another pair that are close to each other though. Could you describe which other pair you are referring to?

If you are going to get the Shinko, a good pollinator is Shinseiki. They bloom at the same time in my yard and my son-in-law's yard (both Houston). The shinko is good as long as you don't get too much rain near ripening. They will be bland with the rain.....dry periods good. Shinseiki is better in my opinion, but it needs a pollinator. Shinko fruits without a pollinator, but much more fruit with a pollinator. Shinko does get blight....I lost mine after about 8 years due to blight....it was bad that year. I replaced my shinko with Tennosui. First time fruiting last year. Was not impressed with fruit. Mine were not crisp and low flavor. Tree may still be too young. I prefer crisp pears and my favorite is Southern Queen, sweet, flavorful and crisp. I may replace my Tennosui with it's sister, Southern King if the fruit don't improve. The Akers (acres) Home pear is very good. It is excellent flavor and sweetness after a week or two off the tree. No problems with blight, but it does have rot problems. You may have to spray.....don't know about San Antone. I think the rot problem may be why it is not pushed much anymore here, but it is excellent. I pulled mine due to rot and it is a melting pear and I like crisp.

kirsten: Yes, those could be tiny little fruits, and I don't know how they were pollinated. But that's not the important issue. Cut them off, now. A newly-planted tree should not be allowed to try to grow fruit. They will probably fall off anyway, but if you want your little tree to be healthy and vigorous for the future you should take them off immediately. Next season, if the tree grows well, you might allow it to keep a half-dozen fruits, with none of them in the same blossom cluster. Clusters of Asian pears should always be thinned to one fruit per cluster (and in fact thinned a lot more than that when they grow up) because these fruits become quite large and heavy. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

re: Prune off where live banch and dead meet...now (April) or When? Thanks!