Hi Dan, I just tasted my first 20th Century fruit today and it was just outstanding . . . juicy, sweet, great texture. And the Hosui I have been harvesting the past 2 weeks have been really nice. I don't know why I don't see more neighbors in my area with Asian pears! Both trees are semi-dwarf, and the main branch was cut off about 3-4 inches below a 6 foot wrought iron fence, with the lateral branches tied horizontally. Both trees were planted in late September 2011, and both have been very fruitful this summer, only 1 1/2 years later. No disease, no fruit cracking, and knock on wood no fireblight!

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.

Hi. I saw your post as I was looking over the forum. Can I ask how old is your pear tree? How old are the fruiting branches of your pear tree? I have read that with Asian pears, you have to prune old branches off to allow new branches to grow because fruits from old branches are very small and of poor quality. Fruting branches of 2-4 years old form the best and largest fruits.

I was interested in it also and got some scions and grafted to rootstalk just this year. So this is not my personal experience, but a conclusions from reading: It will fruit quite young, so you can try it in 3 years from now, unlike most peoples experience with Euro pears. The 20th may even try to fruit next year, but best to pick off the flowers and take the energy in tree development. Eating: basically it has the physicals of an apple with pear flavor. But not the blow you away flavor of a good Euro pear picked at the right time. You cannot combine Euro & Asian pears on the same tree by grafting, but they are fine with each others pollen. If you don't have a peach tree you should get one instead of a pear. but if you have enough on peaches 20th is worth planting. You know, I'm starting to think myself out of this luke warm endorsement of 20th. There are some euro pears that bear fruit at a young age, and much better flavor. I got 3 different ones from Cummins nursury, I can't think of any of the names right now, but if you can wait until next spring call them and discuss