Has anyone fruited or grown the Blue/Black fruited Kaki that Cliff England offered a few years ago? I think one was called Huk Kam. I did not take much interest at the time as I viewed them as more a novelty, but curious if anyone has fruited and been impressed with fruit or at least growing the tree
Thanks
I asked Cliff about it a few years back and he said it was just a novelty.
There is also one available in Europe called “kuromigaki” or “kuro kaki”. My good friend who lives close by
has one.
http://exoticplantsbg.com/gb/product/353/japanese-persimmon-kuromigaki.html
http://pflanzenspezl.de/pflanzen/kaki--1/sorten.html
I am growing it, no fruit yet though. It has some dark color in early leaves as well.
I actually bought four Huk Kam Persimmon Blue from England’s Orchard and Nursery
two years ago(2014) located in McKee, KY, Only one of the trees has produce only one single persimmon on it and it was not blue. Three of the trees are healthy but one died . I also bought four Deer Magnet persimmons from this same Nursery and have yet to see any persimmons on these trees. One of these trees also died. The trees when first deliver looked like thin sticks. I had to water the trees constantly every day and provide special fertilizer and nutrients to the trees the first year to make sure they would not die.
Well I actually bought four Huk Kam Persimmon Blue from England’s Orchard and Nursery
two years ago(2014) located in McKee, KY, Only one of the trees has produce only one single persimmon on it and it was not blue. Three of the trees are healthy but one died . I also bought four Deer Magnet persimmons from this same Nursery and have yet to see any persimmons on these trees. One of these trees also died. The trees when first deliver looked like thin sticks. I had to water the trees constantly every day and provide special fertilizer and nutrients to the trees the first year to make sure they would not die.
I’ve also been looking for black/blue fruiting kaki. If anyone has any scion they’d be willing to share this winter please shoot me a message.
Haldog, do you think you could send me a cutting or fruit from one of the wild blue persimmons you find? Maybe go back to where you found that one? I’ve looked for them in Florida, and have only found orange fruits.
I’d be glad to if I ever get back to that property. The wild persimmon season is just about done here, and the property is about a 45 minute drive plus another 1-2 hour walk.
Be careful.
Some of these are native crosses with Diospyros digyna, but others with the deadly Diospyros revoluta.
I don’t that’s going to be an issue. For one thing, both of those species occur in tropical areas, whereas Diospyos virginiana is temperate to subtropical, nor have I ever heard of natural crosses of D. virginiana with either of those species. I would love to be proven wrong, but I don’t think they exist; I know there are chromosomal differences, as well as they are not closely enough related to cross without extra effort (i.e. somatic hybridization or embryo rescue). The blue fruits are natural mutations of D. virginiana and have been documented occasionally within its range.
It sounds like it would be an adventure to get some. If I could convince you to go somehow, I would. Otherwise, I guess I’ll wait. I can’t figure out if there’s a way to pm on this site; I guess not. If you want to contact me offsite and work out a trade of some kind email startortoise(at)gmail dot com.
I have only seen a couple Virginiana that had a bluish Hue and they were some of the most astringent I have ever tasted in a ripened persimmon, and didn’t seem to lose it when even when soft, they were in close proximity to each other so not really much of a statement as I have tasted orange ripe fruit astringent still as well.
