Had a blast. The pictures are labeled really well. A few comments I do have is ‘Geneva Red’ when ripe is astringent. Rosseyanka and Nikita’s Gift persimmons were done for the year. Jerry has an open-pollinated Nikita’s Gift that is very good, however. You’ll see photos below of it.
Flavor and more I’ll add later. What I can say is 100-46, 100-45, 100-43, 100-42 are all large and excellent. And, for me Claypool’s H63A may have been the best. It’s a more complex flavor than any of the 100-series. His ‘Prok’ were small and lest tasty than the Prok I sampled last week at Red Fern Farm. Any number of reasons could be attributed to this as any crop is subject to some variance from one year to the next.
Dax
Left to Right: Gary Fernald (my best buddy) then Jerry Lehman then me, Dax Herbst:
This may concern all trees but looking at these pictures, the persimmons look to be 50 feet tall. I think Tony said he keeps his 8 feet tall. That is a big difference. Will persimmons eventually reach those tall heights or is it possible to keep them shorter? The reason I ask is I wanted to purchase and plant some under a power line. If they get 30 feet tall they will hit the line.
I am glad that you had the chance to talk and meet with Jerry personally because there are not many American persimmons breeder left out there. He carried on the torch for his teacher Mr. Claypool. His orchard looked amazing.
@growjimgrow you’re welcome. I like to do these things and meet these interesting people and see their life’s work. And I like to know what I’m grafting. You’re all welcome.
@SMC_zone6 Jerry spaces for an orchard. I know his pawpaws are on 5’ centers. I would say most of his persimmons are on 8’ centers. That never came up during conversation.
@tonyOmahaz5 thanks for answering Jim’s question. I know you would have really had a great time had you gone with us. Same with Steven. @SMC_zone6/Steven is hybridizing persimmons. I’m going to get as many grafted persimmons in his hands as possible.
@BG1977 All these are American persimmons. The exception is x Nikita’s Gift . I’m answering your question from the previous thread of ‘Prok and Yates’ that Tony posted. @Stan (also) yes, The photo above describes the cross. It is a seedling and it is of a true ‘Nikita’s Gift’. Therefore it’s an F2 Nikita’s Gift. Open pollinated so Jerry doesn’t know if American pollinated it or if Rosseyanka pollinated it. I tried to get as much information about it and there is no more. I couldn’t even tell you from which Nikita’s Gift Jerry grew it from. And I don’t know how many he may have either. And whether it’s closest pollinator (in bloom sequence) or simply nearest trees are American or Rosseyanka. Really the only thing I can tell everyone is that scionwood is available upon request.
Hi Stan I haven’t forgotten your question. I had them in a cooler with ice to bring them home. And the moment I got home I photographed them. The persimmons that aren’t ‘mushy-ish’ looking aren’t ripe. Look at Claypool’s H63A and the far left one has not ripened yet for eating. Same with Pfiffer the third far right. Those need to soften to look like the others in those photos.
As long as a persimmon is turning orange on the tree it may be harvested to ripen on the counter. Otherwise a green persimmon will not ripen. Let me add (edit) that a persimmon that is very soft on the tree is virtually perfect. The mushier they get the sweeter they are and if you look on the ground every day or every other day for those that have fallen they fall into this category. When they get mushy-looking like snot they are still extremely excellent. If you look at Tony’s recent picture of (2) Prok on his counter with a split on the skin of each, that’s the perfect picker off a tree (or) the ground. Some people may like them in a mushy state more.
Jerry’s operation is to allow the fruit to drop onto straw beneath the trees. When I or Tony or anyone with persimmons eat them we eat them off the ground as often as picking them. You see above the ‘Geneva Red’ has black skin. That’s not a problem at all. The more ripe the sweeter they are. Black spots all over them; all that mush. Fabulous tasting.
I would recommend that unless you’re in a true zone 7a maybe even 7b that you stick with Nikita’s Gift and Rosseyanka and American persimmon varieites. Zone 6b winters will kill any Asian’s from what I’ve heard.
@tonyOmahaz5,
The Nikita’s gift I saw in Kansas a week ago are huge but they are not ripe yet. They still need a lot more time. Color has not even began to change. They grafted them to the tips of branches of an American persimmon. Our winters have been milder lately so perhaps we can get away with more but even at that we are only zone 6 A here.
It’s excellent. Top of the line of the 100 series.
For commercial purposes it’s probably the best of all persimmons… It’s size and precociousness (bears probably 9/10 in the second year when bark grafted onto a decent size & established seedling) make it thee choice for commercial growers.
