Just Ate my 1st Persimmon: I'm Hooked!

I just had my first Fuyu… holy crap, that was good! I’m wondering what the next step is, haha.

I’m growing Miss Kim, Rosseyanka & Nikita’s Gift, which are all astringent, so I was thinking about adding a Jiro Fuyu per someone’s advice for a non-astringent type. It’s also hardy here in Zone 7, which is a big concern of mine. I’ve also heard good things about Tam Kam, Cinebuli & Matsumoto Wase Fuyu.

I need your help! What other hardy non-astringent or astringent types should I add? Is there enough variety in terms of taste between persimmons like there is with Pomegranates & Figs? Is Coffee Cake & Chocolate really all that different in terms of taste from the others? Should I add an american variety like Meader or Prok? Is there a variety recommended for drying? What about a variety that earlier than the rest?

I’m not sure how different all these would be in terms of taste.

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I like American persimmons a lot, I’ve only had wild ones so far but hopefully my grafted trees will bear soon. I’ve heard the best things about Prok and Lehman’s Delight.

Are you zone 7 over there by Philly? Supposedly Tam Kam and Chinebuli are the hardiest NA kaki persimmons. I’m growing both, neither have fruited yet but went through last winter without a problem. Izu hasn’t been damaged by cold either, no fruit yet. IKKJ keeps getting taken out by deer. I don’t think Chocolate and Coffee Cake are reliably hardy enough north of zone 8, could be wrong though.

I just got off the phone with the guy at England’s Nursery. He said Barbra’s Blush is his all around best American variety.

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I’m near you, in 6b. I have Hana Fuyu growing in a slightly sheltered spot and Ichi Ki Kei Jiro out in the open. Both have survived two winters so far. Coffee Cake and Chocolate probably won’t survive unless you’re willing to baby them a lot.

I haven’t been able to sample any yet, but most people say that the NA persimmons all taste pretty much the same.

Add an American variety for sure. Those have a very unique taste.

I just wanted to comment on how fun it is to see someone try something for the first time, and then fall so in love with it and get so fired up that you immediately start planning on how you can get more and better versions of what you’ve just tasted! I think all of us have had that experience. I know that for me, it happened for almost every single fruit I tasted the first year or two after my trees started to produce fruit. What all I’d ever had was store bought fruit, every time I tasted one of my home-grown, tree ripened fruits I’d rush on here (well, it was garden wed/houzz back then) and ask the same things you are asking now… (What other varieties should I plant, etc). SO its fun seeing you fall in love with persimmons! I hope your love continues to grow! Isn’t fruit growing fun!!!

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It’s great you enjoyed them so much. Prior to seeing this thread I just posted in the today’s fruit thread that I just find them to be boring and too sweet. To me I pick up a nutty chestnut like flavor that’s just overly sweet. I tested brix in the ones I ate the last few days and they were 20. Buy I guess having zero acid at all to cut the sweet makes 20 brix taste like 30.

Ross, I know this is blasphemy but persimmons are my absolute favorite fruit… I like them even more than figs!

Unfortunately you can’t just root them like figs, but if you are interested in any scion for grafting in the future, let me know. I have a decent variety of cultivars and my list is always growing!

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I can overwinter them with my figs! Does Coffee Cake or Chocolate taste different enough to warrant that?

Yeah, Kelby! We rarely if ever reach 0 degrees.

Hahaah, yup! That’s me in a nutshell right now.

Seedling Persimmon rootstocks… could that make my Persimmon potentially less precocious?

Well, you can’t get them any other way.

I see. So that’s what D. Virginiana and Lotus are? Seedlings?

Yup. Persimmons don’t root from cuttings or anything like that. I think Tony managed an air layer, but it wasn’t easy. Some think D virginiana may be hardier than Lotus, but there isn’t any real research. I use virginiana myself…the fact I can collect wild fruit and grow the seed is an added advantage.

Speed,

This is how I enjoy a perfectly ripened Hachiya. Oh so sweet and good.

Tony

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Going to visit family. I don’t think many of them have tasted kaki
before wondering if I can get my almost 95 year dad on the farm to try
one. I know they have never tasted Che or hardy Kiwi not in the pic.
Think I had from 7 different trees today most very similar non
astringents

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My kaki fruits are still unripe and i must wait more than one month and then they should be ready for pick and store.
I have unknown variety astringent persimmon tree.

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@strudeldog,
Great display of unusual fruits!

Hey, it’s me, your long lost cousin.

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@ross , check out the 2nd post on Tim Clymer’s website, a short publication on Persimmons in Maryland. Good info in there.

http://www.threefoldfarm.org