Anyone grow American or hybrid persimmons in Texas and would like to share your results, experience, and or challenges?
I live in the DFW metroplex. So far I only have grafted an ‘Early Jewel’, no fruit yet. I’ve never even tasted an American before, but I love the look of the fruit and trees. I do know that I did not enjoy the taste of the ‘Fuyu’ oriental persimmon, of course that is not an American nor hybrid… I have also added two more rootstocks to my property to graft onto next spring.
Im still considering some options below:
American- maybe a ‘Lehman’s Delight’, ‘Yates, or ‘Dollywood’
Hybrid- maybe a Jt02(mikkusu), ‘Kasandra’, or ‘Rosseyanka’.
This was my very first ever graft I did last april(2023) of early jewel.
I originally planted a ‘Saijo’ Asian persimmon a few years ago. However, it died back to the ground. The native rootstock came up from the ground from the roots the following year. This is what I grafted an ‘early jewel’ onto. It’s probably not a great location for long term because it it closer to my drive way than I would prefer, but I’ll deal with that problem years from now.
The American persimmons are way better IMO. I’d get varieties that spread the harvest. You can’t go wrong with persimmon, it’s the easiest fruit you can grow.
That is what I was thinking; I need a middle and a late season persimmon. I would also like one to be a hybrid, only so that it will hang on to its fruits going into winter.
Do you happen to know much about ‘Lehman’s Delight’ and whether that American persimmon cultivar is middle or late ripening here in Texas? That is the next cultivar I was leaning to, but I can’t seem to find a definitive answer on the internet.
Also, I would love to here about the varieties and cultivars you have, if you currently grow them.
If you want to know when something ripens it’s easiest to search it on here and see when people are posting pics of it. As a side note I’m not in Texas.
I have several Virginia persimmons I grew from seed. One has set fruit for the first time this year. If they follow the pattern of the tree the seed came from they will ripen and fall from the tree in about late October in South Texas. I have fuyus and don’t like them either.
I’m not in Texas either, but for relative ripening of Lehman’s Delight (100-46) I can tell you that my LD are still pretty solid green, while my Prok are about half harvested and eaten. Prok is usually considered early, so LD is definitely later.
Close to 10 years. I am impressed with their hardiness. They have endured from low teens to low 100s and very little water for extended periods and done very well.
Our winters only dip into the teens for a couple days in the winter. Our winter is rather mild and we do swing from 60* down to the low 20* most of the time in our winter season. But we do go over 100 frequently in the summer. This year we had 50 days at or over 100, but it was an extreme year here.
Luckily I know for a fact that we have native persimmons in my location(seen them fruiting), so I know DV grafted varieties should be able to thrive here. I just don’t know about the ripening tune since I’ve read ripening is dependent on heat units and we get a lot of those. That is why I am looking for what people consider late up north. It might end up being mid to late-mid down here. I guess we will find out one way or another.
I’m defiantly going to try and get a 100-46 this spring to graft.
I have wild DV growing behind my house in a utility right of way on the NE side of Houston. I’m going to graft some of them over next spring. I have some astringent Asians in my yard that I’m going to use, but also plan on JT-02 & NG &/or Rosseyanka as long as I can get scions
The JT-02 sounds great due to it supposedly being precocious, but I’ve heard some conflicting info on Rosseyanka’s regarding how long it takes to produce. Some have said it is one of the few that take longer. However, with an older established DV(larger root system)it will probably take less time to come into fruit production. So that’s cool that you have an established DV ready to go.
The Rosseyanka sure does looks like a beautiful specimen though and thus I have it on my my wishlist too. One day!
I look forward to seeing which scions you decide on or are able to get and your graft results.
NG aka Nikita Drop is a dwarf tree from what I’ve seen, which is favorable in a lot of urban environments. Rosseyanka on the other hand is a large tree…not sure about JT-02. Also planning on Rojo Brillante…I’m a sucker for anything with even a hint of vanilla. Time is a factor, but with any cultivar you are cutting years off the natural process. I know (well hope I’m still alive lol) I’ll be in my current house for a least another 4yrs, so I have time. If trees don’t produce or I don’t like the fruit then I’ll know what to do when I have more space when I move. Just kinda watching the market for now, but looking for 50-100acres for a retirement spot between Houston & DFW…COVID really did a number on the market and now the economy is up in the air
Just now finding this thread. I have a few hybrids that have not fruited yet, some Americans and lots of Asians. Most of mine are astringent Asians and some are quite good and stand, for the most part, the winter weather. I lost a few in the vortex of 2021 but most of those were the non astringent Asian varieties. Saijo is ripening for me right now and it is absolutely delicious. I’m just north of Athens, Texas.
I have several Asians that are fruiting for the first time this year. Saijo is one that is almost gone but so far my favorite taste. Eureka I’ve had for several years but it took a hit in winter 2021 and has come back. It has fruit this year but. It ripe yet. I use the unripe but deeply colored fruit and slice it for the dehydrator. It removes the astringency and it eats like candy. Miss Kim is in its second year of fruiting and is just starting to ripen. It’s not as large as eureka but very sweet with a flavor that is reminiscent of melon (at least here anyway). Giombo has first time fruits that are still hard and Sheng has lots of fruits in its first year to fruit. Tecumseh is usually the last to ripen and I don’t think the quality of the fruit is as good as some of the others but still good. Chinebuli did not fruit this year but did last year. I have one called Pen that hasn’t fruited and Wase Fuyu that has not fruited but lived through the cold weather. I also have Tam Kam that fruited in 2020, 2022, and this year. It’s a good non astringent that makes big fruit that hang beautifully into late November/December. If you need scion for grafting just let me know. None of my Americans or hybrids have fruited yet. I’ve lost a couple of young Americans and hybrids in the drought this last summer.
Oh yes this last summer was brutal for sure. Sorry you lost a fee ‘simmon seedlings. Hopefully this coming year won’t be as extreme. I love that you have so many varieties. I had to look up ‘sheng’; I don’t think I’ve heard of that one but it sounds interesting.
And thanks, I might take you up on the scion offer.
I’m hoping to get two American scions from England come spring: ‘Lehman’s Delight’ and ‘wonderful’. I haven’t heard of many growing ‘wonderful’ and thought I’ll give it a go.
I’ve heard Wonderful is pretty good. I have Lehman’s Delight. It’s taken a while to get going but I think I’ll see some good growth this year if we get rain. Hogs almost killed it last year. I’m going to have to see what is still alive. It was really hard keeping everything going. Even persimmons and jujubes need water sometimes. I sweated a lot trying to make it happen and the water company called me wanting to know what I was doing! We need a better summer next year.
We’re between Gonzales and Victoria. Pretty far South. We have fuyus, seedling Virginia and seedling Texas persimmons. The fuyus are about 10 yrs in the ground and have been fruiting for several years. Every year the possums get them before we do. The Virginias are about 7 yrs in ground and one made fruit for the first time this year. The Texas persimmons are the oldest of all and I have males and females that bloom, but no fruit yet. I like the idea of dehydrating them. The fuyus are pretty tasteless right off the tree.
