We’re so rural we don’t have anything but phones and computer—especially when there is no electric.
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Update:
Photo 1: failed 100-46 graft/rootstock’s new sucker.
Photo 2: the ‘wonderful’ graft that took.
Photo 3: fruit on my plain American persimmon, one of four. Keeping my fingers crossed that they survive the June drop season.
Photo 4: experimental espalier American persimmon. As soon as a new bud forms on the right lateral cordon and sends up a shoot, I will cut off the crooked left lateral cordon and form a new more straight lateral cordon from the new growth.
Photo 5: last year’s ‘Early Jewel’ grafted tree. Jujube seen in the background.
What I have not taken a picture of is my new ‘Prok’ which is experiencing some transplant shock. It doesn’t help that we have had such swinging temperatures due to the amount of rainy days mixed with sunny days. I have formed a cage with secured shade cloth to maybe help its transition. Persimmons are tough trees, so I have faith it will survive but not without some pain to its self and the eyes of observers.
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Beautiful trees there!
Off topic, but I think I’m finally going to get my first ‘chico’ jujube fruit this year. Honey jar still hasn’t done anything for me after 4 years or so. The HJ and Chico were planted same tie. The HJ so far just flowers. Shanxi Li is too new, is only in its second year…
Anyhow I’m hoping the Chico fruit stay on the tree so I can taste it.
Any suggestions for another variety(besides Chico, Honey Jar, Shanxi Li) that does well here in the DFW/North or Central Tx would be appreciated.
I had a Sugar Cane at my old property and it was ok…
I started looking through the 3000+ comment thread of “Jujube, our next adventure”, but it seems jujubes vary from climates to climates. So Texans are who I’m really interested to hear from.
As a rule Honey Jar is very precocious and prolific in fruit. There may be a possibility that you were sold an imposter. 
Some jujubes will take years to fruit but HJ is not usually one of them especially when exposed to sun and heat. Shanxi Li seems to take a while. Chico should provide you with fruit about this time frame if 4 years old like the HJ. You said Sugar Cane was just okay. What are you looking for? Honey Jar is sweet and crisp and “juicy” (relative to other jujubes). Chico is more dense and has a really good sweet/sour taste at its prime. Sometimes Chico is not at its prime—the fruits later to ripen are often better and you need to let it get totally brown before eating. But a good Chico is fantastic. Shanxi Li is good but stingy with fruiting. My favorite that does well in my area is SiHong and @Bhawkins who is in Plano(?), similar soil to yours says it does well for him. It is a larger fruit and very dense but very consistent in taste. Orange Beauty is a SiHong offspring, is a bit smaller, a bit of tang as an aftertaste and is a very consistent fruit taste, but it has taken a while to get more productive for me. SiHong was much faster to fruit. Some people like Autumn Beauty. I’ve had one in the ground for 6 years and had very little fruit so far. This may be the first year I get more than 3-4 fruit.
I just can’t see a Honey Jar taking so long to fruit in our climate. Honey Jar is really really good and consistent and rarely late in fruiting.
We can move this conversation to another thread if you like.
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Yeah I’ll do that. Maybe, “Jujubes in Texas”, and I’ll comment there.
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I tasted one of the four persimmon fruits off this non-cultivar native.
The flavor to me tasted like if you took a Cutie™ orange, removed the tartness and the sweetness. It had a mandarin flavor but quite bland.
It’s funny because I’ve only had Asian persimmon thus far, namely the haichiya.
I know that there is a spectrum in regard to the flavor intensity and sweetness of native persimmons, unfortunately this one is fairly mild. So I will probably graft onto this one in the future, but for right now I’m just gonna let it grow because it’s the tallest persimmon tree I have at the moment.
There were three persimmon seeds and two seeds that looked like they weren’t viable in this fruit and not much meat. Still I’m shocked that there were seeds. I have yet to see another persimmon in the field of oaks, elm, and mesquite. My dad said that his parents used to pick persimmon fruit in the Dallas Fort Worth area when he was a child, but most of these have been removed due to urban sprawl and development. He also remembers them being quite sharp in flavor. Not this tree though.
I have three more fruit in the tree, so I’ll try those when they fall. Who knows, maybe they might be better.
That quote sounds like he ate them before being ripe. But you describing it as bland means that yours probably was ripe. I think the flavor most described from really good fruit is caramel like. I did have some last year though that had hints of melon flavor.
I had Saijo ripen first last year and this year. Last year the fruit had seeds. I ate most of them right from the orchard and they were so delicious. This year they do not have seeds and the taste is definitely bland as compared to last year. I’ve heard that pollination makes persimmon flavor so much better and it sure made a difference in the taste of the Saijo fruit.
Btw those seeds look tiny but maybe viable.
I really don’t know. My dad just said my Grand would make jam out of them. But perhaps she added lemon or something to it. Who knows?
Yeah. The seeds don’t look that big from what I’ve seen from other persimmons online, but the fruit was so tiny that most of the insides of the fruit were these seeds.
The second largest tree I have is my H-118(early jewel) that I grafted last year. It looks very healthy, and it is supposed to be precocious. The rootstock has been in the ground for at least 4-5 years. So…Hopefully next year I get some of those and can taste what a good American persimmon tastes like.
In the meantime, I’m just waiting for the haichiya to return to Sprouts for the fall season. I bought several last year and dehydrated them. They were delicious. To me these taste a little like a pear/apricot almost, but very sweet.
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