I usually do. Even when I pare the skin off, I’ll usually go back and eat it.
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Any updates on your Chinebuli this year?
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Good deal. Did your tree become more productive this year? I’m not harvesting my PCNA until their leaves start to fall even though some are already orange.
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It’s getting better, I just took one to sample
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My one Chinebuli. Kelby, your tree might be one of the few mature ones out there now. Cliff’s catalogue lists his tree as having died.
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I’ve always been skeptical of the claim that Chinebuli is especially hardy. It seemed way more likely that the tree got lucky (e.g., covered in snow during the cold wave).
Do we know why it died? Most likely scenario would be cold damage but it would be useful to confirm.
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@PharmerDrewee I think I got it the first year he had them for sale, so possibly?
@jrd51 I’m in a pretty mild zone 6, maybe below zero a night or two per winter if at all. Cliff has had health problems, could have been neglect that killed it? Hard to say.
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@ampersand He did not have Chinebuli trees or scions available for a few years perhaps due to demand. I ended up establishing other nonastringent selections that others may have overlooked in his catalogue that have done really well.
You are right about the frequency of really cold nights being uncommon here, which probably heavily contributes to success in growing Asian persimmons. Several locals are offering nonastringent fruit on Facebook marketplace right now.
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Chinebuli at Cliff’s might have died in the LATE spring freeze of 2007, I lost my well established Rosseyanka and Cliff told me he lost 3 out of 4 all growing near each other. Roger Meyer lost trees also that odd, late, hard freeze.
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More likely it was the Polar Vortex that hit May 9th, 2020, although health issues may have prevented Cliff from saving damaged trees.
The late freeze in April 2007 was the worst ever recorded in middle TN. It killed nearly everything I had to the ground, EXCEPT for the kaki persimmons and Rosseyanka, grafted on local wild persimmon. They were not tricked by the early warmth, and were still completely dormant and unfazed. However, I think a freeze in May would have done them in for sure.
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2007 freeze picked and chose what it killed here in eastern KS. My Rosseyanka wasn’t budded out yet, but the buds opened and died from the top down to the graft. All japanese maples in town never leafed out/dead, except 1 obscure, lacinated cultivar.
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Apparently Cliff England has replaced his Chinebuli , I received two sticks of budwood early this year. Invoice is dated 20-Jan- 2023, not sure when it actually shipped.
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I now need to update.
I emailed the Englands a couple of days ago to pre order a few items. They now report the Chinebuli “DEAD”
Someone mentioned that Chinebuli was the same as Izu a while back.
Tony
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Really curious about this because I, as an insane person, am trying to figure out if I can grow a non-astringent persimmon in zone 5b by reeeeallly picking out my microclimate.
Only if your microclimate includes a well insulated unheated space to store it in the winter and ample GDD.
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If you don’t have a lot of heat units, even PCNA varieties will have residual astringency.
I let my non astringent varieties go soft and then they taste very good.
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Forget cold hardiness. No non-astringent persimmon will survive a typical Z5B winter. Instead, pick the earliest ripening variety you can find. Grow it in a pot and store it indoors for the winter, as recommended. Then as noted, you’ll need enough warmth (GDD) over an extended growing season, which you might manage by selecting a great microclimate or, better yet, by creating a greenhouse.
Your biggest challenge, I think, would be managing any late spring / early autumn frosts. If your great micro climate wakes up your trees in April but then there’s a severe frost in May, your tree will probably die. The same tree that survives 0-5 F when fully dormant in February may be killed by 20-25 F when actively growing in May.
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Yeah I think this is likely going to be an issue whatever I’m growing, given the climate instability and wild swings (this past spring, in NH, we had 60+F in April and a frost in May…).
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