What’s your favorite american persimmon or hybrid? Also, why don’t more people include polls? This seems like a great way to summarize a recommended cultivar! Also, are there any you would not recommend for any reason?
This is my all time favorite:
H-118 / Early Jewel / Prairie Star
Elmo (A118)
H63a
Nikita’s Gift
Meader
Prok
Dollywood
Golden Supreme
Barbara’s Blush
Kassandra
0voters
I would not recommend:
H-118 / Early Jewel / Prairie Star
Elmo (A118)
H63a
Nikita’s Gift
Meader
Prok
Dollywood
Golden Supreme
Barbara’s Blush
Kassandra
0voters
Personally, I prefer crunchier persimmons, so I plan to plant an asian persimmon and graft a few branches of the winner of this poll . Yes, I will use an interstem if an american beats a hybrid!
I can’t vote yet because I have not tasted any of those but I do have NG and Saijo in the ground (young trees) and will be trying out grafting to get Prok, Early Jewell, I-115 and Dollywood.
I have tried purchased fuyu and hachiya from the grocery store and neither inspired me to grow my own.
Ironically, the ones that I can find at the grocery store also seem to be the ones the people are growing locally so for me I made sure to get things that are not available locally, to round out local availability for everyone.
I like the asian persimmons from my grocery store. When they are $2/lb, we buy 20lbs and eat them for in a matter of a few weeks. However, they aren’t remarkable in flavor- just that we love persimmons.
I’ve tasted only 3 of the Americans and 1 of the hybrids on the list plus JT-02, a hybrid not on the list. So I won’t vote. FWIW, I like the hybrid Kasandra better than the Americans – Barbra’s Blush, H63A, Dollywood.
The problem with this particular poll is that I like more than one of your all-time favorites.
Also, I have several varieties I would not recommend. But these are not to be taken seriously by anyone. My climate is not particularly suitable for growing late varieties of persimmons.
In general, I like text more than simple polls. Text gives context. Polls are simplistic, and don’t take into consideration several things - who is providing the feedback, what criteria did they use, what is their micro-climate, how credible is the information they provide - the more experienced growers have more credibility IMO. There is also not much feedback - In a text based response, you can ask specific questions to the person providing the feedback.
Favorite can be based on numerous criteria - taste, productivity, time of ripening relative to others in the orchard, vigor etc. Taste alone is a very narrow way to select.
I agree! I like to read these forums specifically because of the nuance that a poll can’t capture. For example, if you’ve only tried one persimmon, that ones your favorite! However, these forums can also get very long and only one person may have tried a rare variety and their comment gets lost in the waves of people who recommend the standard varieties. So why not both A summary poll at the top and then the comments for the details!
For favorite, you’re also right that for some people the favorite may be a favorite tasting variety that only produced one persimmon after 10 years, while another person may go for prolificity + taste, and another goes for texture, etc. Ideally, we’d have a long survey for every variety but that’s too much to ask without giving away a $5 gift card
Almost like you need them rated for: flavor, peculiarity, texture, edible period(period of time you can eat without being tannic or rotten), shelf life, production, visual appeal, vigor, tree shape, etc.
This was my first year with persimmons: Prok, JT-02, and Miss Kim. I thought that Prok was the best, with a “orange creamsicle” flavor. The others were good, but a step below Prok in my perspective. They were just sweet, with no other flavors. Again, this was the first year that my trees yielded, so my sample size is small.
I haven’t tried many of those, & the ‘Prok’s I have tried didn’t ripen well (I’m currently counting that as a strike against growing them in the mid-Atlantic). But why didn’t ‘Yates’ make the list? They’re definitely huge & delicious IME.
The ‘Nikita’s Gift’ I tried was also great. Almost as complex a flavor as an American, but much bigger. I hear the trees stay small & prematurely drop fruits for several years tho.
Also, what is the point of an “interstem” on Persimmons? If you’re buying an Asian variety, it’s probably already been grafted onto D. virginiana rootstock. Speaking of which, ‘Fuyu’ & other commercial varieties are also MUCH better when picked from your own tree, instead of weeks in advance like the insipid or bland ones sold in stores.
Yates didn’t make the list since I forgot As ramv mentioned, I would need it if I want to graft onto an asian branch (but you’re right I wouldn’t need it if I graft direct to the rootstock)
I live about an hours drive from England’s Orchard and Nursery. I’m 84 , and its a blessing bestowed on me, in my dotage. I’m such a common visitor, that when Cliff sees me coming, I’m suspicious he orders his lovely wife, Kum Hui to serve me homemade cinnamon rolls to fill me up before I attack his orchard, thinking I will eat less persimmons. It doesn’t work!
This years hybrid discoveries, off the beaten path (Kassandra, Nikita’s Gift, etc), are MP-3, Huma and UKR 15-9 (red shade with strawberry undertones), and row 8, behind his house, Rossy male Saijo hybrid, are beyond criticism. And Succulent, 13.3 ? my notes are confusing.
I formed the personal opinion, this year, that the hybrids surpass the Americans, in taste.
So in my personal garden orchard , I’ve added Sosnovskaya, Nikita 4, Dar Sophia, and Chuchupaka.
I can still kick myself for not going over in blustery November, as he said some trees were still hanging full. Photographs showed the slightly shriveled fruit at their best. Oh, well, next year!
I’ve learned to trust Cliff in that he grafts what we need.
. Yes, I will use an interstem if an american beats a hybrid!
I should’ve added an “other” category!
A summary poll at the top and then the comments for the details!