Hao River aka Jian Shi starting to ripen for me. Last year was 1st
year to fruit and only a couple and it took a huge step up in quality
this year excellent tasting nice sized fruit. Not many other fruit
besides persimmon will produce such a attractive blemish free fruit with
no spray and no water, no fertilizer during a very dry year. And in
abundance.
Strudel,
Where did you get yours from? How cold hardy?
From Just Fruits and Exotics. They list it to zone 6. For me so far been hardy has seen a short period at 0 F. 2 winters ago when fully dormant here, in late Spring like most Kaki it would likley be injured at a higher temp. It’s fairly early season as well.
Phil,
Nice harvest on the Hao River Kaki. Did you plant any Fire Crystal Kaki? I have to rely on store bought Hachiya here because Hao River or Hachiya won’t be hardy enough for Z5.
Tony
It is out of stock at JF&E. I am on its wait list. It probably will do OK in my zone 6a.
Does it need cross pollination?
Tony, No I have not planted Fire Crystal yet. I did taste it when I was at JF&E last fall, or maybe the year before. It was nice as well. I am not sure they have a Hao River in ground there, If they do It has not been ripe when I was there. This has been more Hardy than Hachiya for me. I have lost 2 Hachiya for me it is one of the least hardy Kaki. I still have a High graft Hachiya on a woodland edge native tree, but it’s not in a good fruiting location.
Mamuang, It does not need cross pollination, very few if any Kaki actually need cross pollination to set fruit, at least the commercially available one I should state don’t need it that I am aware of. Some cultivar’s fruit quality is changed when pollinated however. I know One Green World lists Hao River as well. Do you graft?
I do graft. I have a Nikita’s Gift. I grafted Saijo and Tam Kam on NG. Saijo took but Tam Kam did not, unfortunately.
If you want to try and graft Hao River remind me around Jan, and if you want to try Tam Kam again I will likely have it as well
Thank you very much. Will contact you in Jan.
Strudel,
I just ordered Hao River from BurntRidge. I was checking their jujubes and found Hao River persimmon. I ordered more trees than I intended, again.
Thank you again for your offer re.scionwood. I am also interested in the figs you recently posted 
Hao River from Burntridge arrived today. To my surprise, it was potted and a very small tree (1 ft tall). At this size, not sure how long it will take to grow to fruit.
The tall treenext to it is So jujube.
@mamuang How did the Hao River do for you? I just bought one yesterday from a local grower and was just curious about your experience with it in the Northeast.
It was dead before it could grow. It leafed out but did not thrive and died. I put it in pot. (I am not good at growing thing in pots). It died before it had a chance to grow. However, I have learned after I bought it that it is not hardy for my zone 6 a anyway.
I asked for a replacement and got a Massadra jujube. Love it. Grow well.
You should look into jujubes, too. Persimmons, you have to choose well. Many esp. non astringent and hybrid are not as cold tolerant as American. Your zone is a bit warmer. You may get by with more choices. Choose well.
That’s unfortunate to hear. It would have been nice to see if it would do. I actually up-potted mine to try to let it get bigger before going in ground fingers crossed. I am planting several persimmons this year just to see which varieties do well. Some were planted on the south side of my house to shield them from winter winds. The figs there manage to keep most of their branches every year, so I’m hopeful. Some others went into some sheltered but also some exposed locations.
I did plant some jujubes (honey jar, li, black sea) after reading about their virtues! The owner of a nearby Asian grocery store told me there are local people who grow big enough crops to sell in the fall, so they can definitely do well in my climate.
I tagged @SMC_zone6 here for you. Steve grows several persimmons as an experiment regarding cold hardiness. You two should exchange ideas/info.
Jury’s still out here in the Boston area on what will work. But it seems that few, if any, pure kakis will be truly reliable. I just grafted one more that I got from GRIN which could be a possibility, and I planted a few in-ground this spring that I’d been sizing up in pots for a few years first, so hopefully I can continue sharing my experience in the upcoming years. For now though, I think hybrids and pure Americans are the best bet for me.
I’ll send you a message.
