I grafted Dar Sofievki to this 4’ tall bare root persimmon back in mid April. It was in a hot callus pipe and has grown about 2’ since then. It even had 2 baby persimmons until recently. I did a very terrible whip and tongue but it’s holding. Lehman’s Delight is the tall one on the right.
I grafted my second one on a non dormant rootstock on May 15th or so using a modified bark graft. It’s pushed about 8” of new growth since it leafed out.
Got my scion from Cliff England as well. Excited on how fast these 2 are growing, especially since this is my first year grafting. I’ll probably keep the smaller one since the graft is beautiful.
You should be. I grafted 4 varieties in mid-May, including Dar Sof, also using bark grafts. They are just barely pushing leaves.
Honestly, it’s the only one that looks like this that I grafted in mid May. I grafted Lehman’s Delight (about 4” of growth on the non-dormant graft), Prok x Hokkaido (nothing), UKR 15-9 (maybe 4” of growth), David’s Kandy (nothing), H-120 (4” of growth), and L-93A (nothing). Dar Sofiyivky is, by far, the most vigorous grower with Lehman’s Delight coming in second.
What’s the latest info on Dar Sofiyivky (Sophie’s gift)? I feel like this variety is covered in so much mystery. It’s just this mythical persimmon variety at this point. Many places selling Persimmon varieties aren’t seemingly selling it this year from what I’m seeing. Then the other concern is if someone is selling it, do they have the old mismatched scion wood.
I bought it last year during the scion scandal from multiple places. Luckily they all canceled my order stating they weren’t confident they had the authentic Sophie’s gift. But this year it seems like not much information is coming out. Hmmmm.
There’s plenty of information from Ukrainian sources. It’s certainly not mysterious or mythical – I’ve got one growing here. But yes, the U.S. has been confused by the marketing of a fraudulent tree, a DV sold with the Dar Sof label. So there’s nothing mysterious (“Hmmmm”), just an issue of authenticity.
I’m not sure how many people here speak Ukrainian or know these Ukrainian sources. This thread certainly slowed down. There was confusion at the end of 2025 as to who has the real SG. This year it doesn’t look like anyone has posted pics of any fruit growing on their trees in America. I know this variety is considered a very early variety.
This is the most shrouded in mystery Persimmon variety I’ve ever seen. If you say “I have a source selling the real SG” is like saying: “I know someone who will let you into the secret society group”. 
Secret handshakes and all.
Probably 3 different imposters to the best I have been able to figure out.
I think you should refine and rephrase your question. You make it sound like the variety Dar Sofiyivki is mysterious or mythical, per se. That’s totally untrue. And anything that was written about the authentic Dar Sofiyivki in past scientific publications or public discussions here is still true. That includes English language discussions and translations from Russian or Ukrainian.
What’s contested is the authenticity of Dar Sofiyivki trees / scions sold in the U.S. It would seem that somebody (maybe more than one) messed up some labels and/or committed deliberate fraud. I bought an imposter tree myself, though in my case I’m sure that the vendor was an innocent victim too.
I think it would be totally fair to ask for a summary of what we know about (1) the state of the market in the U.S. as well as (2) tips for distinguishing the authentic Dar Sof from various imposters.
Here’s a translation (ChatGPT) of the 2020 paper:
https://growingfruit.org/uploads/short-url/64X65UFy7fGTn2kaBFQkBK56SnZ.pdf
Most of us grafted the imposter DS. Now hopefully the new source of the real DS came from Cliff England at England orchard is the correct variety. It is usually take several years from the graft to fruit. We are all just have to wait and see.
Here is the new source of the DS from Cliff and Steady stan on GF. My two newly grafted tree from May 2026.
Here is the real DS from Harbin in the Zchech Republic
Here is.my imposter DS. Probably an American persimmon type..
The leafy is different and more like the American persimmons type.
Hi Harbin,
Your Dar Sofiyivky trees are truly beautiful! I grafted some of this variety this spring so I am desiring to learn pruning and training practices from you. I have several other varieties here that are loaded up in similar fashion where I am taking precautions to prop up the limbs to take some load off them, especially the grafted limbs to prevent breakage of the graft union.
But if I am successful grafting and growing your variety on a single rootstock, and I desire to have the tree not exceed 2.5 meters high, do I need to be concerned about limb breakage from fruit loading? Seeing your loaded trees I am thinking that you do not need to support them. Is that true?
I noticed that my new Dar Sofiyivky grafts tend to grow in a weeping character, rather than pushing a single central vertical leader. So I am using a cane to tie the longest limb to go vertical this growing season to attempt to reach my 2.5m height goal.
Otherwise do you have a pruning or training practices for developing a single variety tree like yours?
I will greatly be interested in your response as I am certain many others here in the US will as well.
Dennis
Kent, Wa
Make sure that you have the right thing first…I mean when you see the ripe fruits. Then think about pruning.