Derevyanko persimmon This is a newly introduced Ukrainian hybrid that is cold hardy to Zone 5 and is said to produce large, excellent fruits
Pamyati Chernyaeva persimmon This is a newly introduced Ukrainian hybrid that is described as a large-fruited PVNA type that fully loses astringency when pollinated.
Journey persimmon This is a hybrid variety said to be 12.5 % Kaki F-4 cross of ( Rossey X Great wall ) X ( H-118 Early Jewel X OP). It’s a very early ripener that does well in short seasons. Supposed to be hardy to -16 degrees.
Kasandra Hybrid Persimmon This is an amazing fruit. It’s rich, sweet, cold hardy, early ripening
JT-02 aka Mikkusu is hardy 50/50 Asian/American persimmon hybrid. @tonyOmahaz5 said this in 2019 “After so many years(9yrs) trialing Hybrid persimmons that can handle my Z5 with occasional low of -22F. I came to conclusion that ,JT-02 aka Mikkusu is the most sweet, tasty, and richer than the Hachiya Astringent Asian persimmon and super cold hardy for Z5. I took a lot of scionwoods from my 4 years old JT-02 and bark grafted to the lower 8 feet of my 8 years old Prok American Persimmon at 18 feet tall and the 7 four year old American Persimmon rootstocks. JT-02 survived -20F this past Winter with no die back.”
The question is are non astringents hybrids? Here is a quote from a user Lehman sent scions to
"L-93 persimmon. It’s the second of two rare American persimmons Jerry Lehman sent me that carry the potential for non-astringent breeding work. Here’s what he had to say about it:
The one variety that’s involved in all of the 4 that of been identified
as having non-astringent characteristics is Morris Burton. There was a
doctor Sekar at UC Davis who was an expert in identifying kaki varieties
using electrophoresis. He wrote papers on the subject. In 1998 I had Dr.
Sakar do some work for me with the object to identify virginiana/kaki
hybrid’s and possible hybrids. As a basis in 1998 I did send him
actively growing buds of Morris Burton and other D. virginiana in order
that he could establish typical enzyme patterns for virginiana. In his
report back to me he stated that Morris Burton appears to share an
allele with kaki. I found that interesting and more interesting is that
Morris Burton is involved in all of the 4 varieties that were observed
to produce what Martha Davis and I call non-astringent fruit. That is
some of the fruits could be picked off the tree while still firm with no
astringency. Those 4 varieties were L-92, L-93, L-104 and L-104A. Morris
Burton is involved in all 4 of these. L-92 and L-93 are Szukis X F-100.
L-104 and L-104A are F-7 X Killen (using female pollen). Female pollen
is my way of identifying pollen from pistillate trees. Early Golden,
Garretson, Killen and Szukis will all occasionally put on male flowers
and in which case all the pollen grains contain only X chromosomes, none
contain O chromosomes which pollen from normal males contain 50% X and
50% O. All of the progeny using this female pollen are pistillate, none
staminate. Here are the varieties involved:
Morris Burton_Open pollinated virginiana discovered near Mitchell Indiana.
George_An open pollinated seedling of Garretson and is a grandson of
Early Golden.
F-7_Morris Burton X George
F-100_Morris Burton X George
L-92 and L-93_Szukis X F-100
L-104 and L-104A_F-7 X Killen"
"Diospyrus virginia x diospyrus kaki was crossed as we know to make hybrids
Rosseyanka hybrid was the semi hardy great grandmother from the 1950s of Sofies gift
Nakitas gift is the grandmother of Sofies gift. As we know it is only semi cold hardy to -10 F.
Sofies gift 4 generation hybrid aka gift of Sofiyivka hybrid "
JT-02 is winter hardy but can be affected by severe last spring freezes that don’t seem to affect D.V. as much. My JT-02 barely bloomed last year because of a hard late April freeze, and in some cases, had some dead wood. I suspect all hybrids could suffer from the same issue.
It is @KYnuttrees busy time of the year. I’m hoping him and @tonyOmahaz5 show up soon to add some additional information about the latest hybrids they are experimenting with.
@clarkinks just FYI. Cliff reported on FB that he had gotten Lyme disease and had some other issue, so was slowed down for a while. So he may not have much time for input here.
I just moved to a new place with lots of room to trial Hybrid persimmons. I will heavily cross breeding the Dar Sofiyviky since the fruit is much larger and earlier ripening than JT-02 with similar cold hardiness. I got 3 seeds of JT-02 crossed with the hardy male Kaki Cheong Pyong to plant out this March 2024 for trial. I also planted a dozen other hybrid persimmon varieties to trial also. I will keep on updating how they do in Z5 yearly.
Ive got it growing here in SE Vermont, zone 5. Im not sure hardiness wise, but ripening time (a main concern here) seemed workable based on descriptions Id read. One suggestion Id add for these hardiness lists different folks have compiled is to include ripening time. For those of us in borderline persimmon cultivation regions, it may well be more limiting than hardiness. My experience, such as it is, has been that essentially ALL hexaploid virginiana cultivars are hardy here in “zone 5”. Ive has to be judicious about picking cultivars that ripen before the seasons “turn” and though, which in recent yrs (Ive been here ~20) is Nov. 1 or so.
In any case, theres little point growing a fruit tree that wont successfully ripen during your season, hardy or not. Its possible this has been included and Ive missed it.
Good thought. I dont really have that worry here in KS, but you do. Mr Cliff has tested most of these hybrids and hasnt mentioned one to ripen too late, so i think they should ripen for you.
I believe Mr Cliff shared that NB-02 ripens on the earlier side, he posted ripe pictures one time that i recall, of them being early .
I recommend you try JT-02 and NB-02, along with Chuchupaka.
Another thing is that hybrids can be picked earlier than natives, and ripen on the table. You can pick hybrids when they are orange but not yet ripe, like Kaki.
I’m a little further south than @hobilus but I’d echo his concerns. I have a friend in WV who raves about Nikita’s Gift, but he can barely ripen it – indoors. His USDA Zone is similar to mine but his growing season is a little longer, so I might have a tougher time. Nevertheless, I’m going to try it – but I expect disappointment.
My point is just that we shouldn’t take ripening of hybrids for granted.
Makes sense.
Yeah I believe from what i have seen shared, that Nikitas Gift ripens on the late side, and has often been killed in 6b. Rosseyanka is even later than NG, though it is more 6a hardy.
Here is Mr Cliffs post on NB-02, in early September his location. @hobilus
Has your friend tried picking the fruit unripe and ripened indoors? I’ve found early picked Nikita’s gift to be sweeter than every other tree ripened hybrid or American or even Asian.
