@hobilus There is only one place that carry’s any of that Hershey stuff. How seedy is that Mohler? Think its a wild selection.
The wilds are actually great, but it’s like asking for some fruit with your seeds.
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No seeds in my Mohler, except rarely. Size-wise its not in league with some of the jumbo selections that have come around recently, but it measures up nicely against most of the older cultivars. It has a very flattened shape, but volumetrically it’s probably about 60% the size of ‘prok’. I have no idea about its origin. Does anyone else? Im the only one here who seems jazzed about it.
I have 4 hershey selections here, so could share scionwood if you were interested. ‘MacKenzie corner’ does ripen here, albeit it on the late side. I was given a whole bag of them that were harvested in Downingtown though, and they were a good deal earlier and mighty tasty. Buzz, who gave me the wood some years back just told me this year that another one of the Hershey selections, ‘Downingtown Middle’ (which is noteworthy among other things for making fasciated stems) is likely just ‘Early Golden’. Not sure how that conclusion was arrived at.
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Pretty sure it’s a Lee Reich introduction from a wild selection. This upcoming grafting season I’m targeting out of the norm taste. Starting with Jon’s Pride or Journey which Englands says taste like vanilla. I might try the Mohler also for the caramel flavor.
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I dont think so. I know that Lee has promoted it over the years, but my impression is that he received it as a cultivar already in circulation. Cliff England refers to it as one of the best old selections, or something of the sort. I received my wood from Jerry Lehman around the same time that Lee Reich seemed to start talking about it. Theres no mention of it in his book circa early 2000’s or so. @Lee , can you shed any light on the matter of ‘Mohler’s origins?
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In the mid 1980s I saw a note in the NAFEX magazine Pomona about someone in PA – Mohler – who had found and grew a wild persimmon that was excellent and early. I wrote to them for scion wood, they sent it, and I made a tree. (Actually the tree, now with a trunk about a foot in diameter, is also grafted to Szukis.) The tree had no name, so for identification purposes, I called I it Mohler.
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If anyone is interested in how and why American persimmons became so popular it likely started in Mitchell IN then the NY times etc started writing about them. I found this doc while trying to figure out some history of Morris Burton persimmon which won the festival in Mitchell in 1957. People from all over would bring specimens to be judged. Lehmans Delight name… likely came from Dymples Delight i would reckon… they canned persimmon pulp for 32 years. I imagine Lehman and Compton probably went to those festivals. The closest i can get to the name of Morris-Burton is that Morris is the town in Indiana and Burton is the name of the family’s farm that the tree was on… cant find much else other than that.
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@krismoriah
As I understand the history, Morris Burton was the name of an Indiana(?) Farmer who noticed that his hogs and local wildlife made a bee-line to one particular tree on his farm, and he subsequently found it to have superb flavor. As IN appears to have been The Garden of Eden for persimmon culture & appreciation, it was not long until MB rose to prominence as a cutivar.
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Your story could be true… or this story could be true… maybe the same?
You might be a Hoosier if you know the location of a secret backroad persimmon tree that supplies you with free, foraged fruit for baking. Charlotte and Kent Waltz of Persimmon Pleasures in Bedford are most definitely Hoosiers. They’re so Hoosier, in fact, Charlotte’s cousin is said to have discovered a variety of persimmon on his Southern Indiana farm some 50 years ago. He used it to win the 1957 Mitchell Persimmon Festival (which still exists) and subsequently named it the Morris-Burton persimmon.
So Chalotte’s cousin was Morris Burton? Or was his name Burton and he was from the town of Morris IN?
The old name is Morris - Burton as far as i can tell… but in the trade the - is missing.
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Maybe I shouldn’t have complained so much about my Prok tree’s productivity. I pick up anywhere between 5-10 a day under the tree. It’ll probably drop around 150 fruit this year which is plenty to satisfy my backyard foraging.
It doesn’t compare to 100-46 though, and I wouldn’t choose it if I had a farm trying to make money off the crop based on my tree’s performance.
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‘Briggs’ seems to be available to purchase now.
The Briggs’ “Giving Tree” produces a whopping 800-1000 pounds of fruit!
Talked about here
Grafted tree-
https://needmoretrees.com/store/ols/products/american-persimmon---briggs
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Anyone on this forum purchase one of these?
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I’m interested in Mohler and Jon’s Pride as well. Englands says Jon’s Pride ripens very late into December. I like the idea of having persimmons late in the season but I’m not sure it would ripen in time here in 7A?
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It will do fine. They are not talking about it all ripening in December. They are saying it will still be dropping fruit then. I’m a couple hours north of you and I’m not concerned about that at all. It will all ripen. Many on the forum like to pick and eat them frozen.
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aka popsicle persimmons!
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I was able to get it at Cricket Hill. He had an extra for me.
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I ended up going with 100-46. Thanks for the suggestion!
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American persimmons side by side.
Left to right.
H118, A118 and H63a. H63a is usually larger— this one was a lot smaller.
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Which one is tastier?
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Still waiting for morris Burton to drop. I can do a 4 way tasting then.
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