Jerry Lehman has passed

Barbara’s Blush aka WS 8-10 is his best one.

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Maria’s Joy (166-13), Lehman’s Delight ( 275-48), Jerry’s Big Girl (250-39) and VE-21 are his best pawpaws. They are constantly scoring high points in Ohio Pawpaw Festival. I am lucky to grow them all.

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Add Benny’s Favorite to the list of award-winning pawpaw varieties of his.
Very sad news and a terrible loss to the pawpaw and persimmon communities.

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How cool though, to be able to memorialize him by growing one or more of his cultivars.

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He will definitely have living legacies planted all over the world. I feel honored to have one of his persimmons.

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I spoke with him on the phone last year when i ordered persimmon scion. I have grafted and am growing several cultivars he sent me. I hoped to be able to share back with him how they performed out here in Arizona.

My grandad liked to joke if we slept in “Resurection morning and you just about missed it” well I do believe we will get raised up someday. Maybe I’ll be able to share it all with him then.
Rest in peace Jerry.

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@Harbin -
Do you ever share cuttings across the Pond? I know that can be tricky. I am looking for scions of these varieties.
Thanks!
(I guess i’m too new to be able to Message you directly?)

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The program set up that way because we do not want people to just sign up for membership and ask for scionwood and disappear ( it has happened.

We usually encourage people to post, ask questions (if they have no experience growing fruit trees), make contribution to the forum in some way before asking for scionwood.

You may be aware that exchanging scionwood overseas carries a risk of bringing in and out new diseases and/or pests. Most don’t do it. A few do.

You can also post for scionwood in the Scion Exchange category.

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I totally understand. No prob. :blush:
I didn’t see a scion exchange category - may’ve overlooked or I don’t have access yet.
Thank you!

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How true, I may send some young fella here scion of a particularly good nanking cherry seedling and he could turn it into a real improved variety. Some people write poetry or prose, others build stone statues, may some of us leave a legacy of fruit trees.

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I would love to hear about how your trees are doing. I’m in the SE part of the state at 4,500’.

RIP Mr. Lehman

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Jerry Lehman had so many unreleased cultivars and he was breeding up to spring of 2017 and I have most of the Pawpaw seed he Hybridized and most of his really good persimmons but it is just a drop in the bucket compared to what he really has

I was At the Viewing / Funeral of Jerry’s and I have to tell you I cried like a Baby as Jerry was a huge influencer on our operation and the Main Mentor in my life

Some of his cultivars of pawpaw that he released are VE-21 , Maria’s Joy , 250-30, 250-39 JBG, 275-48 Lehman’s Delight 275-56 Benny’s Favorite , 275-69 and 275-70 as well as the diploid’s he used in the hybridizing of Pawpaw

For Persimmon Celebrity U20A , Deer Candy , Deer Magnet , Lehman’s Delight , Barbara’s Blush and so many other numbered selections and really we just have a small portion of them here as the Breeding work of James Claypool and Jerry Lehman’s work did over lap quit a bit

To include the Hybrid persimmons JT-02 , NB-21 , NB-02 NBT-06 and so on now many do not know it but Jerry was responsible for the release of Rosseyanka and Nikitskaya Bordovaya and well as the Hybrid Male that we use to further his breeding goals so there is a wealth of information that he would pass on and well at his age he was still very bright and able to work a full days work and still have fun at it

He is greatly missed and will be for generations to come

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Thank you very much for your post.

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Do you know what will happen to Jerry’s farm/orchard? Will his wife and children carry on?

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He is greatly missed now, but his life will be appreciated for generations to come.

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In his honor, a few of the threads that revolved around him:

Persimmon Recommendations

Orchard Tours (lots of pictures)

Other

If you search his name in this forum, you’ll find his varieties in just about any list of top persimmons and pawpaws.

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INFGA is combining the collective information and the collectors information as well as Growers like my self to put together a mass of information to draw from

So with the collection that we have and anyone that will add to the knowledge that many will benefit from over the life time of Jerry’s work

With that said I have Many but not all of his creations and He did breed up till 2017 and it will be about 10 year before those trees come on line and produce

No I do not know whom will take care of the Orchard I just Know that NAFEX and the INFGA will be heavily involved

and that is the Just of the information that I have at this time

Thank you

Cliff England

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Wow, a guy specializing in Persimmons and Paw Paws…my kinda hero! RIP!

I was wondering if that was you Cliff. At least we now know where to find some of Jerry’s greatest creations already attached to roots.

I find grafting persimmons challenging, although paw-paws are reasonably successful for me.

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Alan YES It is I Cliff England and I am very busy and trying to propagate as much of Jerry’s Plant material as possible He was telling me a few weeks before the incident that he thought Dr. Kazas a persimmon that he named after a Russian Horticultural Professor was his latest Development and He believed it to be the next link in the hybrid N/A American D. VIR persimmon while not very astringent to start with and not a huge fruit but one assured me that he was on the right path to having a N/A American persimmon

The parents was lost with Jerry and the and I do have one trees of the Dr. Kazas but still in a container till fall

But time will tell but Jerry and I was closer than any other Non Soldier and He was a soldier in the Korean War so I guess we had bonded many times over

I miss him every day

THX

Cliff

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