Hello everyone! I’m new to this forum, but I’ve read a lot of helpful pages before joining, which is why I’m hoping y’all can help me. I live in the southern half of Missouri, zone 6b. We have a bunch of wild persimmons here, but their fruit never loses its astringency, and they look terrible (all black) before they’re ripe. My niece loves the persimmons regardless, and after researching them, I think I’ll love them too if I can get some that actually ripen properly. However, the improved varieties are very expensive to buy, I have no interest in grafting, and we have a limited amount of space that I’m willing to dedicate to these, which is why I’m in the dilemma about variety. Ideally, I only want up to 4 trees. I don’t want asian or asian hybrids, as I don’t think they’ll survive our weird weather.
The ones I’m favoring are as follows (in no particular order):
Early Golden: said to win taste tests and be what sets the flavor standard.
Yates: easier to get, and said to be delicious. Pretty fruit.
Elmo (A-118): Stark Bros says it’s non-astringent, even before fully ripe, also disease resistant. Pretty fruit.
Szuki: some say it’s better than Early Golden, but I can’t find info on in what way. Pretty tree and fruit.
Garretson: seems to be really well-liked here.
Claypool (H-120): flavor and texture are well-liked. Completely non-astringent when ripe. Pretty fruit.
Mohler: very sweet, complex flavor. Very early ripening (possibly can extend season). Seems well-liked.
I’m also wondering about Prairie Star (H-118, Early Jewel), which seems well-liked here, but I gave up trying to narrow down my choice before researching it further. It seems that the more I research, the more I want; not because I want a huge variety, but because I’m worried about not liking what I get.
Can you please help me? What I really want in a Persimmon is as follows (in order or importance):
No astringency when ripe or dehydrated (“cottonmouth” triggers my anxiety, so I I’d like to avoid it).
Flavor (I’d like more than just “sweet.” Preferably something with a nice, strong persimmon flavor, but which persimmon flavor I’m not picky about; I just don’t want a white sugar substitute).
Disease resistant (I think native persimmons are naturally resistant, but we have a lot of cedars and fireblight here, so it needs a mention).
Pretty fruit (I’ve heard that the black skin doesn’t affect the flavor, but the orange fruits are just so pretty, and I’m honestly uninterested if they’re like the native ones here and look rotten before I eat them).
Lack of black spots in the fruit pulp (I’ve heard these are tannins, and experienced persimmon eaters seem to prefer not having them, so I’m thinking it’s probably wise to add it here).
Preferably juicy but not dripping with water.
I really don’t care about fruit or tree size. Any help in narrowing my selection down will be most appreciated!
Look closely at Morris Burton. Mohler should be near top of your list for climate reasons. Early Golden is an older variety but very well liked for very good reason.
I wouldn’t get them from starks unless you get a really good deal. They will be tiny and maybe newly grafted. I got 2 elmos from them. They both had grafting tape on them and died above the graft before any real growth.
Also, you could look at persimmons distributed by Walmart for Chestnut Hill. There is a store locator on their website. A 3G persimmon would be $45, a 7G $55.
But the fastest route to a good crop would be to bark graft your existing trees. Especially if you no which ones are males from checking flowers or absence of fruit for several years.
Blockquote But the fastest route to a good crop would be to bark graft your existing trees. Especially if you no which ones are males from checking flowers or absence of fruit for several years.
Blockquote
Unfortunately, that’s not an option, as we sold the land with the more mature persimmons, and the younger ones got mulched by a tree mulcher clearing our land (I forgot to ask him to spare them).
I’m also not interested in grafting for multiple reasons.
I’ve seen that one mentioned a lot, but I can’t find it anywhere. I want to try getting the trees from just one or two places, if possible, due to the cost of shipping. Do you know where to get it?
Good to know. I’m happy with the apple and nectarines I got from them, but not some of the smaller plants. I’ll have to take them off my persimmon list too.
I had an Osage (H-69) persimmon delivered to me this spring from Rock Bridge Trees. You may look them up. It was a high quality healthy plant. He also has multiple cultivars to choose from with descriptions for each.
@Noname … persimmons are known to resprout from roots left under ground.
You might watch for that… i had my fields cleared via bulldozer 1998… then bushhogged for 20 years … and then discovered that i have 50 75 persimmon seedlings sprouting up in my fields each year.
A couple years ago started letting some of those sprouts grow a season and then graft to them.
Americans… I have Prok, Mohler, H118, H63A, WS8-10, Rich Tooie. Got all the scion here via trades but one.
I have several hybrids and 2 asians as well… all the hybrids were grafted… the asians were bought.
I have not tasted of any of those myself already… just been listining to folks here talking about them for years. Also reading descriptions on Englands Orchard site and others.
Rich Tooie is a persimmon in my sisters yard… I have eaten lots of those… delicious… and I have a graft of it growing at my place. I have several wilds on my place that I harvest from and several roadside trees too… most are just good wild american flavor… a couple (Rich Tooie and Persimmonila) have been outstanding flavor wise.
I just started grafting Americans and Hybrids at my place last spring… and none of those have ripened fruit yet.
I appreciate that grafting can save money, but learning a new skill and going through the emotional impact of failing, or having to get rid of any extras, for 4 trees is just not worth it for me. It might sound silly, but that’s the reality.
Based on what ive heard id get
100-46 Lehmans Delight,
H63a,
Journey (hybrid but mostly American?),
H118 Early Jewel,
H120 Claypool
Then so many others people seem to like Mohler, Morris Burton, sometimes Prok if loses astringency, J59, Elmo, Barbaras Blush, Yates, EG, Garretson, etc. Tough to choose after reading to forums here :).
Then hybrids, but im not a fan of asian persimmon so would really have to have American flavor for someone to convince me to try the hybrids (but i did graft a bunch for friends to trial).
Read Cliffs descriptions: https://nuttrees.net/persimmon.html
Morris Burton is mediocre here. I grafted over it with Geneva Red. I left a few branches in the event that I’m wrong.
A118/Elmo is also not that great. Standouts in my climate are H118 and H63a.