Nikita's Gift Persimmon Fruit Drop?

I was going to cut down one of mine too, but this year it did great. It took 5 years to get a yield that I say was satisfactory. Last year was an embarrassment with maybe only 4 fruit.

1 Like

And the flavor is great, too. Of the 10 or so varieties of kaki and kakiX persimmons that have fruited for me so far, Nikita’s gift would have to be the favorite of everyone in my family.

5 Likes

That’s the key phrase “grafted on an established rootstock”.

Everyone seems to agree that NG needs to be matured before it settles down to hold on to its babies. Another year for me.

4 Likes

Most persimmon like manganese and potash for fruit retentions, no nitro except a 16-16-16 during the late winter only. A light application of stem also help.

5 Likes

I love the flavor too. I prefer it over saijo. I will be tasting Korea, steiermark, and Kasandra for the first time this fall.

4 Likes

@aap How often does one apply manganese to persimmons? I’ve read this before about manganese helping persimmons retain fruit and applied some this year.

@RUenvsci I’m looking forward to your report on how those persimmons taste. I grafted Korea this year and have Kasandra on order for the fall.

3 Likes

if you have room, instead of axing NG consider experimenting w/ & w/o fertilizer, w/ thinning, observe if yield improves with maturity. it’s all about experimenting. your insights could help others. we have NG, 4yo, medium sun exposure, near a downspout so it gets more water than the other trees, set 100 this year, dropped 50 to date. for a tree its size i’m happy w/ 50.

3 Likes

I don’t have a lot of room. NG is in a 70% sun. No fertilizer for the past two years. No mulch. Our weather is quite wet, too wet sometimes, so it does not really need extra water.

4 years old. NG is somewhat borderline cold hardy here anyway in zone 6a (sometimes 5b). If it lives, it lives. Next year, if it survives our winter, it should be mature enough to keep some fruit.

3 Likes

Peter’s makes STEM, you can use as a Foliar spray , I usely dump a couple of tsp in a 5 gl pail after petal fall around the drip line.My trees usely overproduced flowers, the more the better so I don’t have to thinned them. They come in one lb container through Amazon, last a long time.
I buy all my stuff from The Landscaper Store, Miami, Fl.

3 Likes

@PharmerDrewee I’ll let you know. But Incase I forget, remind me in November

4 Likes

@mamuang.
I was going to ask about my 4 year old persimmon tree, which was suppose to be Saijo, but I don’t think it is. It set maybe 75 fruit this year for the first time and all have fallen over the past month. Tree looks very healthy otherwise. I saw you had the same problem and was wondering if your persimmon ended up a keeper or not.

thanks

Jim,
My NG is 5/6 years old depending on how you count it. Planted in 2015. So, it is a yesr older than yours. It hasflowered and set fruit for 3 years. The past two years, all fruit dropped. Tonsof fruit drops.

This year, it set 100+ fruit again. So far, there are about 6-7 NG remaining. They have developed a bit further than last year’s ones but I cannot be sure if they will hang on to maturity.

My Tam Kam grafted on NG flowered, set fruit, all fruit dropped (first year flowering)

My Prok on the same tree, flowered (2nd time), set fruit, 1of 5 dropped. It still is hanging on to the remaining 4.


By comparison, Prok has performed far more satisfactory than NG.

6 Likes

I am rooting for your fruit to ripen so we can see a comparison. Then again, they would likely ripen at different times but I’m curious how the size and taste compares!

4 Likes

@growjimgrow,
Another NG bit the dust this morning. It grew bigger and lasted longer than those from previous two years.

8 more NG and 4 Prok left on the tree.

2 Likes

I have bad news and good news.

The bad news - 2 more NG dropped this morning. It is a frustrating sight to see.

The good news is I’ve just found that one low branch actually carries 10 NG (thought it had only 3). That branch alone has 10 NGs while the rest of the tree has 5!!!

Prok still keeps its 4 fruit.

4 Likes

Well, I had 9 NG persimmons this year. Due to forecast predicting temp below 30 F, I picked these 3 today and left the rest on the tree.

These three did not come off easily. I will ripen then with a ripe banana.

15 Likes

Hurray for your little tree! Glad you’re finally getting them and I hope they are delicious.

1 Like

Thank you, @zendog. It took 6 years to get 3 fruit. I hope the other 6 will not get frozen out.

There is a popular method to put underripe Hachiya into a freezer to remove astringency. The texture becomes jellylike but the flavor is good. A typical freezer is at 0 F, so I’m sure your NGs will have no damage from 30 F. They actually may loose some astringency as a result.

2 Likes

It seems like you all have figured it out, but from my research Nikita’s Gift only keeps what it can handle. It is currently the only persimmon variety I have and I think I have a long haul in front of me for production (only 2 years old). I am excited for that future fruit!