Non-astringent persimmon recommendations and online sources?

My dad is looking to buy 3 different varieties of asian persimmons, all non-astringent. He already has Fuyu and Giant Fuyu so he is looking for recommendations for other types and an online source to buy from. Our local nurseries only sell Fuyu. Normally I buy from Bay Laurel Nursery, but it looks like a lot of their non astringent persimmons are already sold out.

Thanks!

He can try Tam Kam, Ichi,and Izu from Burntridge, Raintree, One Green World, and Just Fruit & Exotics.

Tony,

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I’d add he probably wants to stick with PCNA variants (Pollination constant Non astringent). You don’t want the unpleasant surprise of an astringent persimmon b/c it wasn’t pollinated appropriately — mixed in with those that are pollinated and also you probably don’t want seeds. Both the Chocolate and Coffeecake cultivars are examples of the PVNA (pollination variant) which will suffer from this issue.

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Just Fruits and Exotics has an excellent selection and by far the nicest trees I’ve ever gotten from an online source. Their shipping is expensive because they ship the trees with a lot of soil. Considering that the tree will live 100+ years, I think it’s well worth it!

Rolling River is also excellent… much cheaper shipping because their trees are smaller. Their selection is good but they don’t update their stock often so you may need to call to check on availability.

Cliff England at nuttrees.net has the absolute best persimmon selection in the US although I’m not sure if he has as many non-astringents… he’s more interested in breeding and trialing cold-hardy american x kaki hybrids that are astringent types. Still, he has a lot of non-astringents to choose from and his trees are really nice.

Some others may be able to give recommendation on other varieties to add… in my limited experience the non-astringents have tasted pretty much the same to me. The main difference is ripening time. Izu is a must-have if you have Fuyu because it ripens quite a bit earlier. Sugura is supposed to be the sweetest but I haven’t been able to sample one yet.

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Thanks everyone. Our local nursery has Izu, so I will grab one of those this weekend. Just Fruit and Exotics looks like a great source but I don’t think they ship to CA.

Basically no one ships Asian persimmons to California. I have only three Asian persimmons - Suruga, Chocolate and Maru. Suruga is one of the sweetest and best Fuyu types. But Maru and Chocolate have much more flavor than the Fuyu types. Maru and Chocolate are certainly much better than Izu.Despite the fact that I only have 3 trees, my Maru and Chocolate are always pollinated and thus never astringent. Comparing Izu to Maru is like comparing a Red Delicious apple to __________(name the best apple you can think of).

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Does anyone know if Suruga would have a long enough season to ripen in northern VA?

When is your first freeze?