It’s definitely a problem with young trees. But I also get a lot of fruit drop on dry years too.
2 Likes
I sell the fruit.
I wish I could show you how much my Nikita’s Gift has declined. I don’t thin it would last 10 years. The weird thing is there are many new shoots coming out of the lower part of the trunk, definitely above the graft union.
It appears to tempt me to chop off the top half and let these new shoots form a new tree. But, then, I would be back to square one with young tree and fruit drop all over again.
A lot of your profits dropped to the ground 
By the way, who are your customers, if I may ask? Around here, none of my friends want to eat soft, ripe American or hybrid persimmons. We can’t grow non astringent here.
I do the farmers markets outside of DC. There are a lot of people from all around the world here. In truth I think the American ones are better taste wise. I grow asian for sale.
1 Like
I’ve had that same thing happen with JT-02 and Chuchupaka. I don’t know what causes it, but my guess is it’s got something to do with cambium damage from sap flow and late spring frosts. Just a guess though. Whatever the reason, they tend to reestablish themselves super quickly because of the large root system.
3 Likes
I’ve found out that Chuchupakka grafted on NG, has survived, but Inchon was dead. So did 3 yr old grafted Tam Kam, all on NG. The last two were grafted on lower branches and those branches did not wake up this year.
I think you could convince them otherwise depending on how you present soft persimmons. I explained to my friends last year that Saijo persimmons are like fruit jam, but still in the original fruit skin. They enjoyed the soft persimmons a lot spread on bread while eating cheeses, and various cured meats.
We’ll have a hardier hybrid nonastringent persimmon one day. Maybe by the time I’m 40 or so.
1 Like
Try grafting near the top in the future. Some of my trees self prune their lower branches.
I can’t even convinced my two family members to try A or hybrid persimmons, never mind my friends 
Live and learn re. avoiding grafting low. Tall trees, I usually grafted where I could reach. These days, I climb a ladder to graft.
2 Likes
Just remind me this winter for more scions. Remember all those kaki in my yard?
1 Like
Here is what I mean about pollination helping to prevent fruit drop. I cut open dozens of fruit I thinned, and they all have 3-6 seeds in them. The trees are dropping much fewer this year with my pollinators blooming. Sure, I have to deal with seeds, but I’d rather deal with a few seeds, and have potentially more fruit. There are many more cumbersome fruit that I eat regularly like rambutan, lychee, and longan. I also deskin and deseed my muscadines.
6 Likes
That stinks. Inchon has continued to work for me, but neither of the two Tam Kams I tried survived a single winter.
3 Likes
Andrew,
Since you mentioned about Rambutan, I am in Grand Velas resort in Riviera Maya for vacation now and they served Rambutan for breakfast. I ate a belly full of them to get my fixed.
5 Likes
Tony, I am jealous. I’m stuck working extra summer hours. Need to check Chinatown for more fruit. Hope you have a good rest of your well deserved vacation.
Thank you Andrew. We haven’t take a vacation in 2 years and it was overdue. This place is all inclusive so I ate so much. Probably gained 10 pounds easily.
11 Likes
Wow great photos! Congratulations and enjoy! 
The greenish berries seems mutingia calabura…
1 Like
Tony,
Where was my invitation?!!!
Enjoy your vacation.
3 Likes
Hey tony, there is a wild persimmon that grows along the coast line there. Not sure what species,? might be worth a look ?
Have always been green , unripe when I was in that area , late winter.may be ripe now ? Saw them on rocks just above a seaside trail .
Enjoy your well deserved break !
1 Like
@Ruben – I think it’s mainly just a question of maturity.
I planted 3 IKKJ (Asian PCNA) in 2015. They produced a few fruit in 2019, maybe 2 dozen in 2020, roughly 300 total in 2021. They always drop lots of flowers. The question is how many they hold. As you can see, they held more as they matured. But it ripened 1st fruit in Year 5 and produced a heavy yield only in Year 7! This year seems similar to last year, so far.
I planted 1 Prok (American) in 2015. Its behavior was surprisingly similar, somewhat faster, though the tree is much larger. The first large crop came in Year 5.
I planted 1 Kassandra (hybrid) in 2017. Until this year, it bloomed lightly but dropped all flowers. This year it bloomed profusely and, while it is dropping most of the flowers, it appears to he holding many. I expect a good crop. This is Year 6.
So I’ve been trained to wait at least 5 years for persimmon fruit. This doesn’t surprise me. Many fruits take roughly as long.
p.s. I have no male flowers here. Prok and IKKJ (and now, I hope, Kassandra) are capable of ripening 100 fruits or more without pollination.
3 Likes