Persimmon Varieties for Zone 4b/5a

My notes:

As far as I can tell based on reading and a few zone 4 success stories, your best bet for trialing a persimmon in the hope you might get fruit in zone 4b are:

1st tier bred for cold: Meader, Pieper.

2nd tier bred or collected in New York: Prok, Geneva Long aka Gordon; 2 NY wild finds: Mohler, Tin Cup.

3rd tier “very early” harvest usually progeny of Early Golden: Prairie Sun A-33, Campbell NC10.

4th tier “early” harvest and reportedly hardy: Journey, Early Jewel aka Prairie Star H-118, Garretson, Paradise H-63A, Yates.

Of those Prok would have the largest fruit with the reputed least flavor, but defenders would say you should be glad you got a persimmon this far north, it’s the biggest, and its non-astringent by harvest picking time. People in 2025 were saying that Meader gets underrated. Mohler (very early) and Meader (early) are known for a lengthier harvest window that a backyard gardener would enjoy. Journey is new, so we don’t have any reviews but usually these part hybrid releases are selected as a favorite among many seedlings.

Estimated harvest order: (Very Early): A-33 < Mohler < Prok < Yates < (Early): Garretson & H-118, Meader < Geneva Long.

By the way, here is a paper on cultivars of persimmons and it has a diagram of parentage in the last pages; we should all be thankful someone made that:
https://journal.americanpomological.org/index.php/jofaps/article/download/12/12/185

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Of these, I have ordered Meader, Prairie Sun, Prairie Star from Burnt Ridge and OneGreenWorld. I’m waiting on NeedMoreTrees until spring to find out if they have Geneva Long and Prok for spring with Rock Bridge Trees as my backup to get Prok. If both fail, I will try something from BlueHillWildlife Nursery. Last year I ordered 1 Meader but it died before shipping.

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