Just finished the wild persimmons I found out in the woods. Been a while and I had forgot how good they are. These had a strong caramel flavor that now have me on a mission for more. Can anyone inform me about grafted versions.
Is grafted better than wild?
Do they all have the strong caramel flavor?
How long till grafted varieties bear fruit?
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The wild Americans mostly have excellent flavor and some say it can’t be matched. My experience is limited in taste but I have an Eureka Asian that is very good when allowed to get very ripe. I’m sure it’s not the best one out there. Caramel…no… but sugar sweet persimmon jelly…yes.
I think the variety you graft will make a difference on when you get fruit. I grafted three varieties in 2018: Tam Kam, Giombo, Tecumseh. I ended up with 4 Tam Kam trees that I planted (yeah…crazy…). Anyway 3 of 4 of those Tam Kams are producing this year so that says to me it’s pretty much a trait of the cultivar to fruit quickly. Neither of the other two varieties bloomed at all this year. My Eureka produced on the third leaf after I planted it (purchased from a nursery). So you could choose a cultivar that tends to fruit quickly…but that may not be the best tasting… 
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Truthfully, I can’t discern much difference in taste among the good American persimmons. They all taste like ‘persimmon’ to me.
Differences in firmness/texture, yes.
And size - Prok or Yates will be 3-4 times larger than some others I’ve grown.
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The DA persimmons on my property are flowering this year. I bought this property 2 yrs ago. The previous owner must have gotten some seedlings from arbor day or.something. Hopefully they are good. I saw some flowers but need to brush up on Identifying male/female flowers. Prolly will regraft:)
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Second picture male.
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Thanks! Its a lot smaller than the Claypool female flowers.
Hey! Here are the fruits from above females. I also noticed the seeds.are immature. Fruit was sweet on ripest ones, some astingency, seeds mostly white and super thin
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My next question is whether they are c60 or c90… Im in z6b, west michigan shore, plants prolly from arbor day, shouldnt c90 seeds be darker by now?
I don’t have an answer, however, some of the first pecans to fall are white. there will be a mix of white to medium brown to brown on the first to fall. Not sure why. It might be a situation, similar. Also, the pericarp on that seed is quite mature (and the white shown) seems like some type of mutation/aborted ‘situation’ going on vs. being immature. That’s a dark brown seed coat/pericarp/very matured.
Interesting, really. Almost albino traits showing influence? @Richard
Thanks for your input. Ill keep observing ripening fruit seeds, clean and stratify and see whats up in the spring.
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I am always on the lookout for wild persimmons… and have talked to neighbors that remember a tree here or a tree there but they are pretty hard to find nowadays.
I got interested in how a tree could be way up there or way back there as the stories were told. I have seen a couple by the highways here and there myself. How did they get there?
I know that alot of deer hunters plant them for deer… but i did not know that deer are not seed dispersers… i guess i figured that they were.
Turns out that the seed dispersers are mostly coyote/wolf/foxes… which are carnivores.
Almost all of those things have been eradicated in my area… any tale of any of them gets them killed.
So the reason why i cant find many wild persimmons…is that the seed dispersers have been removed.?
With no wolves or coyotes to keep the deer in check… i think that any wild persimmon that i plant in my woods or in areas that have no humans…that the deer will remove whatever i plant… they seem to love eating the leaves and young trees.
So my only hope for ‘wild’ persimmons is to plant them in captivity i think. Near my house… seeds dispersed by me.
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I have found 4 or 5 wild trees here on my place that are young (estimate 10 yr or less) that are producing fruit.
These are mostly in part sun locations… growing on the edge of woods/field.
The fruit is very good… sweet flavorful… that good persimmon flavor all wild americans seem to have. But they lack that extra rich carmel like flavor you are talking about.
Now my sister has two nice mature wild american persimmon trees in her yard in full sun and the fruit from them is larger and has that rich caramel like flavor. Awesome good.
I collected some scionwood from them and will graft a few at my place to see how they turn out.
Some of my young fruiting trees that are mostly in shade… i am going to clear other trees around them to get them more sun.
Hopefully I will eventually get that rich caramel flavor over here.
TNHunter
I have found plenty of wild ones with good size and fantastic taste. The grafted ones I have do not really seem any better. Just less seeds and good average size. Of all I have tasted they seem to come in one of two taste profiles. Apricot like or caramel. Like you I’m after the caramel and not many of them have it.
@Robert … my sisters persimmons are the only fruit that rivals a perfectly ripened CH fig here at my place.
Of all the fruit that i get… i think those are #1 and #2 on flavor… and it would be hard to say for sure which is 1 or 2.
Are those persimmons worth grafting? Any pics of the fruit?
I’ve got wilds and grafted. Other than less seeds, grafted versions have not really impressed me.
@Robert Do you happen to be growing Morris Burton, Lena, H63a or Early Golden? I’m interested in all of those for flavor, so curious if you’ve compared them to the other cultivars.
No, none of those. I wanted EG, but I hear they have too many seeds. Morris Burton is known more for the qty of fruit than quality.
To be honest I’m at the point where I grade them on seed count and size. The caramel flavor is the prize though.
@Robert — Link above where i posted some pics of them this year.
I am going to graft a few… and one other board member asked for some.
I am expecting or have already recieved scions of. H63A Prok Ws8-10 kasandra jt02 Nikita gift zima khurma rojo brillianti cora de rei…
Going to get some experience grafting persimmons this spring.
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How many seeds did they have. The caramel flavor is kind of hard to find and I’m half tempted to swap something for those.
They are loaded with seeds… 5-7 or 8 in most.
I supplied another board member with around 300 seeds from them for root stock.
My sister has these two double trees in her yard and the last two years (since i noticed them) they have been loaded with fruit each fall.
She has two more behind her garage and more nearby in the woods. I am sure several males are nearby… and yes lots of seeds.
I will be glad to send you a couple sticks if you want to try them.
You can PM me your address
Thanks
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