Thank you so much for taking the time to write your thoughtful post, and show us your lush trees, and peaceful sky. Nature isn’t beautiful all the time, but your quirky trees with their bent trunks look like actual trees and not like those overly pruned and shaped ones we spend our time battling. They have character especially with their brightly colored fruit. There’s something to be said about orange orbs hanging among glossy, deep green leaves.
I appreciate you showing the comparison between your various persimmons. They make my mouth water and worsen my impatience as I continue to wait for my fruit to soften on the trees. It’s also nice to see you demonstrate how the ridges on Saijo fade when they soften.
Thanks Tippy! And I need to hear you say that because I often don’t count my blessings enough. Having plenty of space really makes things fun. Just imagine what I might someday do if I decide to move over to my new 26 acres! haha. In case you are wondering, my trees are spaced 18 feet apart in the rows, and my rows are 20 feet apart. That is for my whole orchard. What is crazy about this- and I know you won’t feel sorry for me (because of you having to make do with far less space. is that in some cases I still run out of room!!! Specifically, with peach trees. I have several peach trees that have grown so much that I can no longer mow between them. They are supposed to all be semi-drawf but surely when some peach trees outgrow 18 x 20 spacing they must be full size? Or maybe I am just really lazy/bad about pruning for size! Either way, its not a big problem.
And yes, I like the ridged Saijo examples. Some saijos do manage to retain the ridges after ripening, but they are less pronounced. I forget right now if you have Saijo or not?
Thanks Drew, for taking time to read and look at my photos. I wish I’d got to include my Meader and Chocolate fruit in the fruit photos but they were gone by that time.
You have a very polite way of saying my trees look a bit unshapely! haha. Yes, no one will ever accuse most of my persimmon trees as being too uniform or perfectly shaped! haha. But I know what you mean and I appreciate it. Also, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to notice that over time, a lot of the bends and crooks that you would think would lead to eventual failure often straighten themselves out. Certainly not always and I’d never advocate grafting to odd limbs like in the very first photo I posted (the grafted chocolate), sometimes it works out. Life finds a way.
Your comments about the look of the orange orbs hanging in the glossy deep green leaves is dead on. That photo I posted above that only shows the top section of my loaded Saijo is just an amazingly beautiful site to me. It looks just like some Japanese artwork I have seen of persimmon trees with fruit. Just amazing.
BTW…one thing that I don’t seem to get that others, including you if I recall, seem to get is great fall colors. I’ve never gotten much of that at all. Mine seem to stay all green until frost, then fall off soon after. Interesting.
JustPeachy, Morris Burton is usually pretty stingy with the crop, but late freezes the last few years have really hurt its production. I had a small crop of smallish fruit, but the taste was good. I think MB tastes better than my Yates, but Yates does produce some huge fruits - for American persimmon standards.
Anyone seen a D. virginiana cultivar with fruit this small (niabell grapes in the background for scale)? These are from an estate of an acquaintance that has since past away. We know these were nursery plantings from around 2008. I think the small one might have been a labeled male persimmon, but I don’t think they should be producing female flowers? I know some fruiting persimmon produce some male flowers on a rare occasion. Can the reverse ever happen? Could the larger ones be Geneva Long (they do get a bit larger and slightly more oblong before they ripen and shriven a bit)?
Here are a few Geneva long pictures for reference. Mine tend to be bigger than the ones pictures, but persimmon size can be variable from year to year and also depending on tree maturity. Not sure what the little ones are.
It looks similar. These trees have been neglected for about 5 years since the estate has been unattended. I only recently went back to see how things were surviving. Are there any other D. virginiana with that shape?
@Seattlefigs is it better to pot chocolate in seattle weather? I’m much interested in your experience with this and coffee cake as i think vancouver weather is close enough to yours.
my friend is growing the coffeecake and chocolate in ground. the coffeecake is already ripe and chocolate is a few weeks away. so for now i think coffeecake is ideal for in ground and chocolate might do better potted until i know more when she harvest her chocolate tree in the next few weeks.
I was going over some older persimmon-related posts and came across this one about your grafts being rejected by rootstocks from a “local” source. Would those by any chance be the ones from the Pennsylvania company I told you about? If so, I’m really sorry! This year I did not graft to the ones I obtained from that source, preferring to give them a year to get established on their roots first. Would you advise me not to use those rootstocks next year?
They actually came from a local nursery that had cheap seedlings for sale in pots. The ones we got from the source you’re referring to always had a near 100% take for me other than grafts that I did poorly (bad cuts, misaligned, wind breakage, etc.)
FYI, Just Fruits and Exotics has 16 Rojo Brillanti persimmons that they just received today. They can sell two per customer. The website hasn’t been updated yet and still says out of stock, but you can call to place an order until it is…ask for Lisa.
Nikitskaya Bordovaya or Nikita’s Gift as you know it…close to 10 year old tree grafted onto virginiana rootstock. Pollinator nearby in this case another hybrid called Universal that serves to 30 female trees.
They look great. Glad to see Picudo is productive for you too. My tree has lots of fruit clusters. Which varieties seem to have the largest fruit for you?
I haven’t picked anything other than a H-120 (the smallest type), so I’m not sure. I think Il Jae Moh Oha Ryang may have the largest fruit as well as the largest name.
Korea and Picudo are both good sized as well as productive. I think I’ve got ~30 of Korea on the one branch (it’s a graft on H-120), along with Inchor.
(because of you having to make do with far less space. is that in some cases I still run out of room!!! Specifically, with peach trees. I have several peach trees that have grown so much that I can no longer mow between them. They are supposed to all be semi-drawf but surely when some peach trees outgrow 18 x 20 spacing they must be full size? Or maybe I am just really lazy/bad about pruning for size! Either way, its not a big problem.
