Funny you should ask about the Cardinal, since I just logged in to ask if anybody has gotten decent growth out of theirs. Mine succumbed, and I think I’d have better odds with a scion stick to an established tree, rather than with another tiny tree. Plus I don’t have good spots left.
Regarding the (probably) Jiro fruit, it may have been the pollenization, it is also a relatively young tree that just started flowering last year.
Those look tasty! Your NG/HR-Rossey really looks amazing! Thanks for sharing! I cant wait to taste the hybrids im growing, that hybrid mix sounds like a good flavor 
15 ft chocolate doesnt pollinate the other fuyu well. i always thought 20 ft is ideal so 15 ft should be even better cross pollination. i wonder my friend has a mature chocolate i think 20 ft from his jiro fuyu and the jiro didnt get any seeds ever.
I’m still a long ways off from getting any fruit from my trees, but I FINALLY found a case of Fuyu-type persimmons at the local Asian market (they only seem to get a couple cases in at a time, so I usually miss it). 1/4 the cost of at the supermarket, and 4 times as good.
Its been a week since you posted the above photo showing a bunch of Saijos in a box but I’m just seeing it. I understand that you picked those before they ripened so that you can peel them and make Hoshigaki. But I just had to make sure that you are leaving some to fully ripen for fresh eating!!! I know I’m been harassing you for years about saijo, but when I saw the photos I just had to make sure you knew most of my compliments about have been based on fully ripe ones for fresh eating. Since its been a week since those photos, I’m also curious if you’ve let one ripen and tried it yet?
Last but not least, I just wanted to say that I would recommend you let the Saijos ripen more that the ones in your box- even if you are using for Hoshigaki or a dehydrator. In my opinion, the ones you show are as much as 2 weeks or more before being ripe. That means that they are probably more than a week away from even starting to go soft. In my admitedly limited experience with Koshigaki and even just using a dehydrator, Saijo are considerably sweeter when they get closer to going soft and turn completely orange. Remember, before they get soft-ripe and translucent orange, they get a solid orange without any trace of green like the ones in your box show. You will obviously figure all this out for yourself as you watch the ones you leave on a tree get completely soft-ripe. You’ll see that before that, they become a solid orange very similar to the color on a fully ripe navel orange.
I’m sure the ones in your box will be fine and make decent koshigaki, but I really feel it will be better if you use Saijos that are much more ripe (but still firm and astringent).
This is just my 2 cents and trying to help. Others here may disagree. Or may second my suggestion that you let your saijos ripen more before picking for Koshigaki/dehydrating AND that you be sure and leave some for fresh eating. Not only will you enjoy them fresh, but it will help you better recognize the schedule and ripening times so you can pick the fruit closer to soft stage- when sugars are much higher. Good luck.
Hi Kevin,
I actually picked those because we’ve had frosts the past week. All their leaves are fried, and I was concerned the freezing temperatures would make all the fruit soften at once. Is this ever a problem for you? I guess my climate didn’t allow them to gradually soften on the tree like yours did this year, or even fully color up for that matter. I plan on eating some fresh first to see how much I’ll like them. Hard to believe this many years have passed since you told me to plant a Saijo. There are a couple that feel somewhat soft. I put some in a box with bananas. If I don’t end up particularly impressed by them, then I’ll turn them into hoshigaki. Drying them would hopefully make them taste more or less the same as any other persimmon. You probably think that I’m skeptical about this variety’s qualities, but I’m already pleased at the modest harvest it gave me.
I tried my first Saijo today. It was more firm and jello-like in texture than other astringents I’ve had. The flavor was rich. I like this fruit. Hoping for a bigger harvest next year.
There are some Saijo hybrids out there I hope to grow for more dependability here. Hopefully, they inherit Saijo’s better attributes, and aren’t too much smaller. Who knows; they might give a bigger fruit.
That looks like a perfect Saijo. Some of the more ripe ones I’ve had become mush. I plan to go to the Saijo tree in my neighborhood this weekend and see what I can glean.
I’m very jealous of that local tree in your neighborhood @growjimgrow I remember you posting pictures a few years back of your daughter helping you gather the fruit. Wish persimmons were more popular around me. There are probably more persimmons in my yard than I’ve spotted in random yards in all my years driving around this area.
I’ve never seen a persimmon on a tree other than my yard, my neighbor’s yard, and one yard in Northeast Philly. I tried to talk to the owner of that tree in the city, but he didn’t speak English and we just gave each other the thumbs up. He has a well maintained tree with at least 100 fruit on it.
I have seen several persimmon trees throughout Northeast Philly, but none of them have had fruit on them yet.
There are definitely more cultivated persimmons in the Philly area. Here’s an impressive one I saw a couple years back in Cheltenham. It was probably 20 feet tall. No one answered the door when I went to inquire about it. Wish I could’ve gotten a couple scions to graft. The house also had many jujube and Asian pear trees.
I’ve never seen any persimmons grown around here. I bet there must be at least one other person in this city of 90,000 that is trying to grow at least American persimmons. If there are any, I haven’t found them yet.
A friend mailed me some fruit from Don Compton’s place (minus the Jiro which is grown at my friend’s place). Picking out the largest and smallest of those to give a sense of size variation.
There was a larger blue fruited persimmon, but got smashed and arrived spoiled. Of what little blue fruited persimmon I have sampled, I’m not that impressed. The aesthetics make them very pretty and stark contrast to other “regular” persimmon, but they lack flavor, sweetness, and have a gritty texture.
My friend is positive that the “great wall” persimmon is a mislabel, possibly/probably a NG. Whatever it is, it’s flesh is brilliantly red. The flavor is rich, sweet but not excessively so. It’s absolutely stunning, nearly scarlet in the right light.
I once performed an “experiment” with store-bought Hachiya. I placed some into plastic bags with apples and left in a room. Others were placed into cardboard box and left in a cool porch.
Ones which were with apples at room temperature ripened faster, but once the second (cold) group also ripened they were more sweet and tasty.
I’m in zone 7a, Silver Spring MD.
Saijo was my favorite for several years. A very tasty variety.
This year I got first fruits on a Giombo tree from Just Fruits and Exotics planted in 2017. Fruits are very big, beautiful, taste is similar to Hachiya and maybe Saijo.
I also got first fruits on Chienting tree. Bought it from JFE in 2018. Fruits are also large and tasty, but it looks like they don’t lose astringency well.
Inchon planted in 2018 as well had a couple of fruits but dropped them.
Got few fruits on Honan Red. Medium to small, pretty sweet.
Great looking fruit. How tall is your Giombo tree? Also, do you think Honan Red is as good? I have both grafted in pots and trying to decide which one gets a space in the ground.
I would probably prefer Giombo and Saijo over Honan Red. But maybe I need to eat more of the latest, I’ve just tried first fruits.
Giombo grows very tall. I have it in open location, but the tree decided to have thin trunk of some 14 feet high, so I had to prop it. Already cut tipping points, hopefully it’ll become more established.
