We’ll, hopefully I didn’t pick these Lehman’s Delights too soon. One was developing a soft spot from some damage, but they are otherwise very hard. I put them in a bag with an apple to hopefully help them along.
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Good to know! Somebody here claimed it is a late ripener…
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I’ve picked plenty of wild ones that were rock hard and orange. They always ripened fine, just took longer.
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I’d never heard of the convex thing. Thanks. I’ll have to look for it. Also, will probably graft Chocolate and Maru into the tree for more pollen options. The Nishamura Wase is a little off on its own, compared to the other persimmons.
I do not pick American persimmons from the tree. I pick them up from mowed grass, straw, or an old bed sheet spread under the tree. Hybrids, like Kasandra, get snipped from the tree when fully red and soft.
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Yes, this is what I noticed with mine last year. My few fruit this year seem better pollinated now that I have a tree with plenty of male flowers. I haven’t eaten one that isn’t fully seeded yet, and they all have a more convex shape at the bottom.
Pollination could’ve also made my Jiros more round and less flattened too, but this could’ve been the particular environmental factors this year. Everything is pollinated unlike last year.
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Weekend visit to a persimmon orchard in Hillsborough, NC (only open certain days). They had lots of Fuyu-type trees along with Nikita’s Gift, Saijo, and some other astringent large fruited varieties (I didn’t pick any of those).
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Not sure if anyone has seen Donald Comptons recent posts but he has been furthering some of Lehman and Claypools work. He has some nice cultivars going. Nikitas Gift X Thor, Rossayanka X Thor… etc.
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Bill, is this because the hybrids will generally not drop on their own?
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Where does he normally post? I just stared getting into Persimmons, but I bought a Morris Burton cross of his, but had no knowledge of him.
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I would like to find out how often this is the case with hybrids. 80, 90, 
percent of the time do they hold fruit?
Does anyone have some insight?
He posts on FB around this time of year… sometimes with Cliff England when they visit Lehmans place. He grows some nice nuts and other things too. if you cant find him send me a PM and i will screenshot it for you.
These are all public images so should be ok to share.
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How closely spaced are his trees, do you know? I was under the impression that a minimum of 10-12’ was recommended. Compton’s trees seem quite a bit closer than that.
Yoda
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It all depends on the application. when growing out seedlings in nursery rows for initial evaluation is tight. And of course trees live-closely-planted. After that and for homeowner applications, 10-12 is decent but 15-20 is more-correct. If you live with property, space more. I’d like to do 30 feet between persimmons… but my ‘first’ orchard is 15-20 ft. @Yoda
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For the homeowner. This is all you’ll ever need. Or, the orchardist who has more space to control spurring productions, wider/taller. I have to thank @Richard who likely keeps his trees at 6 ft. wide for showing this book to me.
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According to Jerry Lehman…
Persimmon trees should grow in full sun and be spaced 25 feet apart, Lehman says. They are somewhat self-pruning and ideally should top out at 20 to 25 feet high.
He had 1000 trees at his farm… Claypool had 2400.
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His place is cool. He’s got pawpaws that look like mature Persian walnuts. They’re round as globes and and perfectly symmetrical and there was a little space if I recall to walk between those. Of course (I’ll assume his older persimmons “self pruned”) because… they were above deer browse while his pawpaws were somewhat touching the ground.
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I think Mr Compton is near 80yrs old… ive seen pictures of his farm Hobo Woods…but nobody ever talks about it…not sure if he does tours? In there he has some Claypools that werent released etc. and he got 100 or so of Lehmans trees. Is anyone younger going to carry these forward? Or bring them to the world?
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I’m 49 in a month or so. I’m holding a torch lit.
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