Since purchasing a Sharon Kaki persimmon tree I have done a good amount of research on the topic - and realized it will probably never give fruit in the ground like I hoped. I live just south of Aarhus in Denmark, and the winters are mild (zone 7/8, 4km from the coast), and the summers seasons are short - from June to early september according to ChatGPT.
But i’m not done yet. Since the main criteria is ripe fruit, i’ve looked into cultivars of American Persimmon such as NC10, but still it seems unlikely to yield good results. ChatGPT recommends Nikita’s Gift and says it may give ripe fruit in >70% of years in my area… Based on most other sources, that seems highly unlikely.
But what if I put it in a greenhouse in full sun? Which cultivars may be suited for that situation?
Hoping for some input on how I can have success in my area
There’s a Swedish facebook group for people growing persimmon with some examples of people growing them in open ground and getting fruit. There’s one guy growing a Nikita’s gift that’s been producing fruit for a few years now and even someone getting fruit of a pure kaki but that particular tree eventually died one winter. They do have to ripen the fruit indoors after picking, but they seem quite happy with the result.
I planted a Dar Sofiyivky this year in southern Sweden, open ground, so I don’t have much personal experience yet. It leafed out in the beginning of May, which was a bit earlier than I had expected, maybe the growing season isn’t all that short after all :). Quite happy with the growth so far. I’m very close to the coast (yes that’s seaweed mulch in the picture) so it takes a while for spring daytime temperatures to climb. On the positive autumns are warmer and long and there’s extremely low risk of late frosts in spring.
Regarding varieties Dar Sofiyivky and Sosnovskaya seems the most promising to me. They are the earliest ripening hybrids. They are also more cold hardy and produce earlier than Nikita’s gift. An early ripening pure virginiana cultivar might be even more reliable but I wanted something more similar to kaki in taste and appearance.
Great, maybe there is hope. Thank you for the useful information.
I have been looking at Dar Sofiyivky myself and found it (out of stock) at a turkish nursery. On persimmon subreddit someone also mentioned it was purchased at plantido.se. But seems available no longer. Where did you get yours if you dont mind me asking? Also what is the facebook group called?
They don’t have many varieties because they focus more on various nuts, but the seedlings are several years old and strong. I just don’t know if they ship outside of Poland. It’s always worth asking.
Ops, I forgot to add Adam’s nursery (Orzechowomi). His trees have probably the best quality/size/price ratio. Unfortunately only this two are reliable producers in PL.
