I’m thinking of buying a Prok persimmon and was wondering what the thoughts are on it compared to other American persimmon varieties? Are any other varieties considered better? Does anyone know how large the tree gets?
I am growing but not fruited as yet. I think Cliff England states that it’s his favorite for eating out of hand, and that’s a good endorsement for me as I believe he has trialed many.
Thanks @strudeldog. Do your native persimmons take longer to bear than your Asians?
I don’t so. I just have been growing Kaki longer. My prok was just planted last spring from Just fruits and it set a single fruit that dropped
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Reviving an oldie here. I have a Prok from JF&E arriving tomorrow. Anyone have any experience with their Prok? Their website says it grows to 12-15 feetbut I find that hard to believe. Most other sources have it at 30-50. Wondering if JF&E is listing more of a recommended height to maintain it at.
This is my first persimmon. Placed the order before I remembered it’s a Cicada Plague Spring here 
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I have a 10 year old Prok tree that I field grafted in the middle of a hayfield that is about 15 feet tall. We’ll see if it grows any taller.
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Hi there! How is your ProK doing? I grafted one this year. How is the flavor?
My Prok tree is doing well, but only a very light crop this year. It seems to be alternate bearing. It has a clean mild flavor and is seedless on my site.
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My year 3 Prok… grafted to wild dv… is 10-12 ft tall.
When I prune late winter… I discourage upward growth (cut it shorter)… and encourage outward growth (let it go longer).
TNHunter
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I’m a ‘Prok’ fan. Largest fruit of any DV I’ve grown, and few seeds here; some fruits seedless.
Mine are grafted high…at 5+ ft…tree is easily 12-15 ft now, but I don’t recall how old they are. With a row of pecans 20 ft to the west of it, I anticipate it continuing to grow ‘upward’.
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For others that grow more than one American persimmon cultivar, I would like to know which varieties are best picks for early ripening. I read this about Prok so I grafted it this year:” * Key features: It is a self-fertile, cold-hardy tree that ripens earlier than most other American varieties”.
If you grow Prok let me know if other American cultivars ripen about the same time or earlier than Prok, so I can consider adding them here in my short growing season. Others seem enticing Deer Candy, Yates, Deer Magnet, etc but I ram wondering about their ripening times. So if you grow multiple varieties please advise
Dennis
Kent, Wa
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I’ve had to address this question myself. Once I started paying attention to this issue, my choices were H63A, Barbra’s Blush, and Dollywood. These three have now fruited for 3 seasons. What I’ve observed here is that H63A and BB start to ripen in late September and manage to ripen pretty much their entire crop. Dollywood starts 1-2 weeks later and usually leaves 10-20% of the crop unripe on the tree.
Last year, I added H-118. My understanding is that it ripens at about the same time as H63A and BB. This year the new grafts ripened 1/2 dozen fruit but not until late October (!). I assume that this was a fluke due to the age of the grafts. Anyway, do a little research and try to confirm that H-118 is early. Assuming so, my recommendations would be H63A, Barbra’s Blush, and H-118 (or very similar H-120).
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curious about geneva long/ gordon. looks larger. but also not sure if its all american?
I tried to gather some info before, as I was worried some persimmon may not ripen in zone 5b where i want to plant them.
This is what i wrote down last year getting info from Cliff’s website and maybe this forum:
H118 Early Jewel, H120, Jennys Early, Journey, J-59, Prok, Mohler, Geneva Long, Early golden, Yates, H63A, Geneva Red
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My 100-46 and Prok were planted in 2016. I think maybe this is 15ft tall at this point too (pic below), but maybe they can get more thickness if you give them a nice mulching each year?
The trees in the wild i’ve seen in local parks are very tall ( and very thick trunks ). old trees though.
I had Geneva Long, some years back, but borers got it, and I never have gotten around to hunting up scionwood again.
It is a good persimmon, elongate ‘acorn’ shape, similar to, but larger than, NC-10. Nothing about it says ‘kaki’ to me… I’m fairly certain that it is 100% D.virginiana.
Consider NC-10 in that list, as well; it was one of Doug Campbell’s selections, from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Usually dropping ripe fruits here (Hopkinsville KY) by 10 Sept; has been a heavy producer, year-after-year, since soon after I grafted it, in 1996.
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I have several varieties, including Prok. This variety is usually at least a week or two earlier than Prok. It produces better and has more flavor than Prok. I have since learned that it is an Early Golden seedling. I would be happy to send you some scion if you are interested.
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ive just seen some sites list it as a hybrid, cannot recall which ones at the moment. Not sure if accurate. it also has a fairly unique shape, though youre right nc-10 is closer
I’m pretty sure any speculation on Geneva Long (and sometimes Prok) being a hybrid is really just based on the larger size. Unfortunately such things take on a life of their own on the internet and keep swirling and swirling around.
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