Is the fruit any good on the ‘Middle’ variety you have?
It flowered a good deal the last two years but dropped everything both times. When I first got the wood, from Buzz Ferver, he called it ‘Best of Downingtown’. That would have been 5 years ago I’d guess. Later, asking him about the varieties he’d given me, he told me it was Downingtown Middle.
The only Hershey variety I’ve eat is MacKenzie Corner, some from my own tree and a bunch brought from Downingtown.,The ones from PA were ready a lot sooner and were better quality. Both pretty tasty, I thought.
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I am looking to get one! They are so tasty. I thought I was too south for them (9b) but I found some growing wild just 20 mins North of here and I started some from seeds of dried fruit last year. The seller I was getting them from closed shop so I don’t know what type they were but they seem larger for American persimmon. I was looking at Prok or Yates but maybe I should go for a hybrid since my Asian persimmons are already thriving?
That’s fun! Buzz sent me a D. Middle in place of a Mohler I had ordered. Just planted it outside about a week ago, when the danger of frost passed. Looking forward to seeing what it does in the future.
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Richard, that ploidy map is lacking detail. Both hex and tet grow in Tennessee roughly following the Tennessee river. Large parts of Georgia have only tetraploid growing, particularly on the western side of the state.
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FWIW, I asked a similar question myself a few years ago. My criteria were (1) flavor, (2) earliness, and (3) reliable loss of astringency. Of course, I relied on reports from others. Taste comparisons are common but data tends to be sparse for 2 & 3. My ultimate selections were Barbra’s Blush, H63A, and Dollywood / D-128. This year I added Morris Burton. I’m thinking about adding H-120.
I already have Prok. In my location, the flavor is bland and the astringency is persistent.
I’m hoping for first fruit from the first three names mentioned this year.
Among hybrids, my picks were Kassandra and JT-02.
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@Fusion_power … do you know how tet / hex are different ?
My county is not in TN river basin… we are higher elevation. My sisters persimmons… have very red stems early on after sprouting up.
Others have grown persimmon seeds from other locations in TN and the new sprouts had very green stems.
Could that be a difference in tet or hex ?
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Tetraploid in Central FL. Thank you for the resource!
I want to make sure I’m reading your post correctly. Did you say that one parent of Nikitskaya Bordovaya was a D.v. x D.k. hybrid and the other parent unknown open pollinated? Likely either D.v. or D.k? Or is it possible that the other parent was also a interspecies hybrid?
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If memory serves correctly, I’m fairly sure that Nikitskaya Bordovaya (Nikita’s Gift) is a seedling of the D.v.XD.k hybrid, Rosseyanka, back-crossed to D.kaki… making it, theoretically, 3/4 D.k.-1/4 D.v.
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@murky
According to the List of Hybrid Persimmons in the U.S.:
Nikitskaya Bordovaya = Rossiyanka (D.v. × D.k.) × OP (D.k.)
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I’m very new with grafting but I think I’m looking at a new project next year!
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Nice collection in Mass.
Dar Sofiyivky, Roman Kosh, Journey, Dr. Kazas & others
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I assumed all persimmon seedlings have red stems when first emerging.
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Anthocyanin in young stems and leaves is a common trait found in pecan, hickory, and walnut. It is highly variable with some seed lines producing red seedlings and others green.
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I’ve no experience with the two subspecies of American persimmon (D. virginiana), but the new stems of Asian persimmon (D. kaki) have always emerged green in my location.
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Sweet! Thank you.
