I love fuyu persimmons and am looking to branch out and expand my persimmon collection this year. What is your favorite tasting persimmon?
I don’t like soft persimmons, texture wise, so all the astringent ones I don’t eat. I love Fuyu and Giant Fuyu though. I’d be interested in what others say as well.
my favorite is Fuyu giant, Saijo and bright red
My picked for Asian persimmons are Hachiya, Sharon’s, and Rojo Brillante. Hybrids are Nikita’s Gift and Rossyanka so far and looking forward to Kassandra to fruit.
Tony
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Do the hybrids need protection in Omaha winters?
Before you make a decision on persimmons I would highly recommend you check with England’s since they just released several new varieties. They just sent this out
Dear Customer welcome to our latest Fall Catalogue 2016 the website has been updated and is on line.
We have had sufficient moisture to warm weather ratio and the field grown trees have grown very well
Our catalogue is attached in PDF format
And can be viewed on line at http://www.nuttrees.net
WE have added many new Persimmon for late fall and in the spring there will be even more new ones that will be introduced this spring.
Cultivars
100-46 – Lehman’s Delight - From the Breeding work of Jerry Lehman of Terra Haute Indiana, Lehman’s Delight is one of his newest creations. Very large fruit, smooth flesh, clear pulp and made to be loved. While not a large tree it is one of the heaviest producing persimmon I have ever witnessed. Very good flavor and smooth flesh, this one is all about taste. Field Grown. Only shipped late fall and late winter / M, L, XL, XXL
Deer Magnet - A Late ripening cultivar, it is so named because deer love this variety of persimmon. It is known that the deer will always eat the best first. During late fall to early winter, the fruit this persimmon tree bears is a magnet for wildlife. It is a great tasting persimmon and is a must for the hunter that has deer in mind for that trophy rack. Field Grown. Only shipped late fall and late winter / S M. Royalty of $3.00 goes to breeding of new Cultivars
Wonderful – Late ripening from September to early October, the largest fruit to come out of the England’s selection of new cultivars for production and taste. Very large fruit, progeny of Yates/Juhl X F-100 male, tree of medium size with spreading growth habits. It would be good for wildlife food source late in the fall or for a late ripening cultivar to add to any collection for pulp production. Field Grown. Only shipped late fall and Late winter / S, M, L, XL,
Celebrity - Crystal clear fruit nearly seedless with the texture of Kaki persimmon. Rated very high for disease resistance and very high for the quality of fruit. Closest to a kaki as you can get, with the cold hardiness of Virginiana. Selected from the Jerry Lehman’s crosses of Dollywood D128 X F-58 male. Both are progeny of Miller and Early Golden. This fruit produced from the Lehman breeding program. Field Grown Only shipped late fall and Late winter / M, L, XL
Deer Candy – Upright growing tree, fruit is orange and large for an American, ripens well into late November. This tree does hold its fruit well and drops over a long period of time with some fruit remaining on the tree into December. Fruit is 2.25 inches average and is great as a result of the long production season. It is also great farther south where the growing season is extended. Deer will check this tree daily for dropped fruit. Royalty of $3.00 goes to breeding of new Cultivars. Field Grown Only shipped late fall and Late winter / S. M, L, XL, XXL available
Early Jewel = H118 – Very early, large sized fruit, reddish colored fruit, soft when ripe, very high quality, fruit precocious and a consistent producer, bears seedless fruit south of the Ohio River because it is a 90 chromosome persimmon. Out of the late James Claypool Breeding program. Field Grown Only shipped late fall and Late winter / S, M, L, XL
Valeene Beauty- Large fruit 2.25 to 2.50 inches, loses astringency quickly, very happy trees, grows well in all soils and is an upright grower, very precocious and heavy producer Field Grown Only shipped late fall and Late winter / M, L available
WS 8-10 - Along with Celebrity these 2 trees would produce all the persimmons needed in a number of years. Healthy, very productive and has an even lateral limb structure that will support the large load of the very large 2.25 to 2.50 inch fruit. Field Grown Only. Shipped late fall and late winter / S, M, L, XL
J-59 Claypool – It is similar to H63A, but with a deep orange colored fruit, is a very upright grower, and drops fruit early. It is excellent for puddings and pies but best known for its aromatic aroma and true persimmon taste. Fruit is medium sized and is dark orange to red in color. Field Grown Only. Shipped late fall and Late winter / M, L, XL
· Asian Persimmon Hybrid - Diospyros Virginiana X Kaki // These very fine persimmons have been tested, selected for many years, and selected over many others for taste, size and cold hardiness.
Kasandra – A Hybrid of Great Wall Crossed by an F2 Male of Rosseyanka Hybrid back- crossed to Virginiana. Tested cold hardy to -16 with no evidence of freeze damage. It is a large fruit measuring about 2.50 to 2.75 inches and is delicious when ripe. Hybridized by David Lavergne, has a Brix test of 21, and ripens mid-season. Luscious bright green foliage looks like a true Kaki. Field Grown and Container grown prices as follows Small $30.00, Medium $40.00, Large $50.00, X Large $60 (for pick up only), Zone 5b and UP,
S, M, L, XL Sizes available.
Zima khurma =NB-02 Persimmon bred out of Nikitskaya Bordovaya, cold hardy and good producer of orange medium to large size fruit that ripens mid-season on a semi-vigorous tree. The tree has low spreading growth habit and is a beautiful specimen in the fall. Trees are very cold hardy tested down to minus -16.4 F for a long time. This cultivar was bred in Japan and brought to America by Jerry Lehman of Terre Haute, Indiana. Field Grown trees // Sizes Small $30.00, Medium $40.00, Large $50.00. Zone 5b and Zone 8 / tested to -16 degree F.
Sestronka=NB-21- Very large persimmon looks like Kaki but very much a Hybrid. This persimmon is Nikitskaya Bordovaya crossed back to a Kaki. While it is not as hardy and does ripen late, it very much tastes like true American persimmon. It is an upright grower that is semi-vigorous. Field Grown trees // sizes Small $30.00, Medium $40.00 ZONE 6 thru 8 / Hardy to -5 Degrees F.
Mikkusu kaki Hybrid = JT-02 A true 50/50 hybrid of Josephine V. X Taishu Kaki. Bred in Japan, imported by Jerry Lehman in 2006 and grown in several locations in the USA. Medium to large fruit, square-ish shape, is an astringent type till soft when it’s a mouthwatering tasty 2.5 to 3.0-inch fruit. Smallish tree, not vigorous at all, is precocious and has spreading growth habits. It must be staked to support fruit load as it is a very heavy producer. Very cold hardy, has never had any freeze damage or cold injury. Field Grown trees // sizes Small $35.00, Medium $45.00, Large $55.00 Zone 5b and ZONE 8 / tested to -16 Degree F. Quantities limited
Mrs. England standing by showing off Sestronka NB-21
Zima khurma / Winter kaki Hybrid =NB-02 / Kasandra Hybrid Persimmon
Many years have when in to and been devoted to this year of offering these fabulous persimmons to the public tested and retested especially these past 2 winters with temp ranging from minus 11 to minus 22 F. We feel that this is the final test and time to release these 3 wonderful persimmon to the community of grower around the world Enjoy.
Thank you it’s a pleasure working with you
· Asian Persimmon - Diospyros Kaki These 2 very fine persimmons have been tested. Selected for many years over many others, primarily for their cold hardiness, they have been tested down to minus -16 for the last 2 years. Their taste, size and productivity is excellent.
. 18 to 24 inches tall $30.00: Medium 2 to 3 feet tall $40.00:
Korea Kaki – In the 18th century monks brought this tree from the frontier area between China and Korea to Bulgaria (USDA most 5 to 6). The kaki seems to be very frost hardy, is late vegetating, produces a large fruit that is firm when ripe and is astringent. The fruit can be ripened rapidly by use of alcohol. Tree tubes recommended. Field Grown and Container Grown /
Small 18 - 24 inches tall $30.00; Medium 2 - 3 feet tall $40.00; Large 3 - 5 feet tall $50.00
Chinebuli = Non-Astringent Asian Persimmon, sweet and crunchy when hard, a medium size fruit that ripens mid-season. Has had only minor freeze damage while we have grown this cultivar. Comes to us from Bulgaria, grown here for the past 8 years during one of the coldest winters we have ever experienced (the Polar Vortex). Temps dipped into the Minus-teens and there was tip burn, but this tree took in stride and produced the next spring. Smallish growing tree with beautiful foliage. Field Grown trees // sizes Small $35.00, Medium $45.00, Large $55.00 Zone 6 and up 8 / tested to -16 Degree F. Quantities limited
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most 'simmons are my favorites! i like both the non-astringent and astringent, and prefer one over the other depending on my mood.
but as homegrown, am biased towards fuyu, primarily because it is the first one managed to get to fruit in desert conditions, despite having 80% of the foliage scorched this summer…
any cultivar which could tolerate direct vegas’ sunlight during summer(heat-resistant foliage) will be my future favorite.
next summer, intend to grow them under filtered light/wire cages to protect from intense sun and from birds attacking the fruits. Have come to the conclusion about their worth the expense considering their productivity, longevity, and no-spray existence.
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The differences in our tastes are interesting. I’m the opposite of @brownmola in that I don’t much like the ones that are hard/firm as an apple (like fuyu) but I love the soft, pudding-like texture and taste of the soft ones like Hachiya. In fact, I like them best when they are so soft all you can do is spoon them out of the peeling! mmm. I thought I was going to have my first grown fuyu this year- my 3 old tree had probably as many as 25 fruits on it much of the summer. But just about the time they would start to turn orange, they would fall off. No idea why, and if anyone does I’d love to hear it. But I may still get my first 2 home grown persimmons- fingers crossed- I have a chocolate persimmon tree that has a whooping grand total of TWO fruits on it. They are starting to turn orange now but just barely. Believe it or not, I just planted the tree this spring and it had 3 fruit on it then and 2 stayed on all summer! Hope they make it all the way- I’ve never tried a chocolate one, but since its a soft (astringent) one I suspect I’ll enjoy it.
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Great discussion! How do chocolate and coffee cake compare to fuyu?
For me Chocolate is the pinnacle of persimmon flavor - its intense brown sugar plus persimmon. It is above all others by quite a bit. Coffeecake Hyakume (edit – oops, got my light brown persimmons mixed up!) can be hard to ripen, it needs a long season. I have not been getting many Chocolates for several years as the tree roots have been fading. My Hachiya winter died so now I have Chocolate going on its roots and I hope to be back in the Chocolate business soon! I also have a Maru which is very tasty but the fruits are small. Aizu Michirazu is another I like, similar to Hachiya but smaller. I prefer the soft ones. I grow some firm ones for the rest of my family.
I don’t grow any American or hybrids but I do hear some of the new ones are excellent.
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Anyone who has a chinebuli able to comment on its flavor? sounds like the most cold-hardy nonastringent, but that may be faint praise if it is also clearly inferior to typical “jiro-types”…
Anyone able to comment on this?
Also, anyone know an equally hardy or hardier nonastringent? Sounds like Cliff may have some new stuff to tease us with come spring, but I don’t know what he’ll have just yet…
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Levers,
I do Winter protection for the Nikita’s Gift if the Temperature dropped below-10F. Rossyanka can handled the temperature to -18F so far with no Winter protection. It was a mild Winter last year to -4F so Kasandra did fine without Winter protection. It needs to be tested more here when the temp get colder to -12 to 16 F.
Tony
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Scott – how does coffee cake taste? I’m definitely adding chocolate based on your feedback.
decadent- and utterly addicting
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I never ripened one well so cannot say. My tree died before it really got going. All of the brown-fleshed ones I have tried that I got to ripen well were very good, and each is a little different.
I have had Yates and Osage and Szukis. Osage still had some astringency to the skin when I tried it even though they were drops. Szukis weren’t as good as Yates, but were seedless this year for the folks I got them from.
Nikita’s Gift would be out of the question for me. Trees have to make it on their own in my yard. I have 4 seedlings in pots from Burnt Ridge and planted out 5 on some hunting grounds.
How hard is it to graft persimmon relative to apples?
My favorite store-bought is Hachiya. They aren’t cold hardy to 5b/6 so they don’t survive well in NJ. From those that I grow, Saijo & Nikita’s Gift have great flavor, even though the Saijo experiences dieback from cold winds. I’d like to grow varieties with bigger fruit size, so I hope Cliff’s Korea and Steiermark will fruit for me in a couple years. I’m also looking forward to Cliff’s hybrids as well. Tamopans sold around here seem to be very cold hardy, but their fruit quality is not as good as Hachiya, Saijo, & Nikita’s Gift.
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Is Korea Kaki the same as Kyung San Ban Si?
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For me apples are 10x’s easier than persimmons but I’m getting a lot better at them and have around a 60 -75% success rate. There is no leeway with matching up the cambium like you have with apples or pears and you really have to stay on top of removing any new growth below the graft union or the graft will fail. Like everything else in life the more you do it the better you’ll get at it.
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I found them just as easy to graft using clefts. I grafted 5 for the first time in the spring and 4 took.