In praise of the American Persimmon, Diospyros virginiana some field photos

[Bonsai Nut]

Refreshing a great thread...

Took me a while to locate them, but I've got two females in my landscape. I keep looking for @NaoTK , because I am hoping to locate a tree for him, but I have many, many males... and only two females (that I have found). Now that I have located them, I can start to give them some love. Right now we are still working on clearing / removing the trees we don't want, and keeping the trees we do. These are native trees - ie not cultivars.

 

[leatherback]

These are native trees

so cool to have these natively.
My kaki just last the last fruit yesterday. I am thinking mice find the young fruit a nice treat; Every night a few less on the tree.

 

[rockm]

Refreshing a great thread...

Took me a while to locate them, but I've got two females in my landscape. I keep looking for @NaoTK , because I am hoping to locate a tree for him, but I have many, many males... and only two females (that I have found). Now that I have located them, I can start to give them some love. Right now we are still working on clearing / removing the trees we don't want, and keeping the trees we do. These are native trees - ie not cultivars.

View attachment 608693

Don’t know if your place is on old pasture land but farmers used to plant fruit bearing persimmon in those for the cattle. Time was if you wanted to find persimmon find an abandon farmhouse

My old place in Texas had a huge old persimmon in the middle of a paddock/field. Cattle and horses knew when the fruit was about to fall and would hang out waiting.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

so cool to have these natively.
My kaki just last the last fruit yesterday.

Kaki is often more edible, with larger fruit that isn't as astringent. In SoCal, one of the most popular commercial cultivars, Fuyu, was actually pretty sweet, almost seedless, with a mild flavor. I had one in our yard among the citrus trees.

American persimmon is so astringent it is usually only used in recipes as a flavoring agent, and only when it is almost over-ripe. I wouldn't want to eat one raw, but the deer seem to love them when they fall on the ground

The lack of female trees, while I have such a large number of male trees, makes me wonder if (similar to hollies, or princess persimmon) there is a significant difference in frequency between male and female trees from seed. With American hollies from seed, supposedly only 1 in 20 is a fruit-bearing female. With the princess persimmons that I have been growing from seed, I have only been getting 1 female in 10 seedlings (so far). Maybe the same applies to American persimmon?

FWIW - the genus name for persimmon, diospyros, means "fruit of the gods"

 

[Gabler]

Kaki is often more edible, with larger fruit that isn't as astringent. In SoCal, one of the most popular commercial cultivars, Fuyu, was actually pretty sweet, almost seedless, with a mild flavor. I had one in our yard among the citrus trees.

American persimmon is so astringent it is usually only used in recipes as a flavoring agent, and only when it is almost over-ripe. I wouldn't want to eat one raw, but the deer seem to love them when they fall on the ground

The lack of female trees, while I have such a large number of male trees, makes me wonder if (similar to hollies, or princess persimmon) there is a significant difference in frequency between male and female trees from seed. With American hollies from seed, supposedly only 1 in 20 is a fruit-bearing female. With the princess persimmons that I have been growing from seed, I have only been getting 1 female in 10 seedlings (so far). Maybe the same applies to American persimmon?

FWIW - the genus name for persimmon, diospyros, means "fruit of the gods"

The color of the fruit can be misleading. They aren't ripe until they fall off the branch with a gentle touch. After that point, they're not astringent.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The color of the fruit can be misleading. They aren't ripe until they fall off the branch with a gentle touch. After that point, they're not astringent.

That is one test, and it works, I used to leave american persimmons on the tree until after the first hard freeze. This means many would be lost to falling to the ground, but there would still be a fair amount hanging. Allowing fruit to freeze before harvest is called "bletting" and makes many hard fruits soft and sweeter. Persimmons, culinary quince, older varieties of culinary pear, are some of the fruits traditionally allowed to blet before harvesting.

I have also found that even before frost, when the calyx on the fruit easily twists free from the fruit, it is ripe and no longer astringent. This is also when the fruit is becoming loose and will soon fall from the tree, but can be before the first frost. So if the calyx easily twists free, it will will be sweet.