Horseshoe's Persimmons

Hey Shoe, how are the 'simmins doing?? Those pretty little buds should be getting bigger by now. Can we have an update??

Mercy....just now saw this post, balvenie! sorry!

They are looking good! Getting some good size on them, but of course, still green!

I'll take pics when I'm out this afternoon!

(Lookin forward to your recipes!)

Are they Japanese or American persimmons? There are some Americans ripening in Anderson, SC already.

My persimmons are ripe now.

Hi Folks...

sorry...I just got back from the DG Roundup in KY yesterday. (This is my first post on DG in eleven days...a record for me!)

Will check out the persimmons today sometime as I get more and more caught up around here.

By the way, mine are Japanese persimmons. I also saw some American one ripening in the mtns on our trip...I was tempted to pick some but it was at a "nature station" park.

Where can I get some (not american) persimmon? I have a couple of really old and big native trees but the fruit is real small and too high up to pick. I want some BIG persimmons! Thanks!

I've always had great luck with Edible Landscaping...they're in Va, too! Not sure how close to them you are but you could probably save postage by swinging by there and picking up your trees. (Some folks in the Garden Watchdog were disappointed in some of their plants so if in doubt it would also be good to go and actually SEE what you are buying.) (Like I said though, I've always had extremely good fortune with their products and service.) Here is the link to their Watchdog entries:

http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/125/

Balvenie, my 'simmons are nice-sized now, and turning yellow. I'm not quite sure yet at what stage to pick them; will have to read up on them I reckon.

Mine are the same - but the hornets are eating them before they are ripe :(
One dropped off the tree a little while ago and seemed quite ripe, so I tried a bit. It was deelish. I then saved it so the others could try, but it must have reacted with the air 'cos by the time they had a bit it was really tart....

Finally took a few pics yesterday.

A close up, showing the four lobes that this particular variety has:

Oh, they're different! :)
I thought mine were Japanese ones - but they don't have those lobes, they're just round. Similar colour though
Those look gorgeous Shoe

you could still have a Japanese one...I think some have more pronounced lobes than others do.

These are still hard, recently read they should be ripe when soft. Am hesitant to pick any yet! But then again, am wondering if they will ripen after they are picked.

I've been wondering the same LOL
I only tried the other one because it fell off. Wish the hornets would leave them alone - perhaps they will now the weather has cooled down...

Horseshoe, If you have the same kind I have--Fuyu, then you don't want to wait till they are soft. This kind you eat still firm and brite orange. Ours are just starting to really ripen and we can probably start eating in a couple of weeks and will stay on the tree (with no leaves) until the end of December.

I have to go to work and will take a picture of our tree with I get home tonight and you can compare.

Kathy

Thanks, Kathy! This variety is called "Sheng". The folks I bought the tree from said it should be soft when ripe. (I just don't know if it will get soft on the tree or do I hafta wait till it falls off, or gets picked and then will get soft in the kitchen.)

Would love to see your pic! Please post!

The little japanese ones,I think Fuyu is the grocerystore one,are good when firm or soft.The big ones that are sort of shaped like an acorn without the topknot are,I believe,Hachia and have to be really soft.They are terribly astringent until they are mushy.There's hardly a better tasting fruit than a persimmon,unless it might be a little wild blackberry.

Here are the pictures I promised. (I don't know the variety, because the tree was here when we bought the house. #1 is a cluster of them--there is probably at least 200 of the fruit.

Here is #2, a picture of the bottom half of the tree (we were told it would get 20-30 feet tall if we let it).

And the last #3, a picture of the size of the fruit. The stuff in the stores around here are usually a lot smaller.

Our favorite way to eat them is raw or we dry them and they are great. It is also fun to watch the squirrels take them down the fence when they are just about as large as the squirrels.

That's a good-sized persimmon! Lookin' Good to me!

OMG....PLEASE send me all the persimmons I can eat..PLEASE....LOL

I LOVE these things since a Vietnamese friend introduced me to the joys of eating them. I can not get enough and am wanting to plant my own trees here..Do you need a pollinator?? Do I have to plant one in my neighbor's yard also?

Earthling,

I don't think you need a pollinator, at least there doesn't seem to be one in any yard next to us. Maybe I could try sending you some when they ripen more. I would think they would travel very well.

I would plant one of these trees just for the beauty. They are a chartuse (sp.) green in the spring and turn red/orange in the fall and after all the leaves drop they still have fruit and it looks like Christmas ornaments.

I love persimmons can I grow them in zone 5/6? How many year until they produce? Do you need more an one variety? Thanks,Jody

American persimmons should do well in your area and many of the Oriental persimmons are said to grow in zone 6.

The persimmon I have, Sheng, produced this crop in only 3 yrs...that's pretty quick for a nice tree-fruit crop!

Great, I'll give them a try. Where do I get them from?Jody

I am in Zone 6 and I love persimmons, so I have ordered and DH has planted:

1997 Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro from Stark Bros.
1998 American Persimmon from Bear Creek
2000 Saijo from Miller

I haven't got any fruit so far, the plants are still alive and the leaves are looking better and that is about it. At least it does not die all the way to the ground like the figs and the loquat.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2006 12:13 PM

I know what you mean there.I'll take a look at the sites you metioned. Thanks, Jody

Esther...does your loquat produce for you each year up there?

Horseshoe, did you ever find out if they ripen after they are picked please?
As soon as mine start to get even a weeny bit soft, the hornets and birds move in :(
I haven't managed to harvest a ripe one yet, though there are loads that have turned orange. They're still hard.

I got on the "plant talk" forum at the company I bought the trees from. Their reply was that "yes, they will soften up after you pick them", so I picked a few. I left the rest on the tree so I could compare the flavor from a "tree ripe" one and a "kitchen ripe" one.

I picked them on the 8th and so far they are still mostly hard but beginning to soften (ever so slightly).

Thanks, perhaps I'll try that then.
We've got our first frost this morning

This sounds good.

Fraid I don't know how to make it smaller,but here's another.

We have harvested our Fuyu Persimmons. When they start to turn, the birds start making holes in them. We just pull them as they start turning and place them in the fridge. This slows the process and when we want to eat one, just let it warm up a bit. These are completely non astringent. They are good when green, but not nearly as good as ripe,

We are completely addicted to them and have trouble waiting for the color to turn. We shall get more trees. No seeds at all that we can see.

We still have about a dozen left. It is amazing how fast we have consumed the things.

We also eat one Satsuma a day. We have found one with seeds we are saving them for SeedPicker.

Shoe, we had the loquat tree for 2-3 years in a pot and finally got tired of lugging it back and forth every winter and just planted it in the ground in 2003 where it looked good through a few frost but finally succumbed. There it was, just a tall dry stick next spring. Then I noticed it had new leaves around its base, and that is about it. Fruit? what is that?

Hah...! "Fruit?"...grinnin here!

Well....I have one (thanks to Lisa! Yay!) but also have kept it in the pot in the g-house. Hope to see it bear one day and was wondering if it would in our zone.

Thanks for the reply and info! I sho' do luvs loquats!

Just been talking to a French neighbour and he says to put the persimmons in a plastic bag with an apple when they are almost ripe but before the birds get them. In 4-5 days they should be soft and ready to eat :)
I'm off to pick some right now!

I thought of trying that, too...so far the ones we've picked are slowly softening but whooeee...we just had to cut into one the other day and give it a try. It was not quite ready and now my daughter knows the definition of "astringent" and also what her Dad means when he says, "That'll turn yer mouth inside out, eh!?" :>+

LOL Shoe!!!
They certainly do that when not ripe. Very :>+++++ Even :>xxxxxxx
The chap who gave me this advice has a tree and loves his for breakfast. I didn't have an apple, so I've put a banana in the bag ;oD

Hey! DH just noticed a few days ago that there are flowers for the first time on the Ichi-Ki-Kei-Jiro persimmon from Stark Bros that we planted in 1997. We had just about given up hope. Now I am getting very excited about this. We love persimmons.

The aprium and pluot we planted around the same time have grown huge and also bloomed and the pluot gave us a very few not-very great fruit - once. We plan on cutting the apriium down soon. Another year of grace for the pluot.

This message was edited Jun 7, 2006 12:15 PM