Persimmons will often have an early fruit drop within a month or so of blossoming and then a later fruit drop during the hot days of August. I have found that as the tree matures it becomes less susceptible to that later fruit drop as it becomes better able to withstand the stress of the hot and sometimes dry environment of that season. You may consider supplying irrigation to help a young tree through that period so it will be more likely to retain its fruit. As you implied excessive watering and nitrogen fertilizer can contribute to fruit drop.

Based on my experience persimmons, especially young ones love to be watered. First year or two they always drop their fruits, then gradually they keep more and more. I think watering (I do deep watering approx once a week) helps to keep persimmon trees happy and retain fruits. Just my experience. But I only grow asian persimmons (both astringent and not). Don't have ameriaca persimmons in my garden.
Olga
Olga

Gene,
I have a Hana Fuyu Persimmon that started flowering in its third year. It formed a few fruit and they dropped. 4th year it formed many fruit and dropped all but two, they later dropped while still green. on the 5th year the flowers were covering the whole tree. Most of them turned into fruit, and about 75% of the fruit dropped. However I still harvested close to 100 pounds of fruit.
I have other cultivars that fruited the year after i grafted them.
So be patient, you're not doing anything wrong.
Bass

Okay, thanks everyone. I'll try to be patient.

I planted my Oriental persimmon about ten years ago and it only produced decent crops in about two of them. The last two years it has dropped virtually of its baby fruit. I plan on cutting it down after this season.

Gene,

My O. Persimmons didn't set fruit good until about the 4th year. Now, I have
to thin many as they set so heavy. Hang on, they'll be OK.

Jack Rice

chrisms,

There does come a time when cutting losses makes the most sense, but with ten years invested in your tree you might first consider a few options to make your tree more productive.

Adding a tree with male flowers, such as Hokkaido or Maru or a number of others, often decreases fruit drop. Also make sure the tree is not getting too little or too much (especially in a poorly draining clay based soil)water.

Some varieties are more prone to fruit drop than others, and by grafting a different variety to your tree you may take advantage of the significant root mass of your ten year old tree and end up with better results. As an example, I have a ten year old Hachiya that continues to drop most of its crop, while none of my other trees of that age do.

I HAVE A SIX YEAR OLD PERSIMON TREE HARD VERIATY. TREE IS IN BEAUTIFULL CONDITION, YET ALL THE FRUIT HAVE DROPPED OFF. IS BECAUSE I ALMOST LOST IT LAST YEAR, DUE TO SCALES ON BRANCHES, IT LOOKS LIKE IT HAS FULLY RECOVERED, HELPLESS FRANK